Blogs from Uluru, Northern Territory, Australia, Oceania - page 12

Yeah, baby! How good is our new blog. This is where we will regale you all with our tales of adventures, arguments and photos. I am sure you will love reading them as much as we enjoyed writing them. So to start off, yesterday I (Jennie aka Keechy), wrote an itinerary for our trip to Uluru because Buckles was too "tired" and went to have a nap. Lazy bum. Unfortunately the Ayers Rock Resort where we wanted to stay was booked for our first night in the wilderness, so we decided to stay in Kings Canyon which is about a 3 hour drive from Uluru! We had planned to visit Uluru, Kings Canyon and Alice Springs on our four day trip but we had no idea everything was so far away from each other. It is ... read more

We liked the congested and touristy Cairns (I mean, who doesn't enjoy ice cream parlours and beach front cafes!!) but we were after something a bit more remoat so we drove further north to Cape Tribulation, another East coast place named by Captain Cook (his ship The Endeavour got stuck on the reef here for over 1 month hence the negative title!). Past Cape Trib, the sealed road comes to an end and only 4x4 tracks exist. We crossed the crocodile infested Daintree river on the car ferry and drove through the beautiful rainforest to tiny Cape Trip, just a shop and a couple of hostels really. The beach here was another stunning huge sweeping bay of sand broken up by river mouths, which we were told to stay clear of because of the nasty salty ... read more

Hey all, Day 4 had us leaving the Marla roadhouse for Uluru. The campground at Marla was nice, had a supermarket, Pub, Restaurant, pool and dodgy locals! There were a few very shifty types getting around that night so we had dinner and went back to the van to watch a movie. In the morning there was a police van out the front talking to two local black fellas and a woman with child. The police took her over to the van and the two other starting abusing the cops, if you used that language to a Victorian copper you would have been shot then told to pull ya head in! We left there and headed for the border, a lot of nothing out here!!!!!!! We did however see two massive wedge tailed eagles eating some ... read more

Uluru Another day that begins before the sun is even thinking about rising: another tour bus, another group of temporary friends. The tour leader this time is a fifty-year old named Lewis who meets me at the entrance to Toddy’s with a cheerful and amused expression. On board the twenty-five seater bus, I discover that there will only be six of us taking the tour, with an additional four to be picked up from Uluru itself. Spread yourselves out boys, this one’s gonna be roomy. I introduce myself to my fellows: this is a markedly older crew than any of the others: Laura and John, retired Ozzies in their mid-sixties, Patrick and Stephanie, in their late-fifties from Lyon, Nat, English chap from Melbourne in his early forties. That’s the lot! Eventually we are joined by Josie ... read more

It is one of those things that is on most people's "Things to do before I die" (or "Things to do before I'm 30" - which until recently seemed to mean more or less the same thing to me!) list. It is up there with walk the Inca Trail, visit the Pyramids, Skydive, snorkel/dive Great Barrier Reef and the list goes on... Uluru (sadly more commonly known as Ayers Rock). This rock in the midst of the Australian Outback that flirts with the light and changes colour as the day changes, that has spiritual significance to the Aboriginal people, that is, in many ways, a symbol of Australia, is what so many people wish to see before they feel they can die knowing they have lived. I wasn't one of those people. In fact the only ... read more