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Published: July 13th 2007
Greetings from warm, sunny Cairns (pronounced "cans")! We arrived here late this afternoon, around 4 pm, and were pleasantly surprised by the landscape. The warmer weather we were expecting...and eagerly awaiting...but the landscape reminds me a lot of the island of Kauai in Hawaii. There are lush, rolling moutainous hills and palm trees here (Although surprisingly, there were palm trees in both Sydney and Melbourne also.) Awesome!! Plus we were fortunate to get a hotel room, after the beds were "unzipped" (I guess that's their way of making a bed into two small beds. 😊, with an ocean view. We will experience what we hope is the best the area has to offer tomorrow and Sunday, before we make our LONG journey home on Monday. Monday will be the longest day we will both experience all year, as we leave Cairns at 6:30 am and arrive in Los Angeles at 7:00 am on the same day! Amazing huh? Yeah, if only it took a half hour!!!
While in Cairns and vicinity we will go to Cape Tribulation, to the world heritage site where the rain forest meets with the coral sea. It will be an entire day of fun-filled activity! But I am most excited, and I think Val is too, about Sunday, when we venture into the part of the Great Barrier Reef!! Hopefully we will see Nemo & Dory (yeah Kim, not Dora...I know) there too!
But the last few days have been amazing! Actually our entire trip has been simply grand! The Aussies have all been so warm and friendly, well, except for the one who failed to transport us to the airport this afternoon...but all is well, as one of the hotel staff members transported us without hesitation. Australian hospitality has been so good to us!!
Okay, back to my story.... On our last night in Alice Springs we made a trek to a lodge we were told about where you can feed wild wallabies! Yes, wild wallabies! So off Val and I went, as sunset approached, on our walkabout where we met three Aboriginal girls. Quite an inquisitive bunch! They directed us to the right spot...and after some distance we parted ways. We were not entirely sure what precise time the wallabies would wander down the mountain, as we were told feeding took place around sunset. So as the sky became dark, we became worried that we had missed the feeding. Fortunately the woman at the lodge reassured us, as we purchased our dollar bags of wallaby treats, that we were just in time! Fabulous! So we feed them for about an hour...I do not know how many there were, but Val said there were dozens. We were able to feed them and pet them...it was sooooo cool. Wallabies look like minature kangaroos, and so a couple of them had joeys. Awesome!
On Wednesday we left Alice Springs, via bus, on a 400+ kilometer trip (a kilomenter = approximately 0.6 miles) en route to Ayres Rock Resort which is in Yulara, smack in the middle of Australia. We made several stops, but one was particularly memorable, that being the visit to the camel farm. Val was not daring enough to ride a camel, although she says now in retrospect, after learning a short ride was a mere five dollars, she might have given it serious consideration. I was fortunate enough to ride a camel in Egypt named Sadam in the late 90s...so I think that was enough for me!
Approaching the great monolith Uluru was quite spectacular, but not as awesome as seeing the rock radiate and glow at sunrise the next morning! Breathtaking!! We made some short walks with a guide, who shared some interesting bits about the rock. Here are some stats:
max height above ground: 348 meters
area: 3.33 square kilometers
circumference: 9.4 kilometers
I thought it was fascinating to learn that two-thirds of the mammoth rock lies beneath the surface! It is also interesting to note that although it is strongly discouraged to climb the rock, it is not forbidden. I asked my guide at Uluru why this was the case, to which he responded, "That is a political question, which I cannot answer." Being the ever so curious individual that I am...I proceeded to ask the very same question to my guide for Kata Tjuta (The rock formation within the same national park as Uluru, and perhaps even more spectacular, but more on that in a bit.) Jen, our Kata Tjuta guide, said, "It is not the way of the Anangu (the aboriginal group of the area) to put up barriers/signs...and that they hope people will make the right choice."
In the late afternoon we headed out to Kata Tjuta, which means many heads or heads many. Ironically there are 36 of them...seems this is the year that Val and I were to see them! 😊 We made a trek over the rocky terrain into the Walpa Gorge...quite spectacular! And then we headed to the sunset viewing area to watch the rocks glow and one of the brightest, bluest skies I have ever seen, turn colors as the stars slowly took hold of the night sky. All this occurred while we had some "bush" nibblies and sparkling wine...a fine way to conclude our stay in the area!
And here we are...in the area where the landscape is a marked contrast to that in the "Red Centre"/Outback...and with so much on the agenda in the next few days, this may be the last blog entry. I shall try to post my photos more promptly...as I have some great ones to share!
So on that note....
Love & Tim Tams (Val and I love them so!!)....
and remember, "Kangaroos are friends, not food!"
In the late afternoon.
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Holly
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TimTams
The best way to experience a TimTam. Start with a nice hot cup of coffee. Carefully bite the chocolate coating off each end of the TimTam. Quickly dunk one end of the TimTam into the hot coffee and slurp up the coffee through the TimTam, like it was a straw--it takes a bit of effort. Quickly pop the TimTam into your mouth...it will be a delightfully melty chocolate treat! YUM!