Oh the cold, the terrible cold!

Dawn wasn't even considering getting up and was still slumbering gently when we were rudely awoken by the buzzing of our alarm. Despite protestations by the girlies everyone was hauled out of bed and into the car (showering and breakfast were not on the agenda til later on). We drove through the dark streets and back out to the dark desert. Did I mention that it was dark?

We were the first car to arrive in the middle of the desert. We had decided the night before that we would set up on and around the centre lookout post. We hopped out of the car and the air was rent with the screams of the tortured. $£*%! was it cold!

We braved the elements and set up the cameras. It was at this point we all wished we'd bought arctic gear, several fleeces and heated underwear. The show had better be bloody worth it, thought Inga and Rachael, or Mark is dead! The show had better be worth it, though Mark, or I'm dead! At least the day was starting with everyone on the same page.

The sun yawned and decided to amble lazily up into the sky. And I went snap happy again. Rachael tried to find shelter from the cold behind a rock but her bits still froze slowly from the lack of stored heat. And the sun was still having trouble choosing the right footwear for the day. False dawn finally started to put in an appearance and the desert started to lose its dark shadowy look. Everywhere you turned the rocks were slowly changing colour, the shadows starting to migrate seawards as the light coaxed them into action.

And then the sky lit up.




It's hard to describe the riot of colour that suddenly races across the sky, the photo's capture just a fraction of it all. The sky over the desert is huge as there's nothing from horizon to horizon to block the view and the colour flows across it all, chasing the night out to sea. And once it starts there is no turning back, no slipping gently back into slumber, no having a lie in. You're up!



The dragon (or dog, cloud formations are very subjective) chased the night away to bother someone else (Africa was the next stop for the night) and Dawn realised that it was time to get up and put on her daily show. Outfit chosen, matching footwear (de regieur for any self respecting blazing star), let the show commence! (well, continue to be exact)




It was still cold but the light show more than made up for it. We were still the only people in the desert at this point, which was great. We, or rather I, could scurry about like a mad idiot taking photo after photo and not worry about how daft I looked. So I did. We took 132 usable photo's by the time the show was over and it's so tempting just to put the entire lot up here so you can see the incredible progression, but I shan't. Book a flight and go there yourself, you won't be disappointed.



The sun took quite a while to finally amble over the horizon (Dawn may get up quite early but the sun is a bit of a sluggard when it comes to getting out of bed) but his stately arrival was heralded, not by an ever changing sky, but by ever changing colours in the rocks.





Eventually the sun climbed up high enough to appear over the hillside and the colours fled from the full onslaught of heat and light to wait patiently for dusk when they would re-emerge and dance again amongst the limestone formations to the delight of a different audience. We, on the other hand, were seriously ready for showers and a big fat breakfast.







Oh, and it was about now that the first other morning visitors turned up - about 2 hours late for the real show - but we didn't mind. Having the desert to ourselves for the whole of dawn somehow made it even more special.