Uluru - Ayers Rock

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 3^rd 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.

Port Douglas Northern Queensland

When we arrived at Cairns Airport we sorted out our hire car problems with a very nice lady Jennie.

The car worked fine, the Satnav got us there without any problems using the Cook Highway (him again), and because we were self catering, we stopped at Woolworths (Fresh Food in Australia) on the way and stocked up, but after arriving at Port Douglas we realised we were missing some important stuff (Christmas Dinner) so we went to the local Coles (you find these everywhere).

Our apartment was spacious in a nice complex with a lovely pool. We had a couple of days rest to recover from our hectic schedule so far.

Christmas Day we went down to the beach with Steak, Chicken Fillets, potatoes and salad and cooked them on the public electric barbeques which took a while but the end result was lovely.

We even had some Christmas cake, but alcohol was banned on the beach so we went back to our apartment for some very nice Australian Chardonnay.

On Boxing Day we headed north to the village of Daintree which offered River Cruises to find crocodiles, but we missed one tour so we had a snack and went off to the end of the tarmac road at Cape Tribulation.

The trip meant going over a chain link ferry (£18 return) and some very hilly and windy roads where the Satnav got lost a few times. The end of the road was not even a village more a staging post for people taking the Bloomfield Track, a 100km dirt road to Cooktown; named after you know who, after his ship Endeavour hit the Great Barrier Reef and found the inlet to make repairs, thereby founding the first settlement in Australia.

Next day a visit to the Kuranda Scenic Railway, which was built in the Goldrush days of the late1800’s, and was last used for non tourist reasons in the 2^nd World War when the area was used as a staging post and hospital evacuation with over 100,000 American and Australian troops going through here on the way to the South Pacific.

There were some terrific views along the way, with the train on viaducts, the Baron Falls at the hydroelectric dam and views all the way back to Cairns some 30 miles away.

The town of Kuranda is now just a tourist trap but has a lot of history, the Kuranda Hotel has hardly changed for a century.

We had intended to take a River Trip here with Crocodiles on the itinerary, but the train was a bit late and in any case it was a long way down to the river with steep steps so we decided against it. 

We instead went through all the tourist shops, there was everything from plastic tat to paintings and prints costing up to A$5,000.

When we returned to the station there was a sign asking us to enjoy their wonderful river, with the top recreation being swimming !! methinks the mention of Crocodiles is used to sell tickets you hardly ever see one, and certainly not here.

Out to the Great Barrier Reef on a very large boat Quicksilver (over 400 passengers). We docked at a pontoon over the Agincourt Reef at the outer edge of the GBF. It was foul miserable weather, completely overcast and raining, at times very hard.

The only view we had of the reef was from a semi submersible boat, but the colours were lost due to a combination of the thick windows and the overcast sky even the bright coloured fish turned grey.

About an hour later the weather improved a bit and we tried snorkelling but so did every man and his dog.

On the way back the weather changed dramatically and we got a view of the Low Isles which are part of the reef but close to the shore and feature a lighthouse.

On the last day we drove down to Cairns for a look round but it wasn’t worth the effort, not impressed at all. Then next morning we repeated the trip but this time to the airport, arriving at 6am for our 7:30 flight to Uluru.

Overall this is a lovely place but we had a few disappointments. Talking to other tourists over the next few days the conclusion was that Hamilton or Fraser Islands would have been better for the Reef, but at least we spent Christmas with a Barbie on the Beach.