Red Center. I actually had NO IDEA about this location until my mom mentioned that she really wanted to see Uluru (renamed by the white settlers as Ayers Rock). Which, again, I have to admit I was kind of embarrassing but hey, what’s life without a little embarrassment right? I spent some time doing some research on my own about the area and what was recommended to do there, which is when I stumbled across Emu Run…

For most of this trip, obviously the three of us stuck together… but Matt and I really wanted the full Uluru experience, so we were determined to camp and do sunrise hiking and all of that other goodness. Mom…. well she wanted to see everything but she wanted to be in a hotel. Plus with all of her physical restrictions, there was NO WAY she was going to be able to do the intense hiking that Matt and I were hoping for.

I contacted Emu Run about all of our issues, and I have to say, they were absolutely amazing. They assisted us in choosing the proper tours based on our needs and wants… and they even helped us ensure that we would be dropped off on the same day at the same hotel in Alice Springs after our separate tours concluded! Obviously without any way to communicate with each other since we were phoneless, this was a HUGE plus. Additionally, they even helped us select a tour to do together (MacDonnell Ranges) after we got to Alice Springs on our last day in the Red Center, and since we had booked so many things with them, they did give us a modest, but appreciated, discount.

So, suffice it to say, the customer service at Emu Run is unmatched.

The 3 day canyon camping experience… I don’t even know where to begin. I think this picture of how Matt and I made friends on this trip is a good start… Attempting to take selfies on the bus without flash and inciting a photobomber who then felt bad and apologized… but we encouraged her to do it again since we missed her in the first photo (Hey, Ellen!). Yep, we’re exceptional at socializing and being semi-grown adults. #tenpointstogryffinfor #tenpointstoravenclaw

From Sydney, we flew into the Uluru airport due to flight pricing (we’re talking hundreds of dollars cheaper per ticket, here!), but the Emu Run tour actually starts in Alice Springs. So we did miss the cultural museum, but our guide, Gavin, came to pick us up from the airport and had lunch in hand! We were whisked to Uluru and picked up our groupmates on the way, and we began our base walk…. we walked the shaded side, which we were VERY grateful for, and we got to snap some amazing pictures….

After that, we headed to a viewing site for the sunset, where we were treated by Gavin to champagne and snacks… snacks were a big part of our Emu Run tour… it was like being a little kid again! Every few hours we were plied with cookies or fruit… it definitely kept us energized and happy!

After the sunset snack and Uluru viewing, we headed to our campsite for the night (see the blurry photo for how Matt and I make friends… it’s basically the best), where we all got down to work either setting up camp, helping with the fire, or assisting with dinner prep. Matt and I decided that since we’d never started a fire before… THIS WAS THE TASK FOR US.

Lo and behold…. FIRE!

We had an awesome dinner, mostly prepared by Gavin, of chicken stir-fry (there was veg only too). Then we all hung out and chatting pretty late into the night, before passing out in our Swags. Which, btw, are freaking AWESOME!

Despite our group’s valiant and desperate pleas the night before, Gavin convinced all of us that getting up early would ensure that we got to all of our hikes before other tour groups, and that it was *way* better to do that because we could explore at our leisure, without people getting in our way or rushing us along.

I hate to say it, because I hate waking up early, but he was 100% right.

Breakfast was at everyone’s leisure upon waking, and there were the usual kind of hostel cold breakfasts which worked out well for everyone. There was also, of course, coffee and tea. Before our morning hike that day, we went to a sunrise viewing point for Uluru… breathtaking. We watched the sun slowly climb through the sky and the colors were some of the most vibrant I’ve ever seen. I want to say I took about 50 photos because I just kept snapping away!

After sunrise, the first morning hike we had was to Valley of the Winds, which was absolutely gorgeous, and also felt a bit like climbing straight up a vertical wall…. terrifying, and yet you feel incredibly accomplished upon completion. Coming down the hike was a bit more interesting… but we managed! There were snacks involved in this hike, it was probably a 3 hour excursion or so. Haha!

Once we finished that hike, we headed out towards our campsite for the evening, since it was a super long drive. On the way, we stopped to gather firewood. And when I say gather firewood I really mean stop on the side of the road outside of the national park grounds and RIP DEAD TREES OUT OF THE EARTH. It was pretty. effing. badass. Then we tied those puppies to the top of the camper and headed to our site for the night. The new site had tents for us to put our swags inside, so we were nice and toasty that night. We had a similar deal here where we camped down, showered, and then got to prep dinner. We actually ended up making this awesome beer, garlic and cheese bread to go along with our EMU BURGERS  and KANGAROO STEAKS. I won’t lie, I was pretty anxious about trying both things… but they were delicious. The burgers were cooked really well and had a nice smokey flavor from the fire, and the steaks were rare and SUPER lean. Given the chance, I’d definitely eat both again.

The second (and last) morning was a similar wakeup and breakfast before heading out to Kata Tuja and the Garden of Eden. This hike was actually begun in the dark and we watched the sunrise during our hike, which, again, I don’t know how many other ways to say “breathtaking” and “gorgeous” — I really need to thesaurus that and be a little more eloquent moving forward. HOWEVER, one of the coolest and most fun things we did on this hike was once we reached the Garden of Eden, Gavin broke out our snack… MINI APPLES. So we can now all say that we’ve eaten the apples in the Garden of Eden. Yep. Did that. Check it off the bucket list.

Once we finished there, we headed back to camp to scoop up all of our things and then started the long drive back to Alice Springs! We all napped, read, and alternated trying to convince each other to plug our iPods in for a different variety of music every once and a while… until we finally reached Alice for our dropoffs and sad goodbyes.

All in all…. I would ABSOLUTELY do the tour all over again. It was 100% worth every penny we spent and I HIGHLY recommend booking with them for your trip!