Thursday
We're sorry that it has been a while since we posted. Internet access at our hotel was $2 per minute, and we thought that was a little ridiculous. So here is a nice long post to get you all caught up.
We arrived in Uluru or Ayers Rock. If you have ever been in a remote location and said “wow we are in the middle of nowhere” you were wrong, unless you were here. This, I guarantee, is the middle of nowhere--the nearest town is almost 500 kilometers away. There is nothing but red rock desert for miles and miles. The resort where we are staying is the town. There are 5 hotels in the resort, many restaurants and a “shopping center”. Even the staff of the resort and the tours live in a “village” that is owned by and is right next to the resort.
Tonight we went to an observatory to look at the stars. WOW!!! It is so dark here you could see millions of stars. We saw the southern cross, the Milky Way, and many other constellations. At the end we got to look through a couple of telescopes. We saw some binary stars (two stars that are very close together), star clusters and even Saturn. It looks just like pictures that you have seen of it. It was a wonderful experience. It is just so dark here! It was also neat because we got to see stars that we never get to see in the Northern hemisphere.
Friday
For those of you who know Andy’s sleeping habits and my aversion to exer
cise, you may want to sit down for this next story. Today we went on a sunrise tour of Ayers Rock (Uluru). We hiked around the base of the whole rock. It is 9 kilometers around the base, but the trail winds around for about 11 kilometers. It was a very nice walk and the sunrise was very pretty. It is amazing to see such a HUGE rock sticking up in the middle of a very flat desert. We learned a little bit about the mythology and legends that the aboriginal people who live in this area tell. Because we are in the desert there is an enormous emphasis on staying hydrated especially when hiking. So we drank a ton of water last night and this morning to keep from getting dehydrated. Unfortunately there were no restrooms until we had completed about 3 hours of the hike!!! We would have had a much more enjoyable hike if we'd had an opportunity to go to the bathroom a little earlier. Anyway, we have some really striking pictures, it was well worth the trek.
After the hike we came back to the resort for a quick lunch then we were off for another hike. We tramped around Kata Tjuta or the Olgas. This is a cluster of 36 enormous rock formations. This was a more challenging hike, it was 7.4 km with lots of uneven ground and we had to even do a bit of climbing. But it is extraordinarily beautiful and well worth the effort. We then went to a lookout spot to watch the sunset shine on Uluru. We were exhausted by the end. Unfortunately, Katie probalby didn't drink enough water throughout the day, because she had a bit of a headache by dinner time. Too bad for her, because Andy went to a place called the Pioneer Outback BBQ, where you get to pick out your own piece of meat and cook it up yourself. They had all sorts of choices like Emu, Kangaroo (sorry KC, but at least I passed on that this time), and of course a few types of steak. It was really tasty, and the live music was fun too. It was an early night though, since we needed to be up for sunrise again in the morning.
Saturday
Sunrise and sunset are really be best times to see the rock formations. The light plays beautifully off of the rock and it really comes to life in the changing light of sunrise and sunset. So we figured the best way to see sunrise today would be from a camel (that's right, we said camel). Our camel's name was Sandy, she used to be a racing camel. There was no racing today, however. It was a slow walk through the desert with about 25 other tourists, and our guide Dan. Dan was great, he was exactly what you think of as the typical Aussie "cowboy" with the accent and the attitude. They put us two to a camel, so we got to ride together. Each camel is tied to the camel in front of it like a caravan, so the rider in back is pretty close to the head of the camel behind him. This lead to Andy making a new friend in Leopo
ld. Leo was a very friendly camel who kept rubbing his head on Andy's back and leg, sometimes leaving a little cud behind. This was probably the best view of Uluru we had our entire visit. The previous morning we were really too close to the rock to really appreciate the beauty and size. The evening's sunset was pretty cloudy, so even though we were farther away and could see the whole rock, it was not a great light show. But this morning was terrific with lots of light playing off of Uluru, it was very magnificent. Well that's about it for Uluru, now it's off to Melbourne.
Sunday
We arrived about 6:30 last night, and things got interesting before we even left the airport (we seem to be having lots of airport "adventures" this trip). Vassya (Andy's uncle) was waiting for us at the gate (a pleasant surprise for us safety conscious Americans), but he had a slight problem. It seems that when he went through the security check, people were in a bit of a hurry, and someone picked up his phone by mistake. So he left Carlos (his son in law) to try and figure things out while he came and met us. Long story short, the guy who had his phone was pretty confused and didn't seem to want to return it until we got one of the security agents on the line with him. Once that happened and he "laid down the law", the phone was promptly returned and we were able to go about our business. Then it was on to dinner with the family and catching up on old times. It turned out to be a lovely evening.
We're sorry that it has been a while since we posted. Internet access at our hotel was $2 per minute, and we thought that was a little ridiculous. So here is a nice long post to get you all caught up.
We arrived in Uluru or Ayers Rock. If you have ever been in a remote location and said “wow we are in the middle of nowhere” you were wrong, unless you were here. This, I guarantee, is the middle of nowhere--the nearest town is almost 500 kilometers away. There is nothing but red rock desert for miles and miles. The resort where we are staying is the town. There are 5 hotels in the resort, many restaurants and a “shopping center”. Even the staff of the resort and the tours live in a “village” that is owned by and is right next to the resort.
Tonight we went to an observatory to look at the stars. WOW!!! It is so dark here you could see millions of stars. We saw the southern cross, the Milky Way, and many other constellations. At the end we got to look through a couple of telescopes. We saw some binary stars (two stars that are very close together), star clusters and even Saturn. It looks just like pictures that you have seen of it. It was a wonderful experience. It is just so dark here! It was also neat because we got to see stars that we never get to see in the Northern hemisphere.
Friday
For those of you who know Andy’s sleeping habits and my aversion to exer
cise, you may want to sit down for this next story. Today we went on a sunrise tour of Ayers Rock (Uluru). We hiked around the base of the whole rock. It is 9 kilometers around the base, but the trail winds around for about 11 kilometers. It was a very nice walk and the sunrise was very pretty. It is amazing to see such a HUGE rock sticking up in the middle of a very flat desert. We learned a little bit about the mythology and legends that the aboriginal people who live in this area tell. Because we are in the desert there is an enormous emphasis on staying hydrated especially when hiking. So we drank a ton of water last night and this morning to keep from getting dehydrated. Unfortunately there were no restrooms until we had completed about 3 hours of the hike!!! We would have had a much more enjoyable hike if we'd had an opportunity to go to the bathroom a little earlier. Anyway, we have some really striking pictures, it was well worth the trek.
After the hike we came back to the resort for a quick lunch then we were off for another hike. We tramped around Kata Tjuta or the Olgas. This is a cluster of 36 enormous rock formations. This was a more challenging hike, it was 7.4 km with lots of uneven ground and we had to even do a bit of climbing. But it is extraordinarily beautiful and well worth the effort. We then went to a lookout spot to watch the sunset shine on Uluru. We were exhausted by the end. Unfortunately, Katie probalby didn't drink enough water throughout the day, because she had a bit of a headache by dinner time. Too bad for her, because Andy went to a place called the Pioneer Outback BBQ, where you get to pick out your own piece of meat and cook it up yourself. They had all sorts of choices like Emu, Kangaroo (sorry KC, but at least I passed on that this time), and of course a few types of steak. It was really tasty, and the live music was fun too. It was an early night though, since we needed to be up for sunrise again in the morning.
Saturday
Sunrise and sunset are really be best times to see the rock formations. The light plays beautifully off of the rock and it really comes to life in the changing light of sunrise and sunset. So we figured the best way to see sunrise today would be from a camel (that's right, we said camel). Our camel's name was Sandy, she used to be a racing camel. There was no racing today, however. It was a slow walk through the desert with about 25 other tourists, and our guide Dan. Dan was great, he was exactly what you think of as the typical Aussie "cowboy" with the accent and the attitude. They put us two to a camel, so we got to ride together. Each camel is tied to the camel in front of it like a caravan, so the rider in back is pretty close to the head of the camel behind him. This lead to Andy making a new friend in Leopo
ld. Leo was a very friendly camel who kept rubbing his head on Andy's back and leg, sometimes leaving a little cud behind. This was probably the best view of Uluru we had our entire visit. The previous morning we were really too close to the rock to really appreciate the beauty and size. The evening's sunset was pretty cloudy, so even though we were farther away and could see the whole rock, it was not a great light show. But this morning was terrific with lots of light playing off of Uluru, it was very magnificent. Well that's about it for Uluru, now it's off to Melbourne.Sunday
We arrived about 6:30 last night, and things got interesting before we even left the airport (we seem to be having lots of airport "adventures" this trip). Vassya (Andy's uncle) was waiting for us at the gate (a pleasant surprise for us safety conscious Americans), but he had a slight problem. It seems that when he went through the security check, people were in a bit of a hurry, and someone picked up his phone by mistake. So he left Carlos (his son in law) to try and figure things out while he came and met us. Long story short, the guy who had his phone was pretty confused and didn't seem to want to return it until we got one of the security agents on the line with him. Once that happened and he "laid down the law", the phone was promptly returned and we were able to go about our business. Then it was on to dinner with the family and catching up on old times. It turned out to be a lovely evening.
Today was a pretty relaxing day, we met for brunch with the family at a charming little Italian bistro. It obviously was very popular because there seemed to be about a hundred customers giving their orders at any one moment, we don't know how the kept it all straight. But we managed to get our meal in short order, and then we checked out a local book store and picked up a few local favorites. Then Vassya took us for a drive around town and sort of gave us the lay of the land. We saw the downtown area, St. Kilda, the stadium where the Australian Open is played, and too many other areas to mention. Afterwards we then met up with Katya and Sabine (Andy's cousin and her daughter) and Natasha (Vassya's wife) for dinner at a local pub, where we exchanged family stories and basically caught up on family history.
6 comments:
Fun stuff. So a couple of questions-
What's up w/ the camels seeming to have nose piercings that are attached to a rope?? Is that some sort of backup way to control them in the event that the rope around their neck fails?
That's some nice new headgear that Andy is sporting. I'm guessing that it's to repel bugs? No sign of similar headgear while you guys were riding the camels. So what's the net all about?
If Andy had a nickel for every time a camel left some cud on his leg....
Looks like you are having fun and making all kinds of new friends. Is Andy with Sandy or Leo--I'm guessing Sandy from the color. Looks like she REALLY likes him, too. Big smile!
How fun to meet more family. Thanks for the update--we sure enjoy them. It was fun to talk to you on Saturday, too.
Love,
Mom
Love the picture on the camel! I agree, what's up with the netting around Andy's face and the camel's nose piercing...
I'm kind of disappointed that you changed the spelling on your webpage. It seemed so enthusiastic!
I forgot to mention the fly nets. There were so many flys in Uluru that you would just be covered the minute you walked out the door. It wasn't that big of a deal when they were landing on your body but they seemed to go right for you eyes, nose ears and mouth. As soon as you brushed them away there were 15 more to take their place. Therefore we opted for the fly net. Very chic!!
The nose piercing is for trining the camels and discipline. I think the trainers give it a little tug if the camels misbehave. Fortunately, we didn't need to use it on our ride.
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