We read and relaxed all day with the exception of the excitement of refitting the spare wheel under the van. It took the two of us but now we know how to do it we'll probably never have to do it again (fingers crossed). Although we are going to look at another way to carry the spare.
The rain settled in for the day and by 3pm we had our jumpers on, turns out today's maximum temp was a mere 18 degrees. The forecast for Monday was much the same - would we see Ayers Rock in sunset or rain?? The answer later.
The alarm went off at 5.20am - that brought back memories of early shifts for both of us!!! ugh!!
We were outside waiting, in the rain, for our 5.50am pickup - 6.05am the bus arrived. We did a tour of Alice Springs picking up passengers and then transferred to the big blue emu bus and were underway.
It's at least a 2 1/2 hour drive south to Erldunda and our first coffee and toilet stop, then another 2 1/2 hours to Yulara (Ayers Rock resort).
We stopped to look out to Mt Connor, once mistaken for Uluru, and were amazed by these 'procession caterpillar' sacs in the shrubs. (Apparently they should be avoided as they can cause a skin irritation).
On the way we had glimpses of both Kata Tjuta (The Olgas) and Uluru (Ayers Rock).
We saw lots of interesting flora but the only fauna was a small herd (about 5) camels.
When we were planning this whole trip I thought that it would be rather special to celebrate our 35th wedding anniversary at 'Sails in the Desert' resort at Ayers Rock. Well I made it!!!
We had a toilet stop at the resort and the glory days of this resort are over. At its' heyday it was charging over $900 a night - it was operated by 'Voyager' corporation. They sold out to the government and they have now sold it on to Accor group - the prices may not have dropped much but the resort has definitely seen better days. (I wondered why the toilet cubicle door wouldn't close - I had to pull it out at the top to get it to close. The reason was that the bottom right door post was crumbling away - there was a little pile of wood on the floor! The termites have moved in!!)
Anyway we were touring to see the rocks not the hotels so after a brief stop we went out to Kata Tjuta (The Olgas)
and we had a walk through Walpa Gorge.
Then we moved on to the main reason for our day trip - Uluru - The Rock.
We drove around the base, with our guides pointing out every feature, they were very informative.
The 'climb' was closed due to the rain. The Aboriginal owners do actually request that you don't climb on the rock but some folks do, but neither of us was actually considering it!
All too soon it was time to head to the 'sunset viewing area' so we had another quick toilet stop and headed out there. I enjoyed a glass of champagne..
There was no sun, there hadn't been all day, but no rain either so no amazing photos!
Apparently 90% of people do see spectacular sunsets - just our luck to be different.
The BBQ provided was very good - and the red wine, champagne or orange juice flowed freely and we all enjoyed the whole event.
The sun set at 6.28pm
and within 10 minutes we were heading back along the highway to Erldunda and then Alice Springs.
We got back into Alice Springs around 11.30pm and had a night time tour around dropping passengers off at their hotels. There were a lot of people, adults and children, walking around the streets. We were dropped off just around midnight.
It was a really long day but we saw and learnt more than we ever would have if we'd just taken off by ourselves.
It started to rain as we got off the bus, and we went straight to bed.
Did I mention the toilet stops we had?
The next morning - which didn't start until after 9.00am - we were feeling energetic so we tackled a slice of tourism with a walk around Alice Springs.
The rain appears to have gone for a while at least, but the clouds are lingering and it's quite cool. Tomorrow we head south towards Coober Pedy in South Australia where I'm sure it will be warmer.
On our way out of town we'll visit a couple of museums and will overnight wherever we are, when it's time to stop.
I've managed to get rid of all the fresh fruit and veg - giving away the last 2 onions to a young family next to us here in the caravan park (they're heading north). South Australia has to protect its fruit industry by pretending to need quarantine. But supermarket trucks cross the country everyday (and the quality of SA fruit and veg isn't that good anyway!!!) The scenery is spectacular though.
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