Uluru

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Today we traveled by bus 550 km on our way from Alice Springs to Uluru. We passed endless Eucalyptus and Acacias which was a grassland desert, not the barren land I expected. Along the way, we experienced:

Stuart’s Well, a rest stop which included a camel farm and my chance to ride one as my father did while in Egypt in WWII;

Isolated Billabongs, water holes in the middle of the desert and the life saver of the Aborigines;

Mt. Ebenenezer Roadhouse, a community which included an Aboriginal art exhibit. Also here, I had to make a quick decision as to whether I am a Shiela or a Bloke, necessary to use the proper restroom. I had the excitement to see a German tourist actually buy a Crocodile Dundee hat;

Mt. Connor, which is reminiscent of the monolith in “Close Encounters of the Third Kind”;

Lake Amadeaus, one of two major salt lakes in Australia, surrounded by beach like sand as red as a sunset;

Stopped a Curtain Springs for lunch. A self contained cattle ranch in the middle of the desert;



Upon checking into our hotel, we met to travel to the Kata-Juta and Ulrura National Park which contain upcropings of rock, which according to Wikipedia, are made from granite covered by sandstone.



Our group joined several other tour groups to toast the setting sun over these monoliths with champaign. It was a wonderful event, the best of my trip thus far. The only difficulty was that since the region has received more rain than in the past 10 years, flies were prolific and we needed to wear netting over our faces to keep the flies at bay.



Tomorrow we will again travel to Uluru and see the rising sun against the stone. An early morning for me, but very exciting.

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