Uluru

G'day Everyone

We have just got back from 4 days staying at the Ayres Rock Resort in the Northern Territory. It was an amazing trip. I know the photo's will not do the sights justice but i hope you like them.

Me and Ellen are now feeling like seasoned travellers, one flight to Sydney then another to Ayres Rock - no problem :) whats 5 hours on a plane eh !!

The Outback Pioneer where we stayed was great, just wish the showers and toilets were not outside !

As soon as we arrived we had a nice shower - (Ellen likes these ones - horray ) and then we headed to the nearest lookout which is a five minute walk and watched the sunset over Uluru. The sunset was amazing and we must of taken about 100 photo's ( just a little carried away). Then it was back for dinner. I looked at the menu which included crocodile, Emu and Kangaroo and after changing my mind 20 times i eventually thought why not and ordered the platter with the lot on. when they handed me the plate of raw meat i thought oh shit !. You had to cook your own food on the huge BBQ's they have, so everyone stands around cooking up their dinner. It was also a help yourself salad buffett which was quite yummy. All of the food tasted good, i prefered the Emu sausages, the croc was a little chewy and the Kangaroo tasted like chicken. Ellen tried them all aswell but wasnt aware of what they were ! although over the next few days everytime she had beef sausages i told her they were kangaroo etc and she ate them all, so that covers the lies then !!

Our first trip was a base tour of Uluru with our guide 'Marty'. It was so amazing to be so close and so interesting listening to all of the stories about the Anagu people that live there and the facts about the area. My mind was crammed with little facts and Ellen loved all the stories about all of the different markings on the rock. Suddenly I have an understanding of a group of people i knew nothing about.

The next day after a slight hicup with alarms ( i set mine for 3.30am instead of 4.30am) oops !. We caught our coach at 5am to see the sunrise over Uluru, It is bloody freezing at that hour out in the dessert. I had about 6 layers on and i was still cold. Ellen stayed in the coach for a lot of in because she was so cold - bless her. Watching the sunrise over Uluru and seeing it change so many colours in a short space of time was just wow.

We also went to the Cultural centre where we had a class on dot painting, it was great fun. A couple of the local Anagu ladies came to tell stories using just painting in the sand and we got to have a go ourselves and we got to bring it home too ! It was quite an education and very very relaxing, definatly one to try at pre school !

We also went camel riding, this i was a bit scared of but once we got there it was the staff that were a lot scarier than the actual camels, barking instructions at everyone. Me and Ellen were right at the front on our camel 'Alice'. We all loved it, it was a lot more comfortable than you would expect. When we got off we had a glass of wine then me and Ellen tried some camel meat - tasted like ham ( boiled bacon) very nice, the trick is to not think about what you are eating.

On our last day we went to Kings Canyon, up again at 5am, it was a 3 hour coach trip to get there, but good to get the rest of your night's sleep !
Zoe and Amanda did the rim walk which they say was hard work but very rewarding because of the amazing views, it was about 500 steps up !. Me and Ellen played it same with the base walk which was really nice and as usual the guide was full of information

Ayres Rock has been my favourite trip so far, but then it was back to Brisbane to celebrate Zoe's 30th birthday !!!!

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