Australia Rocks

People ask all the time - 'what do you DO when you're away' and it's a good question.  Sometimes the answer is not very exciting stuff a lot of the time.  It takes a long time to do things that don't usually take that much time, like cooking (on a trangia), doing laundry, pitching a tent so you have a bed, finding somewhere to check email/internet banking on slow connections etc.  If you read travel books a lot of people writing them complain a lot about all that kind of stuff, and it can be very annoying.  I would say that I would much rather read about the rest of the day though, when you get to see something you've never seen before, try food you've never eaten before or go to a really amazing place.

Doing walks is a really good way to see places, particularly if you can walk up something high to get a good view.  It's also satisfying to do the hard work to get to the top, and know it's not going to be quite so tiring to get back down! Australia has some amazing (and strange) landscapes to look at.   Also, without running around after you lot at school, I have to make sure I keep fit somehow!

Here's a few pictures from high walks in a few different states:  

Here's another very big rock - a very famous one - many of you probably recognise it as Ayers Rock,  traditional name Uluru.  This one is not for climbing, though sadly many tourists still do climb it.  It is a sacred place to the local aboriginal community (the original inhabitants of Australia) and climbing it is a bit like climbing on an altar in a church.  
I don't really understand why people still climb it - not only is it made clear that it's not the correct behaviour but also it's incredibly steep and hard to climb, often subject to fast changing weather, and is quite simply the only thing to see - once you're stood on top, you can't see it!
I walked around instead, and saw lots of changing shapes and colours.

Nearby are the funny shaped rocks you can see in the other photo - the Olgas.  These are also not for climbing, but again the walk around them is amazing. I feel very lucky to get to see all these sights!