Uluru to Alice Springs

At last - the family was reunited as we began our adventure proper! Ali, James, Tom and Georgie flew to Uluru to meet John, who had spent 4 very long, boring and lonely days driving  half-way accross Australia. We had a small insight into his long trek from 3 1/2 hours in the plane looking down at, well, pretty much - nothing! Georgie amused us when she excitedly looked out the window and exclaimed "I can see the outback! It looks like meat!". Our first glimpses of Uluru from the air were very exciting - a quite different and unexpected shape from above, compared to the iconic side view.

After some lunch and a swim for the kids in the freezing cold pool, we drove out to see the rock at sunset. What an awe-inspiring sight - so much more than any photo could do justice to. There is such a sense of majesty and mystisicm that we found unexpectedly moving. The kids sat on the roof of the car to watch the view -  a great novelty!



Uluru at sunset



The next day we were up early so decided to drive out and catch the sunrise from a different vantage point - just as special. This was followed by a 2 hour tour around the base of the rock by a local aboriginal guide "Ezechial" which was a very interesting insight into aboriginal cultural history. Tom, as you can imagine, was desperate to climb the rock, and although it is allowed, the aboriginal people discourage you from doing so (it is a sacred site for them) and apart from which - it looks bloody dangerous! He was mollified with a walk of about 20 metres up the foot of it - so he can lay claim to having walked up Uluru.




Sunrise at Uluru. Notice The Olgas in the distance?



In the afternoon we went to explore Kata Tjuta (otherwise known as The Olgas). There was quite a long walk to the first vantage point, which the kids did very well in managing (Georgie was only carried a small portion - just enough to put John's back out). We were again greeted with another spectacular view - not to mention a view of Georgie's bottom as she "cheekily" revealed to one and all that she had forgotten to put on undies!

We had to make a lunchtime appoinment the next day in Alice Springs to have the caravan fridge fixed, so we packed up and headed off in the early evening to get some kms under our belt. In the process John managed to bang his head on the caravan boot and give himself a nasty split in the forehead. D'oh!
He bravely soldiered on with a panadol and a packet of butterfly clips.

We have arrived in Alice today to a fabulous caravan park in the foothills of the Macdonnell Ranges (pools! playgrounds! puttputt! portapotty dumping point!!). We look forward to exploring more of it all tomorrow.

Very early days yet, but so far so very good. John and I are so excited to be doing this - such an amazing opportunity for us as a family. We feel very happy and blessed. Despite head wounds. And bad backs.

xox