This is our trip to the Australian Outback, with some of the most fun people to do life with! The 12 of us set out on a 2-week journey in a school bus, towing a blue camper trailer and no air con, ready for the blistering hot Australian Outback.

 

Starting from Adelaide we made our way up to Coober Pedy and spent the first night of the trip at the underground Seventh-Day Adventist Church. Special thanks to the Church members who were incredibly hospitable to us. This is when the trip really then took off, as we arrived 17 hours later at the breathtaking and iconic landmark, Uluru. We didn't take any opportunity for granted so we walked around it, climbed it, watched sunrise and sunset over it and visited the field of lights. You name it, we did it! When we left, we thought the main highlight of the trip would be Uluru, but boy were we wrong! Our adventures only continued to get better and better as we explored the rest of the Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park and walked the spectacular 6km Valley of the Winds hike through Kata Tjuta.

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Just as we thought we had ticked off everything we needed on our Australian Outback bucket list we arrived at the 'little brother' of Uluru, Kings Canyon. For many of us, this turned out to be our favourite part of the trip. We started walking the 6km rim walk at 5:30 am to experience and capture the beautiful sunrise at the peak of the canyon. The walk provided plenty of beautiful scenery, adventure, and Instagram opportunities. With no fences holding you back from the cliff edges, just old people glaring at you and tour guides yelling at you and other tourists to stay away, we had plenty of good photo opportunities! Gotta do it for the Gram right?!

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We were now halfway through the trip and it was time to experience a little bit of civilization in Alice Springs, as well as restock our supplies. With Mikaela's connections from her time in the Northern Territory, we were kindly hosted by the Alice Springs Seventh-Day Adventist Church. Thanks to Warren and the church family for the cool air-conditioned rooms and hospitality as we recovered, cooled down and restocked for the next few days in the West Macdonnell Ranges. 

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We were so unbelievably thankful for the aircon throughout the night at the Church, we were off again in the blazing heat ready to explore the West Macdonnell Ranges but luckily this time we had a few GORGEous swimming holes to spend hours in! We visited Ellery Creek Big Hole, Ormiston Gorge, Red Bank Gorge and based ourselves for 3 nights at the beautiful Glen Helen Gorge campground. These 3 days were the most enjoyable as it was no longer 1-night camps and move along, we had more time to relax, play games (Avalon - til late at night) explore and swim in every single water hole! To finish off the trip Mark was able to peer pressure everyone to do the Mount Sonder summit hike. After a long night of Avalon and a short 3-hour nap we were in the bus and hiking up Mount Sonder by 3:30 am, with head torches on, racing up to catch the sunrise at the summit. It was a tiring day, but it was definitely a special one. At this point in the trip, I realised where you go in life doesn't bring you happiness but who you do life with does! 

 

Lots of love for #Theulucrew - Mark Elbourne, Mikaela Elbourne, Jared Bocala, Chloe Bocala, Kevin Lozada, Jason Pascoe, Frida Reirson, Monique Graf, Carl Thomson, Jacinta Thomson, Sarah Watts and Melissa Preston. 

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Lifetime memories were made with the #theulucrew, check out the hashtag on Instagram and the photos from the other legends on the trip!