Our flight from Cairns was very pleasant, we even got a decent
breakfast and arrived at the hotel about 11am.
Checking in we were told that rooms were not available until
3pm, but all Gwen’s swimming gear was in one of the main bags, had we known it
would have been in our carry on’s.
Gwen got her stuff and went swimming, the pool was just
outside reception and she enjoyed the swim but said it was rather cold when the
air temperature was 39C.
I went to reception to see what the room we had just learnt
about was, needless to say it was a totally unsuitable 3rd floor
with a long walk from the lift. The manager said he would find us a ground
floor room close to amenities to cut down on my walking.
I waited in reception
after a promise that as soon as the room was ready I would be told; another
cock up, the bags had been in the room for half an hour before I found out and the
room was so far away that Gwen was out of breath after walking there and back.
Back to reception to complain, to be told that no other
rooms were available and that they were packed solid; luckily a lady with a
badge of “Executive Housekeeper” heard the discussion, took charge and in less
than 1 minute gave us a room less than 20 yards from reception which was ready
for occupation immediately.
We had been assured that AAT Kings (Tour Operator) had all
the special requests both from our travel agent and their New Zealand office
but yet another black hole; Rant over till we get back.
That afternoon a helicopter trip to and over the Rock, a
Birthday present from our Travel Agent, it was fantastic with some features I‘ve
never seen on the TV.
There was a view of Uluru’s “Twin” known as the Olga’s (more
later) the resort, and our hotel on the way back to the airport.
That evening we went to the “Sound of Silence” dinner in the
desert after the Uluru Sunset which due to low clouds in the west was not spectacular,
in fact very little colour changes at all.
However we got wine and a Didgeridoo player.
The dinner itself was good but being almost in total darkness
the only picture we got was of the final sunset itself.
Next morning was the trip to watch the sunrise over Uluru
and was the second 3:30am out of bed in a row and with an 11pm back last night
left us pretty jaded.
The sunrise was spectacular, I’ll let the pictures tell
their own story.
We even got a picture of the Olga’s waking up.
We then went on a tour around Uluru and again let the close
up pictures tell their own tale; all the features are caused by erosion (wind
and water).
There are many resting points around the rock with seats
made from timber collected after Typhoon Tracey which devastated Darwin on
Christmas Day 1974.
Lastly we went to the climbing point but it was closed due
to high winds at the top which are strong enough to blow people off. 38 people
have died in recent years attempting the climb which the aborigines in
particular do not want, they consider it desecration of their sacred sites.
In the heat of the day Gwen went on a ride on a Harley
Davidson to the Rock and enjoyed it so much she talked about for hours
(days) afterwards.
In the afternoon we went off to the Olga’s, more correctly
known as Kata Tjuta about 30 miles away.
This is now a collection of rocks, some much taller than
Uluru itself; they are both the tips of enormous rocks which extend some 6
kilometres underground, but due to their alignment have eroded much
differently; Uluru apparently tilted to 90 degrees in the geological event that
brought them to the surface and has remained in one piece, the Olga’s stayed
horizontal and became 38 individual rocks above ground.
Gwen did the walk into the gorge, very impressive but
boring.
Finally that evening we were taken again to see the sunset
at Uluru (another cock up) and the only decent picture we got was through the
coach front window, out of focus but shows the pink colour that Uluru is famed
for.
That night we went to eat in the hotel and Gwen had
organised a birthday cake for me.
Tomorrow we have a lie in, our flight to Alice Springs isn’t
until 10:30.
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