Day 65 The Red Centre

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Yesterday was spent packing and getting organised to leave the home comforts of Aunty Rose and Tony's house so no blog was typed and no pictures taken!

This morning we left the house at 8am and headed for Perth domestic airport to catch our flight to Ayers Rock. It was sad to say goodbye to Aunty Rose and Tony as they have looked after us so well and we didn't feel ready to leave as we were enjoying our stay so much. Our flight departed on time at 10.10am it was a small and quiet plane that took us north east to Ayers Rock airport.

The time in the Northern Territory is 1.5 hours ahead of Perth and we land at 2pm local time. The airport is tiny as it only caters for a few flights a day for the tourists who come to visit “the rock”. A free coach transfer takes us to the Outback Pioneer Hotel and Lodge that is our accommodation for the night. Ayers Rock Resort is made up of 4 different hotels and a camping ground catering for all budgets. The resort is only 20km from Ayers Rock so we catch our first glimpse while travelling through the red sand desert to the lodge.

As we are on a budget we had booked to stay in a 4 bed dormitory room with shared bathroom facilities. We share our room with a fellow traveller and his sister who is on holiday, after sharing tales and information about our travels we head to the swimming pool. The heat here is blisteringly hot and it hit us as soon as we got off the plane so we were desperate to cool down.

At 5.45pm we got on the Uluru Express which took us to Ayers Rock (Uluru) for sunset, definitely express as our trip was mainly on 2 wheels they drive that fast!. First we got an 11km ride around the rock so we got to see it from every possible angle. Just before 6.50pm we arrived at the car park for watching the sunset and the changing colours of Uluru. The flies made it difficult to concentrate as they fly near your face and buzz in your ears. Oli had to open an early birthday present of a fly net to use as we were warned the flies could be irritating! After taking many photographs we had to jump back on the bus to take us back to the resort. Although it was a spectacular sight we were left slightly disappointed with the rushed tour, hopefully sunrise tomorrow will be better.

The bus dropped us off at the resorts centre and we bought some dinner from the local supermarket before jumping on the free shuttle bus to take us back to the lodge. It was very dark here after the sunset, the stars look very bright and clear as we are in the middle of nowhere with no light pollution. After eating and having a drink in the bar while listening to live music we retire to bed ready for the day ahead.

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