Blogs from Uluru, Northern Territory, Australia, Oceania - page 3

The blog is back after a break over the festive period, and we hope everyone has had a great Christmas, and that New Year resolutions are still going strong. Whilst we really missed our near and dear over the holiday season, we've thoroughly enjoyed our stays in Melbourne and Adelaide, and the 4 day drive we took in between the two. Highlights included kayaking at dusk through Melbourne city centre, enjoying champagne and salmon blinis on the banks of the Yarra River on Christmas morning, watching a Big Bash cricket match at the Adelaide Oval (is there a better place to watch the sport?) followed by fireworks to see in the New Year, as well as working our way through a plethora of reds on the McLaren Vale's Shiraz Trail. Melbourne's obsession with sport and healthy ... read more

After about an hour of haggling with the rental agency manager I was able to negotiate a deal that satisfied both parties. I conceded to pay for the gas ($200) and to pay for an additional full day rental fee for the van ($75). In the end the money I spent was about equal to the amount had I rented the van in a traditional rental fee sense. Looking at the contract the agency could have kept my $1,000 and I would have had no recourse. So I took the deal and left before they changed their mind. Whatever. I had bigger things on my mind, namely The Outback. Usually I do not book pre-packaged tours, but the money on this tour was less than if I tried to do this trip myself and I got ... read more

DUKKAH that's what the yummy herby stuff is! Hooray! And after googling it - a variation is made in.... CORNWALL of all places haha!! So guess where I'll be when I get back to the UK lol! So today we were awake at stupid o'clock (4:30) ish presumably due to jet lag :( boo! So after much trying to get back to sleep we gave up at 7ish and did the whole shower and get dressed stuff! (Standard!) We went for brekkie in the hotel - they had the usual stuff croissants cereal cooked... BUT then... They also had weird sushi lookin veggie roll ups, and cooked (like house special) rice - very odd! After said odd brekkie we went for a walkabout into "town" to the supermarket and bought TIMTAMS! Yum! (Think a penguin bar ... read more

No trip to Australia is complete without a trip to the Outback!! When we were planning the trip we thought about what we would want to see if we never have the chance to return to Australia. The Great Barrier Reef and the Outback topped the list. So, yesterday we flew from Cairns in North Queensland to Ayers Rock in Northern Territory and set out to explore the Outback! After taking the shuttle to the resort, we sat at a picnic table and figured out what we want to do for the two days we are here. We decided we would be most free to check everything off our list if we had a rental car. So, we hopped back on the shuttle to the airport and rented a car. The airport is only open from ... read more

Big day today! We were up at 5am to get to the Uluru express for the dawn viewing! They take you to the sunrise viewing platform first. Its very pretty there, but the photo opportunities are a bit limited especially when its cloudy. Its definitely not as cold here overnight compared to Alice Springs but still a little cloudy and cool before sunrise. None the less it's still beautiful to see. We forgot the selfie stick but a nice bloke obliged us with a photo! After a million snaps by everyone there (yep it was pretty busy) we piled back into the bus and headed to the Mala car park. This is where the climb starts and where the base walk starts. I was hoping the climb would be closed so we had no choice but ... read more