Meal Prep: Extreme Edition

I have spoken about meal prepping before - our crazy cooking days, which have, in recent times, become an interstate adventure thanks to Tara living in Melbourne!

The original blog was pretty much what we did, with the intention of sharing some recipes at some stage... which I never got around to.

So after this weekend's cooking extravaganza (12 weeks worth of food anyone?), I thought it was time to document it properly! Because we made so much food, and so many recipes, this is going to have to be a series, not just one post :)

Let's start with the how.

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The week before...
We spent a bit of time selecting the recipes we were going to make (hello Pintrest! You can find our board here).  From there, we made a list of everything I already have, the tools we would need (and the kitchen things Tara should bring from Melbourne) and a shopping list, so I had a plan when I went to the shops.

Friday...
Tara drove to my house, from her house in Melbourne.  This takes about 10 or 11 hours, and she arrived at around 2am on Saturday morning.

I went to the meat market before work, and bought all of the ingredients that we would need (well, all that I could buy at the meat market). I don't know if I mentioned the meat market last time, but it's in Pendle Hill in Western Sydney. And it will change your life.  Such good quality and reasonably priced.  Love it!

I also prepped my house and set it up to be more practical than usual, with more tables etc.  The perils of having a rental house with the smallest kitchen known to man!

Saturday...
I went to dancing like usual, and whilst I was there, borrowed 2 additional slow cookers - taking our slow cooker count up to 4!  This might seem like many, but I am fairly sure this is what made our lives so easy this weekend.  When I returned, we did the Woolies shop for the remaining ingredients.  I do actually prefer to shop independently, especially for fruits and veggies, deli meats and cheeses etc., but we didn't have time to shop around this time.

It was around midday that we eventually got going! The first thing was to get all 4 slow cookers on, so that we could leave them to do their thing.  We literally follow the recipes that we have chosen - usually this entails prepping the meat and veggies as per the instructions, throwing everything in the slow cooker and turning it on.

Once they were happening, we got a spaghetti bolognese on the stove - we don't actually have a recipe for this anymore because we have made it so many times! I like to get this one on as soon as possible, because 8 hours of reducing a tomato sauce makes such a difference.

We also decided to make a pork bolognese this time as well, just to mix it up.  This recipe is one I took from Hello Fresh, but instead of making it a quick meal, we popped it on the stove for about 2 hours - because yummy reduced tomato sauce :).

By this stage, it was 2.30pm in the afternoon and we had 6 recipes on the go.  We got the house into some kind of order (putting groceries away and doing the dishes etc.), before regrouping and deciding what to do next.

Since we had run out of stove and slow cooker space, we prepped veggies to make some roast veggie bowls that Tara has tried and tested and loved.  We both prepped veggies and lay them out on trays ready for roasting.  For this we followed the 2 recipes that we had, and then made a custom option for Mack, with the veggies he likes!  So now the oven was occupied too.

I then got onto to slicing up 8kg of chicken breast.  Yes. 8 kilos!  One thing we have done a few times now is marinate chicken breasts and freeze it raw - it is so great and so versatile to have in the freezer.  I sliced up the chicken, whilst Tara made the marinades, and then we set about portioning them up into ziplock bags.

A few things here that we have learnt over the many times we have done this:
- set timers for each of your slow cookers!
- use ziplock bags (or vacuum bags) where possible to save space in the freezer
- clean as you go (even more important when your kitchen is as tiny as mine)
- make some kind of plan at the beginning of the day of what order you will make the recipes in
- have labels ready to go for the tupperware/bags - you think you will remember what everything is, but I promise you you won't always be able to tell what it is once it's frozen.
- MAKE SURE YOU ACTUALLY EAT FOOD!

this counts as organised recipes right?

when your kitchen is this tiny, it's so important to clean as you go!

Having the timers going was a new thing for us, and I can't believe we hadn't even thought to do it before.  It meant that we knew when to check on something, when to add an additional ingredient, and when it should be done.

As the slow cookers recipes were finishing up, we had portioned up the chicken, and also the roasted veggies, and we were ready to let the finished slow cooker meals cool whilst we got new ones happening.  This time, we just put one extra on in, leaving us with 2 left to do on Sunday.  We also got one more recipe happening on the stove, and started off a soup that required cooling over night.

From there, all that was left to do was portion the meals that were finished, and tidy up, ready for tomorrow!

It really does help to meal prep with someone who you can get into a good flow with.  Doing this on your own totally sucks, and if you have someone that's unsure what's going on, it will also take longer.  After what is nearly 2 years of doing this, Tara and I have a great system going!

Sunday...
I woke pretty early, so I got one slow cooker meal in, and started prepping the other straight away.  Even with actually sitting down and eating brekkie and coffee, we still had 2 slow cookers on and the soup finishing up by 11am!

pushing the friendship on the maximum volume of the slow cooker!

We then marinated some beef for a new quesadilla recipe we hadn't tried before (making up a couple of marinades just because we could), and decided we weren't going to make one of the recipes we had planned.  Pizza pockets are super yummy, but they are a whole lot of work for not a lot of return.

We also set about making the beef casserole... until we realised that, aside from not having a casserole dish (and making a plan to borrow one from Mack's parents), I had totally blanked on this recipe entirely, and actually hadn't bought beef to make it with.  Oops.  No casserole for us!

The final job was to make pork schnitzels.  Couldn't believe that Tara had never made schnitzels before!  We prepped the meats, and crumbed them and vacpacked them individually.

It was a really weird feeling to approach 3pm, and have everything pretty much done.  Everything had been prepped, most of them were finished and portioned, and we only had to finish tidying and washing up!

I did do one more meal after this moment - I took any leftover grains, veggies, spices and stock and threw it in the slow cooker.  Mostly just to use it up haha, but it did create a nice veggie and lentil stew (and 3 extra days worth of food!).

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And that's it!

The biggest challenge for us was actually finding space to store all of this food overnight before Tara headed home on the Monday!!

In 1 weekend, we made...

16 different recipes.

78 days worth of food for 4 people.

That's 312 portions of food!

Money wise, we spent $665.72 (that's $332.86 per couple)... which works out to be $2.13 per portion!  That's insane.

Obviously, you might need to add pasta, or rice, or perhaps a salad with some of these meals, but even so, the per meal per person cost would still be less than $4.  The whole reason we started this was to stop wasting food and save more money.  This certainly does that!  It does mean outlaying a few hundred dollars at the beginning, but SO worth it.

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So how big is a portion?

This has been a huge trial and error process for us!  Mack and I don't eat a whole lot, whereas Tim and Tara eat larger portions.

We have found as a general rule for all 4 of us that:

- if it is essentially a complete meal (e.g. a stew or similar where you aren't adding any additional pasta or rice, but perhaps might have crusty bread on the side), then 400g per couple is good (200g per person)
- if you are adding pasta, rice or additional item to the dish when you are ready to eat, then 300g works (150g per person)

And yes we really do get the scales out and weigh everything.  We weigh each portion out, and get an even number of portions (so it is divided equally between both couples), and then any leftovers we split between each container.  So sometimes the portions might be a smidge bigger, but yea.

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So where do we store all of this food?

Both Tara and I have a chest freezer!  This cook certainly filled it up from almost empty though.

We didn't start this way though - when we started this 2 years ago, we used Chinese takeaway containers for the portions, and it fit in my normal freezer (at first).  For anyone doing this for the first time, I would use the cheap containers, and cook 14 or so days worth of food, and see if it works for you.  I got a chest freezer after the time we cooked and I had to take the ice trays and the shelves out of the freezer to fit everything in :).

Once you get into a rhythm, then start investing in good Tupperware.  I get mine from Kmart and they are the best!  They are 600ml and are perfect for 1 meal for 2 people. Tara has 1 litre Sistema containers - I don't think they seal as well, but the larger size means that I could fit 2 meals for 2 people, which saves a whole lot of space when you cook as much as we did!

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So what did we make?

Each week on Wednesday at 5pm, I will post the recipes that we made for this cooking weekend.  I do try to do step by step photos when I post recipes, but with this much food it is almost impossible, so I will post all of the photos we do have !  Once they are up, I will link them here as well :)

- Slow cooker pulled pork
- Slow cooker minestrone soup
- Slow cooker beef and barley Stew
- Slow cooker Tuscan chicken
- Spaghetti bolognese
- Pork and fennel bolognese
- Roast veggie bowls
- Marinated chicken breast (my top 10 faves!)
- Slow cooker apple rice pudding
- Chicken soup
- Italian sausage tortellini stew
- Slow cooker lamb Rogan Josh
- Slow cooker curried lentil and chickpea stew
- Make your own pork schnitzel - this one is coming soon; I want some step by step pics first!
- Beef quesadilla - also coming soon; I want to refine these marinades before I share!

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I hope this helps you get started on your own meal prep routine!

If you do have questions, pop them below :)
Hx

Roadtrip Australia: The Uluru - Flinders Ranges Adventure (Part Two)

We pick up this week at the moment we arrived at Uluru - finally!

Day seven - Uluru!

If there is one thing I would recommend, it would be to wake up early every day you are on a trip like this - like in time to see the sunrise early!  Aside from the fact that the desert provides you with glorious views as the sun rises and sets, it also means that you have literally the whole day to adventure.

This particular morning, we got a whole lot of clouds, but never mind!  Started off the morning walking the 10.6km loop around the base of the rock, which covers the Mala, Kuniya and Lungkata walks.  These other 3 walks are shorter, if you are short on time and/or energy.  The base walk took us around 2 hours - we probably rushed the last little bit as the rain got heavier.  It is a fairly easy flat walk, and the textures and shapes of the rock are so incredible.

We sheltered from the weather in the cultural centre, and wandered the shops, admiring the local artworks (some were painting right there in the shop!).  If you are into Indigenous dotworks, and have a spare few hundred to drop on art, then you will enjoy this.  If you are on more of a budget, like we were, there are plenty of smaller affordable pieces here too.

We then opted to cruise around the national park in the ute, because the rain was pretty persistent.  We sat and watched the rock for a while, taking photos of the colour changes.  Obviously the sun makes the rock go all kinds of gorgeous colours, but it does that in the rain too :)

We ended up having dinner in one of the hotel restaurants to escape the rain.  Whilst we were well prepared for food, am I the only one who really hates cooking outside whilst it is wet?

Day eight - Rainy days and the Olgas

Even with the promise of rain, again, we still woke before sunrise, and headed into the national park to the sunrise viewing platform.  We did get some pink clouds with no rain for a while, which is better than we expected!

Took the opportunity to head over to the Olgas (Kata Tjuta) for the morning.  This is a 50km drive from Uluru, but is definitely worth the trip.  Our viewpoint from the platform was stunning, and the sun even popped out for a photo or two, finally :).  We did the Walpa Gorge walk, which was nice, although i think the Olgas are really nice to view from a distance because the shape is so unique.

We were going to do the Lookout walk as well... but then the heavens opened.  Like full on storm kind of rain.  On the 50km drive back to the entrance to the park, it dawned on us that this kind of rain would be the perfect weather to get waterfalls on Uluru.

Now.  We could be a little disheartened that it rained the entire time we had been at Uluru (I mean, rain in the desert - really?!), or we could make the best of what we have.

1. Checking 'visit Uluru' off the bucket list

2. Enjoy the knowledge that we are part of the 1% of people that have visited the Rock who have seen the elusive waterfalls!

So we watched this gorgeous phenomenon, and took many a photo for a long while, as the rain continued to pour.  SO COOL!

The rest of the day was spent at camp sheltering from the weather.  We were supposed to stay here another night, but after playing board games and discussing our Uluru experience for most of the afternoon, we decided it was time to leave.

**Opinion alert**
DISCLAIMER: the below section is my feelings about Uluru, and not of anyone else's.  You don't have to agree with me at all (we are all different), so feel free to post your experiences in the comments!

Now let's talk about the Uluru experience for a second.  Before I start, I would highly recommend visiting Uluru, and it's surrounds.  Because it's still really cool.  And way bigger than you think it is.  I just think it's lost... something.  Charm, maybe?  I'm not sure.  I think it would have been amazing to visit in the 70's!

When you prepare for a long trip such as this one, you consider the possibilities of not being near to a fuel station, or drinking enough water, or having to drive for long distances on a dirt road.  To be honest, that is exactly what we hoped for!  The concept of dirt road highways, and country pubs and local community is exactly what we enjoy and what we expected.

And it just wasn't that.  At all.

There is a tar road, not just most of the way - ALL of the way, right to the side of the rock.  The resort has been taken over by one hotel group, and as such, it feels like a little city.  You could actually fly right to the resort, take a shuttle to the hotel, stay and eat in the hotel, shuttle to the rock, shuttle back and fly out, and you would have absolutely no idea how far away from anything you actually are!

The part that freaked me out the most was sitting in the restaurant, watching lots of tourists eating oysters, prawns and other seafood.  Where on earth did that come from - how fresh can it really be?

It just felt so commercial - it doesn't feel outback anymore.  There aren't even many animals in the national park anymore!  So sad.

There are lots of outback experiences that are offered at Uluru; we were booked into the outback dinner, but it got washed out by the weather.  Now that I have been there, I am a little grateful that we did get washed out (although I did want to see the Field of Lights - which has been extended until 2020, so I might still get to see it!), because I feel that I would have been disappointed by it.

The other thing that annoyed me a little was that, in the event of bad weather, it isn't uncommon for visitors to just up and leave and not even see the Rock or anything else the area has to offer.  That is just... insane.  You have travelled so far (although you might not realise you are a 4 day drive from Sydney) and spent so much money, and yet you are OK with just leaving because it's wet.  Just because you won't get to see the stars, the rock won't get all of it's sunny colour, you can't climb the rock (although legally you can't do that any more anyway).  If you take nothing else from this blog, it should be ENJOY IT - take whatever you can get.  The rainy colours of Uluru, the waterfalls, the adventure of being in the Northern Territory.  It's amazing - don't throw it away because of the rain.

It is interesting to me that on our Uluru trip, actually visiting Uluru was our least favourite part!  But it was amazing to see it finally.  Clearly we were just destined to see it in the rain!!

We left that night, driving the highway slowly in the storm.  We ended up staying at a campground on the corner of the highway (Elundra - well priced with great showers and laundry, and one of those country pubs I was talking about), and started planning the rest of the trip!

Day nine - detour to Alice Springs and storm chasing

On this morning, I woke at 4am, totally soaked because water flooded into the back of the ute!  SO much water.  If you ever want rain in the desert, take us with you haha!

Dried the sheets in the laundry, and waited for the sun to come up whilst we worked out what we were going to do about the bed.  We hadn't tested our waterproofing because... well... deserts and rain aren't usually a thing.  So we decided the best thing to do would be to go and get some silicone and waterproofing spray to fix it, especially since the rain seemed to be hanging around.

The nearest Bunnings... Alice Springs.  At this point, what is a 400km round trip detour?

So off we went, capturing the most insane sunrise on the way!!! :)

Once we arrived in Alice, we topped up fuel, and went for a little wander through the park surrounding the old telegraph station and up to the top of Trig Hill.  Such a fabulous view, and we had some glorious sunshine finally!  We even had some rock wallabies join us.

We could have spent much more time here, but it wasn't even in the plan, so just a glimpse was all we had time for.  Headed back out of town (after grabbing some coffee), and picked a random rest stop on the highway to waterproof the car.  Perfect weather here haha.

Our goal today was to make it back to Marla.  The closer we got, the stormier it got.  It is quite the experience to drive in and out of a storm band.  Once we arrived, we had a pub dinner at the pub at the Marla roadhouse.  And it is amazing.  That true country pub feel.  Great people, great food.  Loved it!

Day ten - Oodnadatta Track

We woke up today with a rough goal to wind up somewhere closer to the Flinders Ranges.  There is a large amount of space with nothing, and we didn't really know what to aim for.

Made it to Coober Pedy, where a trip to the visitors centre (the one we couldn't visit last time because it was a public holiday) gave us the perfect plan.  The Oodnadatta Track.

When you search this on google maps, the time it will take to travel this track is largely inflated, because it has no idea what to do with a dirt road!  In real life, its 620km in length, and you can jump on and off it, and travel as much of it as you like.  From Coober Pedy, you head onto William Creek Road, and will arrive at William Creek as your first town after about an hour.  The word town is used loosely here... this is what we expected the outback to be!

i might recommend mud terrains for wet outback roads haha

The next place you will come across is Coward Springs, on the left (assuming you came from William Creek).  And it is one of the most awesome camp grounds we have seen.  Well kept bathrooms, chip heaters for the shower, great views.

And an outback jacuzzi (yes we did take a dip) :).

Such a great detour - never be afraid to deviate from the plan.  You never know what you might find.

Day eleven - Roadkill menus and the Flinders Ranges

Woke up in the morning to a flat tyre - what's a roadtrip with us without a few car related stories!  We carry a tyre repair kit and an air compressor with us on these trips for this reason exactly - would definitely recommend it.

We followed the recommendations of the lovely man in the visitor centre on this track, and went off the track to venture across the Artisian Basin to Blanchecup and the Bubbler.  Beauitful natural features of this world that I could spend forever watching.  We even saw Lake Eyre from this track, which was really amazing (another salt lake).

From here, we got fuel in a very tiny town (the kind where the fuel, post office and general store are all one), and then we were at the top of the Flinders!

At this point, we remembered that a couple of guys from Melbourne, who we met in Coober Pedy had said to us that if we were ever passing through Parachilna, we should go to this pub and have their roadkill menu.

So that is exactly what we did!

It was AMAZING.  If you are ever in a position to go here, do.  Even if you are on a budget - splurge!  The food is delicious, so is their beer.  Good call random people we met in CP; I will forever recommend this place too :)

We continued our drive into the Flinders, using the dirt roads, which was just gorgeous.  It looked like it had rained a bit but had eased for the moment.

We drove through, even stopping for some emus to cross, and settled into Wilpena Pound for the night.

Day twelve - 4 wheel driving in the rain

Woke up to more rain!

First, we went to the info centre here, to determine which 4wd tracks would be open or closed.  Definitely something to be aware of, always, but especially when it is so wet.

We drove to the nearest town, Hawker, mostly to get food and fuel.  But their general store didn't even have any food haha!  Went up to the lookout point - it is quite a steep walk up, but it is well worth it.  Super spectacular view (especially when there is a break in the weather).

When we returned to Wilpena Pound, the rain started up again.  We drove the track down to Sacred Canyon.  Once you reach the car park, you walk along the river bed, until you get to here -

Even in the rain, as long as you are careful, you can walk all the way to the top of here... DO IT!  You could probably go for a really long walk up there, and it would be so serene.  We only didn't because the rain was getting heavier again.

We rode out a heavy downpour in the pub with lunch and a beer.  Once it subsided again, we decided to risk the Bunyeroo Gorge track.  When we started the drive down, the road was open and fine to drive on... it is about a 7km road one way, and the further we went the worse the rain got.  We stopped when we got to this section of road!

We headed back up, and by the time we got out of there, I can guarantee they would have closed the road.  It was a little sketchy, but Mack had fun.  We did have time to savour this view though :)

Whilst we sheltered from the heavy rain in the bar, we made the decision to start heading home in the morning.  This weather had basically followed us from Uluru, all the way to the Flinders and it wasn't going anywhere fast!

Day thirteen & fourteen - the drive home

We woke early, and packed up our campsite ready for the journey home.  Decided on the Hay Plains route home and set off.  We drove through Renmark and Mildura (like the Practice Uluru trip), and stopped on the Hay Plains to watch the sunset.

It is very important to note that the second we started heading home, the sun came out.  Thanks world!

We enjoyed the sunset, and then finally got to practice taking photos of stars :)

Our journey ended the next day with a very direct uneventful drive home.

And that is it!

I maybe should have split this into 3 parts... but oh well.  I hope you enjoyed the super long read.

As a roadtrip plan, I hope this has given you some ideas for your own adventure.

More importantly, I hope it has shown that when it rains on your holiday incessantly, it is not the end of the world.  Enjoy what you can do in the rain, and relish in the delights of phenomenons that only occur when it is wet!

Come back next Sunday at 5pm for my guide to fuel in the outback (how much does it really cost to drive around Australia).

Hx

Cook with Hannah: Lava Cookies

Remember that time I created the lava cookie?

No?  You missed it last time (all those years back) - don't worry.  Here we are again, with something that was really quite delicious.

This is a little something I created when I felt like baking cookies, but wanted them to be a little different.

Beat the butter and sugar together..

Add a couple of eggs [one at a time]..

Mix in the flour, and the chocolate [I used white chips this time]..

Allow the dough to set in the fridge, and then shape teaspoon sized balls into a bowl shape, just the right size to fit into a mini muffin pan..

Now take some chocolate ganache [recipe from here] and spoon it into the cookie cups..

Cover the ganache with another piece of cookie dough..

Then bake!

My Recipe Notes:

Spray the muffin pan well before putting the cookie dough in.

Coat your hands in flour throughout the whole process - cookie dough can get pretty sticky!

I used plain flour in this, as opposed to self raising flour, because I don't need them to spread out and make giant cookies.

Don't forget to leave half the mixture for the 'lid' of the lava cookies.

You can also warm up the ganache and use a sandwich bag with a small hole in it to pipe it in.

In the picture at the top [which is of the original lava cookies I made a while ago], I chopped up a block of dark chocolate and put the small shards into the dough - it works well!

Lava Cookies

Makes 24 - 30

Ingredients:

250g unsalted butter, softened

250g soft brown sugar

2 eggs

400g plain four

200g chocolate

1/2 batch dark chocolate ganache [recipe]

Method.

Step 1: beat butter and sugar together until light and fluffy

Step 2: add eggs one at a time

Step 3: stir in flour until well combined, and then add chocolate

Step 4: roll dough into a log shape and refrigerate until set

Step 5: preheat oven to 180oC [or 160 if your oven is fan forced], and make ganache

Step 6: press half the dough into a muffin pan [as shown in the pictures], pipe in the ganache, and top with remaining cookie dough.  press them down slightly so they are flat like cookies

Step 7: bake for 15 minutes, or until they are golden brown

Step 8: leave to cool before removing them from the muffin pan

I don't know how many recipes there are out there for lava cookies - this was just a random experiment of mine one day, and it was a really really great idea!

Enjoy!

Hx

Roadtrip Australia: The Uluru - Flinders Ranges Adventure (Part One)

Another roadtrip adventure means another week of grabbing a coffee and settling in for a long read!  I hvae split it into part one and part two so it isn't quite so long... :)

Since our first Uluru trip was a failure, in the sense that we didn't actually make it to Uluru (haha), we booked Easter 2017 to try again.

For a second time, I made a plan for where to go and what to do and where to stay, although I was a little less detailed with it after last time's adventure.  We were still vaguely aware that we were going into the desert, but it wasn't Summer this time so we weren't expecting to be burnt to a crisp.

Let's get right to it - hope you enjoy!

Day one - getting on the road

Again leaving late evening, we got going, to give us a head start on tomorrow!  Slept at a campspot we know well in Capertee.

Day two - powering through

The goal for day two was to successfully get to Broken Hill without any issues.  10 hour drive non-stop anyone?  Nothing eventful happened (which was probably a great thing), as we drove through Dubbo, Cobar, Wilcannia and arrived at Broken Hill.  We checked into the same camp ground as last time, and treated ourselves to a pub schnitzel and beer for arriving!  We ended up sleeping at around 8pm after that mammoth drive, but now we were ready to get going up to Uluru.

Day three - visit South Australia

Started the day off at 6am, heading straight to Silverton.  You might know this from one of the Mad Max movies!  The museum itself was closed because ... well.. it was 6am.  But we looked at the stuff they had outside, and admired the desert views.

It is some incredible view, especially from Mundi Mundi lookout!

After Silverton, we headed out to Peterborough, and then continued through to Melrose.  We had lunch here, and then we thought this was the access point to Alligator Gorge... but it wasn't.  Got back on the road towards Port Augusta, and en route, saw the access road to Alligator Gorge.  Followed the windy road down into the gorge, and to the two lookout points.

There are plenty of walks and things you can do here, but we just didn't have time.  Once we hit Port Augusta, our goal was to not stop until we had to!  We got fuel in Port Augusta and Pimba (this has a great Roadhouse), and then settled in for the night at a rest stop next to Lake Hart.  This lake has no water, and is all salt - SO cool!  We got there right before sunset, and walked all the way out onto the lake to photo the incredible sunset.  It was such a clear, beautiful night :).

Day four - heading Outback

Had a little sleep in (until 7.30am), and got on the road around 8.  Past Glendambo (another good roadhouse), and arrived at Coober Pedy around lunch time.  Now Coober Pedy is a sight to see.  Your landscape changes from super flat as far as the eye can see, to SO many piles of dirt from where people have dug opal mines.  Literally everywhere.  It's crazy!

Since the visitor centre was closed (the perils of traveling over a public holiday.), we cruised around a little bit.  Saw the Big Winch, with some pretty town views, and then found the Old Timers Mine (which was open!).  Escaped the heat by exploring this mine, and then headed to a cafe for lunch.  There wasn't really much open, so we ended up having a coffee in an opal shop, and admiring the jewellery and art.  If you are in the market for some rather expensive opals, or some insanely beautiful didgeridoos, this is the place for you!  Got back on the road, and headed to our goal for the day - Marla.  Detoured a little on the way to see the Breakaways - well worth the 9km dirt road detour.  SO beautiful.

Day five - King's Canyon

We woke early, excited to be finally making it into the Northern Territory!

Made it to King's Canyon in about 6.5 hours.  We checked into the campground, and started off with a beer.  Had dinner in the bar, and headed to the sunset area to watch the sunset... which was super cloudy and anticlimactic, but that's ok.

Day six - adventuring

Woke up early to watch a sunrise that didn't really happen either, and then went to the Rim Walk (after topping up fuel for $2.10 per litre!!  There will be a whole post on fuel soon..).  This walk begins with a super steep climb, and then its quite cruisy around the top of the canyon.  SO gorgeous.  We had such a perfect day for it.  The time it says this walk will take is 3 - 4 hours, but we did it in 2, and we didn't feel like we were rushing.  Don't forget water on a walk like this!

There are other walks you can do, but we decided to finally finish our journey to Uluru.  Wandered around Kathleen Springs on the way (because why not), and then arrived at Ayers Rock Resort around lunch time.  Had lunch in one of the restaurants, and then settled into our camp spot.  Spent the evening planning our Uluru adventure, and then went to see the viewpoint of the Rock - so cool!  Watched the (cloudy) sunset, and then went to bed early to be ready for tomorrow!

That's it for now - join me next week to discover all about Uluru, and the Flinder's Ranges... and what to do when all it does in the desert is rain!

Hx