Sheiss Fleiggen

That means "fucking flies" in German, and I learned it out of necessity when I was at Uluru National Park because:

1. Everyone, except for me, 2 Dutch people and 1 Irish person, was German. My group had 21 people in it.

2. There were just so many flies.

3. I feel out of my element when I can't curse to those around me and effectively communicate my frustration with the present situation.

The trip was absolutely great, and I'm still searching for the words to use to really describe just how beautiful/amazing/kind of frighteningly powerful the experience was. For those unawares, look up Uluru and its significance to the Aboriginal people, because I would butcher any sort of explanation here.

My group, aside from being overwhelmingly German, was much less excellent than my Fraser assemblage, but that's okay.
Uluru isn't really a place for boxed wine and tents and general camping fun, it's a place for spiritual reflection and personal exploration.
So, I reflected spiritually and explored personally.

This was a 3-day-2-night deal as well, though it was guided (due to the cultural significance of the place, I felt better going with a guide who could explain things than just winging it by myself) and generally just really cool.
Cool in the "wow, how awesome" way, not in temperature.
It was 43 degrees Celcius the whole time.
The coolest it got, at night, was 38 degrees Celcius.
Needless to say, I was glad I brought my fleece! (Sarcasm)

We "did" Uluru the first day, but due to the extreme heat we weren't allowed to be outside after 11am (not kidding) so we ended up spending most of the afternoon in a pool and at the cultural center, learning about the life and times of the Aboriginal people in Australia.
Not-so-fun-fact: Until some time in the 1960's, Aboriginal PEOPLE were considered part of the flora and fauna of central Australia. And, it wasn't illegal to just shoot an Aboriginal person until 1973 or something.
History like that makes me wonder how white people have been able to be in charge of so many things for so long.
We saw the sunset around Uluru (though it was supposed to be behind Uluru) which was nice but I'd suggest looking at professional pictures instead of mine.
We made a stir-fry dinner and camped at a site not too far away and it was so hot I slept above my sleeping bag and swag the entire night.

The next day we woke up at 4am to watch the sunrise, again not behind but around, Uluru.
It was really gorgeous and much more tolerable to be outside.
Then we hiked Valley of the Winds which was also great, though HOT.
We had to be out of the sun again at 11am so we were.
Most of the time out of the sun was spent at a pool or in the van with air conditioning.
Then we camped at a new site and cooked a nice meal of chili con carne (which the Germans called "chili with carne") and turned in early, for another early morning.
This night WOULD HAVE BEEN totally uneventful, except for the snake.

For those of you who don't know, I have a fear of snakes coming out of toilet bowls.
[Not just snakes in general, though]

It just so happened that on this trip, my fear was realized.
BY THIS I MEAN THERE WAS A SNAKE IN THE TOILET BOWL THAT I WAS ABOUT TO PEE IN.

Nothing actually happened, but I dare you to try to pee in the dark tonight.
Even in your own house.

The next day we hiked Kings Canyon which was my favorite hike of all.
We had to scale a steep hill called "Heart Attack Hill" but it was worth all the sweat in the world, because the view was unreal.
We toured around for a bit and were able to stay out a little later because the winds were strong and the red rock faces provided a good amount of shade.
We swam in some natural pools and then boarded the van back to Alice Springs, which took about 5 hours.
We made a few pit stops and at one of the stops, I learned all about Central Australia's long history with camel riding/racing/other things people usually do with horses.
If you didn't know about camels in Central Australia, I suggest you read up. It's not so much fascinating as it is just really expansive.

And now I'm in Adelaide, where I'll be headed to Melbourne along the Great Ocean Road from.
So far, Adelaide is pretty and very easy to navigate, though sort of boring.
And all the grocery stores are closed because it's Australia Day, which is more similar to Thanksgiving than July 4th because all it really celebrates is invading Australia and wiping out the indigenous people here.
But there are barbeques!

I'm probably forgetting a lot of things...

Oh, I saw "Funny People" last night and I have to say, I loved it.
It's got some really funny parts and also some really good music to go along with the not-funny parts.
I recommend a perusal.

Next time I update will probably be from Melbourne, so until then...