No Furbies Allowed!!!

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Hi All!!!

Well, Australia has been a blast!

We just finished our Red Centre extravaganza, and it was amazing!!!! We left Adelaide (and a very pregnant Mimi) and flew to Alice Springs. Alice Spring is just about dead center in the middle of Australia. With the next closest town being about 500 km away, it's literally in the middle of nowhere... but well worth the trip out. It's known as a hub where aborigonal art and culture and western art kind of colllide. We only had a day there, but spent it wandering around the galleries, falling in love with the artwork, and yes, we splirged, and made our first investment in art. Hey, we're like married adults now right... we can do things like that?....

So we slept in Alice for the night and got on our bus toward our red centre adventure. We did a lot of driving (though we were glad to not be the drivers) thorugh the desert. That part itself was stunning. The dessert isn't as empty as we thought it would be. Gum Trees (eukalyptus) and native grasses were everywhere, and the dirt is bright red like on Kauai (Hawaii).

We stopped at a tourist spot to see a singing Dingo named Dinky, and fed some Kangaroos.. but really, the highlights of our journey were the amazing Hikes we took in the desert. It's wild! You'll drive for HOURS and everything will be flat as a pancake, and all of a sudden, you drive up to a huge rock formation or valley that's absolutely massive. It truly is breathtaking. If you've been to the desert in the South Western US, then perhaps you know what I mean. The desert is one of the most beautiful and magical places in the world.

Our first hike was in Rainbow valley. This place was full of formations of different colored sandstones. we climbed to the top and between the rocks, sand, and trees, we did see every colour of the rainbow.

The next day we hiked around Kings canyon. This place is rad. reds and greens... sand stone walls, formations that looked like giant beehives dancing through the desert...yeah, it was rad...

We drove that night to Ulara (the tiny township, really made up of hotels and a visitor center, next to Uluru). We saw the sun set against Uluru as the full moon rose up behind. very cool.

In the morning we woke well before the sunrise and headed for "The Olgas".. and different kind of formation not to far from Uluru. This place was filled with these huge rock domes surrounding a massive valley. The weather was perfect and the scenery was brilliant. We saw some kangaroos here, and heard one of the guides playing the Digeredoo accompanied by the echo of the rocks. It was awesome.

After the Olgas, we headed back to Ulara to prepare for our Uluru trip. So, for those who don't know, here's the deal with this place. Uluru (also known as Ayers Rock) is the largest monolith in the world. So basically it's a huge rock in the middle of a flat desert, which is quite a sight to see. The big thing is to watch it cange colors with the sunset, and many people come all the way out just to climb to the top. However, it is also one of the most sacred sites to the three tribes of Aborigonal people who live in this area. The Aborigonals ask that you do not climb the rock, as that would be the equivelant to them, say, coming to your country and walking on the graves of your loved ones. So clearly, we did not climb up the rock, however, we did walk all the way around it (9.5 km). It was amazing. The formations and erosions along the rock were breathtaking. And every little crack and cave along the rock has a special dreaming (story) that goes along with it in the indigenous culture. While we, obviously, don't know all of these stories, it was so powerful to be in the presence of this sacred site. Definately worth the trip out.. no doubt.

The next morning we said good bye to our bus and flew out to Sydney. It was really nice to see the desert from above, it truly looked like all the paintings that we were checking out in Alice Springs.

And just so you know, if you ever plan on flying on a Quantas 737-400 air plane, while you're not allowed to use the normal cell phone/ pager gadgets on the plane, they also strictly prohibit the use of Furbie toys. HA! go figure.

Anywho, we're in Sydney right now tying up all out loose ends and mailing them back to California before we head off to Thailand this afternoon. We should be in Bangkok at about 1 am, but something tells me that the city will be as lively as ever when we get there. We're stoked to see some warm weather and giant Buddha staues. Thailand should be cool.

We love you all and hope you're enjoying the springtime.

Much Love-
Abby and Benji.

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