Australia

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The morning and afternoon was filled with flying. We left Cairns, flew into Sydney, and then caught our flight to Ayers Rock to visit Uluru. The airport in Ayers Rock had all but1 baggage claim and 3 gates. All of the hotels in Ayers Rock were apart of one resort, we stayed at The Lost Camel and it had a very interesting layout, so interesting we took video footage of it.

Upon on our arrival, the weather was very warm and we took advantage of it and toured the resort. We did a bit of shopping and bought some boomerangs and got to see some Aboriginals make and decorate different tools and paintings. Their talent is really quite amazing and their workmanship is something to be admired. For a quick lunch we had a kangaroo panini with a Cesar salad. Not the best kangaroo we’ve had, but it got the job done.

We had a quick lunch because we had grand dinner plans. We hurried to our hotel and showered. Like we mentioned before, our room layout was odd. Our shower was a completely different room on the opposite side from where the toilet was. We got dressed and waited for our pick up in our lobby. There, we got the Final Four update from other Americans and boarded the bus to head to the Sounds of Silence dinner.

We were greeted with champagne and appetizers as we entered Uluru for the Sounds of Silence dinner. Our journey began on a lone sand dune where a path took us to an uninterrupted, three hundred and sixty degree view of this vast landscape. In front of us was the fabled Uluru; behind were the domes of Kata Tjuta and, the most spectacular sunset we have ever seen. We were extremely lucky because it was forecasted to rain but it literally rain on the opposite side of Uluru from where we were at. Our half of Uluru remained dry, while the other had rain, thunder, and lightning.

After sunset, it was dinner time. We sat at a table with a Japanese family, a couple from South Africa, and a father and daughter from North Carolina who we originally met at the Sydney airport and reconnected again during appetizers. One of the best parts of traveling is meeting new people and during this experience, it was very easy to share stories and learn from new people. The Australian wine helped make the conversation much easier. Our dinner was buffet style and had many Australian delicacies: barramundi, kangaroo, and crocodile. Dessert was also delicious and it was accompanied by a Master Didgeridoo player.

After dinner, we had a startalker who took us on a tour of the southern hemisphere night sky. The startalker informed us of the Southern Cross, the southern hemisphere’s version of the north star.

The bathroom situation was also unique here as there was only one toilet for the women and one for the men and there was no light in the restrooms. When walking the 200 meters to the restroom, we had candles that lighted our way in the Australian Outback.

Australian Word of the Day: Ace=Great! Exellent!

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