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A grand Hello from Uluru!!
I absolutely love this place!!
Our flight over from Perth was 2 hours and 40 minutes, so its like flying over from England to Spain or something!! crazy, so weve crossed another timezone, so now were 8 & 1/2 hours ahead of you now...
Oh i also forgot to mention, On our Roadtrip.... Luke nearly ran over an Emu!! he saw in on the left side of the road, so slowed right down, and as soon as the Emu saw us it slowly strutted across the road as though it was parading itself!!! this was on our trip back to Perth!! It was about 7 Foot tall, and its body was soooo big!!! it was such a freaky thing!! my heart jumped into my throat, when i saw it!!!........
So Ayers Rock! we got our bags and then got on the shuttle bus from the airport to the resort, which was about a 10 minute drive, but the road leads from the airport directly towards Uluru, then it turns into the resort, so we had fabulous sightings of the rock. we got dropped off and checked in.. Were in the Outback Pioneer Hotel & Lodge (the cheapest option!!) in a 4 bedded dorm, to be honest, anything is better than sleeping on a floor in a tent, and in a car!!!
We got checked in, and had a walk around the resort, the resort is built in a circle, and there is an island in the middle of the rest which you cut through to get places, so we walked through there to check out the shopping area and food places, so within about 15 minutes of walking i had been bitten to death! mosquitoes everwhere! and the flies were more annoying than anything, they are HUGE! and they like to hang off your face!! theyll purch on your cheek, on your eyebrow or your ear, and even swatting them to get them away they'll come back to get cozy!!
I was told to expect the prices to be sky high here, obviously being out in the middle of nowhere, and theyre capitalising on the tourist trade... but the prices are no different to Perth!! so were used to paying ridiculous prices!!! Anyway Grumble over.... We got some food from the local supermarket, and readed back, we ordered some bers from the bar and sat out in the sun... yes thats right, over 2 months of being in Australia, and our first stint of sunbathing!!!! Rest assured, this will continue now were out of Perth! We stupidly ordered "Pints" but should have done our research... over this neck of the woods they serve "Schooners" which is just less than a pint, i dont know why or whats the point, but its beer non the less!!! And we have both found the required taste for a beer!! Yummmy!!!
Just by our hostel dorm there is a look out point which is on a sand dune and you can see both Ayers rock & the Olgas (AKA, Uluru and Kata Tjuta) so we hung out here for a while to see the changing colour of the rock... it went from bright orange to dark brown in an instance.
It is so peaseful here and just a really relaxed way of life.... And I love it!! we hung out with a couple more beers before settling down for an early night IN A BED!!! We stayed up chatting with out French roomie for a while, we were worried we would be bunkin with some weirdo... Luckily that wasnt the case!!!...
So the next day - our first full day here, we were up before sunrise, and were picked up from reception on 2 Harley Davidson motorbikes... we got on our helmets and gloves and climbed aboard!! We were driven from the resort to Ayers rock, and then pulled over to pay the $50 park entrance fee for the two of us, and THEN was told my helmet had a visor - I couldnt breathe or see anything for the fist stint of the journey but desperatley wanted to keep my eyes open to be able to take in the experience... and the changing colour of the rock!!! In time i was shown the visor, so when we were on the move again i could see and breathe effortlessly!!!! ha!
We drove half way around the rock whilst the sun was coming up, it was a glorious sight, absolutley stunning, no road noise.... apart from the Harleys engines... but because it was our experience, it was just perfect, sure enough it must have annoyed everyone else who had got up to watch the sunrise in the silence!!!
Anyway we pulled in half way around for photographs and for a cuppa coffee!!!! neither of us could move our lips to drink it... but we managed, just to warm us up, then ate a breakfast muffin and chatted to our drivers for a short while, then headed back on the road.....
So we drove the 10.6KM around the base of the rock in around an hour, it was just brilliant!!! Legend has it that the rock is sacred and there are certain points where you shouldnt take photos, and other rules but the reason I bring this rule up, is that whilst I was on the back of the Harley, I was snapping away, and taking lots of shots, then all of a sudden my camera brought up a message "are you sure you want to delete ALL pictures".... I hadnt asked to format my card... Maybe I had knocked a couple of buttons i dont know, but I wasnt in the menu section of my camera at the time, I was taking photgraphs??
Maybe it is the spirit.. I dont know, but I am an unlucky person, so if anything tries to curse me, it may just calcel out the other bad luck I have..... who knows?? Another unexplained mystery!!!!
When we got back i got back into bed to warm up... it must have been just above 0 degrees, we knew the nights were cold at this time of year, but i really didnt expect it to be that cold.... it took AGES to thaw out!! But once we did we pottered around, went to the supermarket & bought loads of steaks to cook on the BBQ, then came back & sunbathed...
So at time of press, we are both nicely baked, in a true Brit style, nice and RED!!! HA!! Whilst we were sunbathing by the resort pool, we were approached by a bloke from Wakefield ( he saw I was wearing Leeds Rhino shorts) so he plodded on over in his speedo's and chatted to us for ages with a pure "eee by gum" accent!!! And as speedo torpedo was leaving he said "cheers" - Just like my dad... sorry dad!! it is obviously an old yorkshire man thing, that just hasnt caught on with the youth of today!!!
So after we had cooked ourselves to a well done standard, we went out in the bush, off the beaten track.... not far away from the resort, but far enough away to be true outback! it was ace - the ants were the size of fingernails!! and Luke was looking for snakes... I really dont know what he would have done had he found one... I personally think he would have been as petrified as me!!!
Anyway its our last evening in Ayers Rock, so going to try Kangaroo & maybe even crocodile tonight and wash that away with a few beers... So it will be another week or so before i can blog again, as we are back on the open road... Adelaide to Melbourne on the Great Ocean Road....... so Good Afternoon, Good Evening & G'Day!!!! xxxxxxxxxxxx
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