Alice Springs was now our goal so that Rich could go back to Sydney to attend Graham’s funeral. Kel’s mum, Sandy was also flying in to Alice to help Rich, Dylan and Ari celebrate their birthdays. We made a beeline for the local Big 4 to get the kids some fellow kid action. They were delighted to discover not one, but two jumping cushions at their disposal, several play areas to choose from, 3 pools and unlimited kids to play with. They set about making friends straight away.
Next morning, Kel cooked Rich a birthday breakfast before he had to catch the plane. As birthday season was upon us, we took advantage of the real shops to get the kids' birthday presents. Dylan got a new bike to burn around the parks on. Ariel chose a Furby. Now this Furby was not quite the Furby she wanted (which reminded her of Gizmo). This Furby was a "party rockers" version but she would not be dissuaded. The thing turned out to be the most obnoxious caravan guest ever. It seriously sounds like Cartman from Southpark, with attitude to match and found itself banished to a cupboard to "go to sleep" by the end of the evening.
After the airport farewells, Kel and the kids returned to the caravan park for an afternoon of school, swimming and play. Kel set about proving that men are redundant by assembling Dylan's flat pack bike, which was accompanied by instructions written in creative English. Overcome with boredom she ultimately conceded that men are useful for tightening brake cables. Ariel witnessed the process and decided that she wouldn't bother buying her own children bikes! Dylan tested out his new wheels under strict instructions not to ride down hills!
On Saturday, Kel and the kids prepared for Sandy's arrival. Went to the airport early to check out the aero club display. The kids got to check out helicopters, gliders, light planes, fire engines and a Royal Flying Doctor's plane. Even got to watch Grandma's plane approaching on a live feed of the control tower's mapping and communications.
Then came the big test. Next morning, Kel had to face the challenge of packing up the caravan and hooking up to the car by herself. With Sandy keeping the kids occupied at the free pancake breakfast, Kel got to work. Did some mother and daughter reversing just prior to leaving which was surprisingly hassle free. Played the girl card at the front office and got a guy to check that everything was properly attached. All good to go!
 |
| Do not buy this toy! |
On Saturday, Kel and the kids prepared for Sandy's arrival. Went to the airport early to check out the aero club display. The kids got to check out helicopters, gliders, light planes, fire engines and a Royal Flying Doctor's plane. Even got to watch Grandma's plane approaching on a live feed of the control tower's mapping and communications.
Then came the big test. Next morning, Kel had to face the challenge of packing up the caravan and hooking up to the car by herself. With Sandy keeping the kids occupied at the free pancake breakfast, Kel got to work. Did some mother and daughter reversing just prior to leaving which was surprisingly hassle free. Played the girl card at the front office and got a guy to check that everything was properly attached. All good to go!
Then came the fun part - towing the van 450 kilometres to Yulara. No big dramas, the road was pretty straight (though a little 'wavy' in places). Made just one stop at the junction of the Stuart and Lasseter Highways at a cool roadhouse. Had to pull off the road at one point to let through a house on wheels. We all got excited when we saw a big rock out on the horizon - which turned out to be the wrong big rock.
The real rock was just as impressive when it finally came into view. Strangely the desert here, although more convincing with its russet red sand dunes, seems more green and alive than that in western Queensland. It's getting toward the end of the dry, so there was only a modest show of wildflowers, but they were very pretty and a welcome visual relief! Also, looking up, we realised that we hadn't seen a cloud for about four weeks. Have suddenly become big fans of clouds, particularly their shadows! Met Rich (who had flown from Sydney to Uluru) at the campsite, set up camp and then headed off for a swim and went in search for a bottlo for a bottle of wine. Wine is expensive out here - but tastes oh so good!
Had a slow start the next day, went into the village centre to check out info displays and get our bearings. Listened to a cutural talk by a local Aboriginal ranger on making and using weapons. Checked out Uluru from a lookout in the campsite. Hot and bothered, we retreated to the pool. The campground is scant on shade and the temperature was up at 36 degrees!
As sunset approached we drove out to Uluru to take some photos. We drove around the base, marvelling at the shapes and colours. We thought it was an awesome sight. It lived up to all the expectations we had from it being an icon.
Made it back to the sunset lookout in time (we weren't the only ones in a hurry!). It was funny watching some fellow tourists trying to cook their dinner, made difficult by the very determined flies trying to steal their food away. There was low cloud, so we only got 30 seconds or so of light splashing onto the rock, but when it did turn on it was quite spectacular.
On our third day, we got up in the dark to watch the sun rise over Uluru. Yes, we were slightly behind schedule despite best efforts. Doh! The sunrise viewing platform is on the far side of the rock. Drove 'efficiently' (within the speed limit of course) in a race against the ever more pink sky. Made it in enough time to enjoy the serenity of the sunrise.
We then headed around to one of the carparks and had a great picnic breakfast. Fuelled up, we began our trek around the base. This was a plan we conceived the night before following an impassioned discussion - to climb or not to climb? Sandy had the good sense to stay out of that one :) We walked along the southern side of the rock during the morning and enjoyed the vast scale and many faces of the rock. We took a stand against flies and decided we were too cool for fly nets, he he he. Surely the flies had the last laugh. We reached the halfway point at about 11am as the day was really starting to heat up. We had a snack and then decided to split up, with Rich continuing around the northern side of the rock, and the rest of the party heading back around what we hoped would be the slightly cooler southern side. After a couple of hours of ‘hot walking’ (a term invented by Ari) and much fly swatting, we all met back at the car, and headed to the visitors' centre for some well deserved lunch and refreshments, then back to the campground for a swim.
 |
| Mount Connor |
Had a slow start the next day, went into the village centre to check out info displays and get our bearings. Listened to a cutural talk by a local Aboriginal ranger on making and using weapons. Checked out Uluru from a lookout in the campsite. Hot and bothered, we retreated to the pool. The campground is scant on shade and the temperature was up at 36 degrees!
As sunset approached we drove out to Uluru to take some photos. We drove around the base, marvelling at the shapes and colours. We thought it was an awesome sight. It lived up to all the expectations we had from it being an icon.
Made it back to the sunset lookout in time (we weren't the only ones in a hurry!). It was funny watching some fellow tourists trying to cook their dinner, made difficult by the very determined flies trying to steal their food away. There was low cloud, so we only got 30 seconds or so of light splashing onto the rock, but when it did turn on it was quite spectacular.
On our third day, we got up in the dark to watch the sun rise over Uluru. Yes, we were slightly behind schedule despite best efforts. Doh! The sunrise viewing platform is on the far side of the rock. Drove 'efficiently' (within the speed limit of course) in a race against the ever more pink sky. Made it in enough time to enjoy the serenity of the sunrise.
We then headed around to one of the carparks and had a great picnic breakfast. Fuelled up, we began our trek around the base. This was a plan we conceived the night before following an impassioned discussion - to climb or not to climb? Sandy had the good sense to stay out of that one :) We walked along the southern side of the rock during the morning and enjoyed the vast scale and many faces of the rock. We took a stand against flies and decided we were too cool for fly nets, he he he. Surely the flies had the last laugh. We reached the halfway point at about 11am as the day was really starting to heat up. We had a snack and then decided to split up, with Rich continuing around the northern side of the rock, and the rest of the party heading back around what we hoped would be the slightly cooler southern side. After a couple of hours of ‘hot walking’ (a term invented by Ari) and much fly swatting, we all met back at the car, and headed to the visitors' centre for some well deserved lunch and refreshments, then back to the campground for a swim.
The next day we took a drive out to Kata Tjuta (The Olgas). No-one was really in any mood to do any big walks, so we kept the walks to a minimum, but we did head up into the Valley of the Winds and the Walpa Gorge. Kata Tjuta was equally amazing, the geology behind both formations pretty extraordinary.
On the way around the kids tested some of their newly acquired cultural knowledge, indulging in some natural sweets and trying to pound resin powder out of spinfex grass.
 |
| Ouch! |
That night, Rich attended an astronomy / starwatching session from the resort kitchen hand who also had an interest in stargazing. The poor guy did his best despite having an astrophysicist as part of the group :(
No comments:
Post a Comment