Blogs from Uluru, Northern Territory, Australia, Oceania - page 35

Hi All Fair dinkum, I think I'm catching up slowly with the blogging!!! The driving from Coober Pedy wasn't as tiring as we thought it would be, changing drivers every two hours seems to work well for us!! Lots more road kill and lots of wedge tailed eagles, they feed very well!! We stop at the Cadney Homestead for coffee & cake, only $3, good value, petrol at Marla & Kulgara Junction, it's cheaper that at the Homestead. On the road in, we pass a large rock but it can't be Uluru, there's still quite a few K's to go!! It was Mt Connor, but it’s still imposing! With over a 1,000 people a day going through the campsite, it's a busy place, the sites are spacious & grassy but with little shade. It costs only ... read more

Its quite a drive to Ayers Rock from this place so we were on a tight driving schedule really so were unable to explore this crazy place- but what I saw was crazy enough for me I think!!!!!!........................................................................................................................ Coober Pedy- the nearest towns on both sides are probably 8hrs away! This place has the highest amount of different nationalities (45ish I think) with a population of 3000ish!!! But i'm sure there are a few that are there illegally..................................!!! Not an attractive place what so ever- in fact the Lonely Planet describes it looking like "the end of the World"!!! which I thought was a classic and sums it up perfectly- dusty, hot, humid dessert town!!!!!!! Mad Max III was filmed here........................ It is famous for its Opals and majority of the wor... read more

Spent 2 days at Uluru, Ayers Rock and had a great time. It's right out in the outback obviously and there's only one resort of hotels and hostels etc and one shopping area with one supermarket. There was a free shuttle bus that ran every 10 minutes or so and went round to all the hotels and to the shops so that was cool. We stayed in the Outback Pionner Hotel and Lodge and stayed in a 4 bed dorm. The dorm was ok, really basic (just 2 bunks) but clean. We had to trek through the resort though (which was just the outback - lots of red sand and trees) to get to the toilets and showers which was a bit scary at night! When we arrived we booked a sunset and a sunrise tour ... read more

Ularu Michael wanted to visit this centre of the country as he had heard so much about it. It proved to a magical place. We had to make the best of morning and evening so we went to the Sounds of Silence meal at sunset in the desert. We walked round Ularu starting before sunrise. Magic. We took a ride on a camel (lovely creatures) to view Ularu at dawn. Magic. Meanwhile we read Songlines by Bruce Chatwin to provide us with an understanding of the Aborigines and their relationship to the land. But we had to move on to Queensland. Our last flight of our holiday. (One sad note was that one of the camels died the night before we took our ride and the men who ran the ranch were in floods of tears ... read more

Day 2 of the safari was a bit of a rude awakening, as it started to rain!! The rain wasn’t heavy, but it wasn’t comfortable when you’re sleeping outside in a swag. Nevertheless, it was the best alarm clock considering we needed to be up by 07:40!! After a quick breakfast and a clean up around the camp we headed for ”The Rock”. The morning started with a leisurely 9 Km walk around the base. This allowed us to take photos, where permitted. Unfortunately, no beautiful pictures of sunrise were possible due to heavy cloud cover. Once again the flies were out in force, this made for some uncomfortable moments as I had left my fly net in the bus!!!! The option of climbing the rock was not available, as it had rained. This will have ... read more