Day 546-547: March 30-31, 2026 – Uluru, Australia

The Uluru tour I signed up for was described as a camping trip with “Australian Swag.” It appears that “swag” in Australia doesn’t have quite the same meaning as it does in the U.S. It means sleeping on the ground in an industrial-strength canvas sleep sack. A regular sleeping bag goes inside the sack.

There was an opportunity to upgrade to a tent, but I decided I needed to do the full outback experience, so I stayed with my swag.

It was surprisingly comfortable and quite fun, sleeping directly under the stars, with just my face peeking out. I was a little worried about mosquitoes but was pleasantly surprised they weren’t a problem. We were warned there were dingoes (wild dogs) in the area and heard them howling at night but fortunately they didn’t make an appearance at camp.

What was a problem during the day was relentless bush flies. I am quite certain there are more flies in the Australian outback than there are stars in the universe. They were everywhere, getting into my nose, eyes, and ears. Most of the time I had to wear a fly net for protection. The minute I took it off I got swarmed. The gesture of constantly swatting flies away from your face has been immortalized as the “Aussie Salute“. Fortunately, they disappeared after dark and didn’t bother me at night.

Most of the outback is desert, but I was surprised to find there were no cacti anywhere in this desert; they are not native to Australia. A distinctive feature of the outback is its bright red-orange soil, the result of large amounts of iron oxide.

Our tour guide Lorrie was fabulous. She not only drove the van and provided educational commentary, but also cooked dinner, set up camp, collected firewood, nagged us to always have enough water while hiking and was just an all-around fun person to be around.

A few more scenes from our campground at King’s Creek Station.