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Published: June 20th 2009
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Another early start this day as we were going to experience what all should experience at Uluru: a sunrise.
We hopped in the car around 6:45am and drove for about a half hour to the area set aside for cars to watch the sunrise. This place is seriously well organized.
It was stunning, to say the least. We saw Uluru change from dark brown to purple/red to proper bright orange as it looks during the day. We’ve added a couple photos but only seriously good cameras can capture the colours and give it justice.
The other tourists entertained us, jumping and trying to make interesting shots in front of the monolith. Not that I blame them, it was bloody freezing out.
So off we went to the Cultural Centre for tea and a flat white and then it was time to check out of our hotel. Went for lunch at a restaurant in the resort “village”, which was alright. $27 for a pizza we thought was a bit much as even Hugo’s (see previous blog) only charges $18. :o) Whilst waiting for our bus to Alice Springs, we bought some internet time and blogged (which is why
you loyal subscribers got 3 emails in a row).
We hopped on the bus and began our 5-hour journey to “The Big Alice”, as it’s called here as it’s the closest town for about 400km. Our first bus driver, Ian, was brilliant and had us laughing loads. We stopped to look at Mt. Collins, the “table top” structure, which is privately owned and hence, not available to visit like Uluru/Kata Tjuta.
Changed buses at the “international bus station”, which consisted of a dirt turnaround road at the only street corner for miles. This place is so remote it’s hard to imagine without seeing it yourself. Second bus ride was fairly entertaining as well, they played us a recording and a video of some of the area history which is quite interesting. One of the last things the bus driver told us when we drove into The Alice is that it’s a good idea to take cabs if we went out for dinner, just to be sure to keep safe.
Alas, we arrived at 7pm at our motel, waiting for the riots to happen. I won’t go into details about the hotel as I’m doing Trip Advisor reviews
along the way as well and it would probably bore most of you. (email me if you do want any info, happy to tell you more). We asked the nice motel owner about what the driver said and she was angry, turns out they’ve been saying only to go out in cabs to all the people on bus tours. We figure the bus company owns the taxis in town? Not sure but it’s a good guess.
So we braved any potential murders/riots/drug ops and walked into town anyway. We were severely unimpressed by Alice Springs in general. Although we are aware we were there only one night, which might not give it justice. Seemed a bit run-down and we did see a few dodgy things but nothing compared to what happens in London on a daily basis. Went for a decent meal at the only open restaurant on Todd Mall, the main drag. Came back and promptly fell asleep as it had been a very long day.
We’re not too upset to be heading to Melbourne. After such a lovely and I would have to say smooth trip in and around Uluru, we’re glad to just have had
one transition night in Alice before heading off to the airport in the morning.
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