Friday, June 18, 2010

Coober to Yulara and first day in the Red Centre!
















OMG! What a long drive! It took us from 7am in the morning until 430pm in the afternoon to get to Yulara (resort town for Uluru/Kata Tjuta). On the way we stopped at small roadhouses like Marla and Erldunda. We had lunch at Erldunda and when putting petrol in the car (very expensive too) I could hear the sounds of a bird avairy. I walked over to the sound and there were about 40 zebra finches drinking from a water source in the ground...wild...free...wow!

We drove the 260 km across to Yulara, seeing Mount Conner (thanks Nikas for giving Bec the tip off...was going to try and trick her) and finally getting to the resort in the late afternoon. I met my brother Shaun out the front of the resort (he is 2IC here) and he took us to the campground. We settled in and had champagne in an ice bucket delivered to our van, courtesy of Shaun, Mandy and Hanna.

After setting up, we went around to Shaun and Mandy's and had tea. Mum and Dad are staying there for the three nights, while we're in the campground. We were pretty tired, so we had tea and went back to the campground for a sleep.

I woke up at 5am for a toilet visit and was a bit worried on the way back to the van when wild dingoes started howling in the dark....pack my dacks time! In the morning we got up, got organised and went into the resort for a shop. After that we drove into the National Park on our way to Kata Tjuta (The Olgas).

When we arrived there we got sorted and started to do the Valley of The Winds walk...it's around a 8km walk through the rock outcops. The walk was amazing....up up up...then down into valleys surrounded by red rock. Dad had fun climbing up to the first lookout thanks to a sausage roll! Lol... The walk went along creek beds lined with Ghost Gums and zebra finch were everywhere. We had to climb up walls of rock and up through valleys that had the most amazing views. Halfway through we stopped for lunch overlooking the valley below. The rest of the walk swept around the back of the rock domes...across dry rocky plains...to meet the start of the track. The photos I've taken do not do it justice....it was just amazing!

We returned to the campground, got ready for tea and went out to The Outback Pioneer Hotel...Bough house Restaurant...a $50 a head smorgasboard dinner....oysters, prawns, sushi, camel, kangaroo, salmon, atlantic salmon, crocodile, barramundi, other normal meats....and sweets like pecan pie, chocolate mouse, tropical delight, pavlova, chocolate mud cake...and so on... We ate a wee bit too much, but it was magnificent.

After that the girls went home to bed and Shaun and I stayed at the Outback Pioneer Hotel until close, having a few drinks with resort mates of Shaun's. By the time I got to bed, I was pretty tired....but what a great day. The Olga's are awesome...and what's funny, if you look at the silhouette of them, it looks like Homer Simpson....check it out....

2 comments:

  1. HI Guys
    Just wanted to say hi and that it sounds like you are having a wonderful time at Yulara.
    Love Katherine
    P.S this is to Georgia we are playing United today in Netball.
    LUV YOU

    ReplyDelete
  2. Hope our team won or played well....miss you too! Luv Georgia

    ReplyDelete