Ayer’s Rock (Uluru), NT Australia
December
20th-21st 2015
Dinner Saturday night (the 19th)
was mostly just appetizers as we were full and tired. Tried some fried prawns
and other little seafood bites. Sunday we left Airlie Beach to head back to
Sydney. In Sydney we spent one night at a hotel near the airport. It made me
think that in addition to telling you what we’ve been eating I should give
ratings of the hotels we’ve been staying at! So here is a summary of the first
part of the journey:
- Airlie Beach – Grand Mercure Azure Sea Apartments – 4/5 stars. Lovely apartments with an amazing view, but the lack of wifi and Mac compatible Ethernet cords was a bit of a bummer.
- Sydney – Stamford Plaza – 3/5 stars. A nice but fairly standard airport hotel. The “free” shuttle was not free at all but convenient.
Dinner that night was at the hotel’s
Argentinian themed restaurant, and was pretty good. Monday morning we got up
and went back to Sydney airport to catch out flight to Ayer’s Rock!
We arrived at Ayer’s Rock at their tiny little
airport on Monday afternoon. It’s an hour and a half different than Sydney so
we had to adjust the time. And it was hot!! Nice warm dry heat, which I love. We
took the bus to the resort, which is quite close to Ayer’s Rock (known as Uluru
to the aboriginal Anangu people’s). I realize Australia has come a long way and
has a long way to go, but I was quite impressed with the level of respect shown
to the Anangu people by the resort (which is actually owned by an aboriginal
tourism company). There was a video introducing us to their people on the bus, and
plenty of shops and museums displaying art from local artists. The resort is
33% employed by aboriginal peoples from across the region, and has a training
program made up of aboriginal workers to help them succeed in their jobs. The
resort itself is made up of a number of different hotels/accommodations, and we
were staying at the Emu Walk apartments. They were lovely, and I would give
them 4.5/5 stars. We stopped in to two of the pools to catch some sun (each
location has it’s own pool and guests of any location can use any pool). Lunch
at the Walpa bar was delicious lamb and pasta for me, and a yummy chicken
ceasar salad for Mom.
That night we decided to just watch the sunset
over Uluru from the lookout vantage point at the centre of the resort. It was
beautiful. From there we went to dinner at a fancy steakhouse, where I tried
the black angus fillet (absolutely delicious and soooo tender) and Mom had the
porterhouse steak. We split a sampling plate of crocodile, wallaby, emu, and
kangaroo. The wine was also very good.
December
22nd 2015
Tuesday morning we got up at 3:15am
to take the sunrise bus tour to Uluru. The bus dropped us off at the prime
sunrise viewing site, and although it was cloudy and not the most spectacular
sunrise, it was still beautiful. The only downside was the flies, which are
extremely annoying. They don’t bite, but they buzz around your head and fly to
any spot that has moisture, so your eyes, nose, ears, and mouth. Our bus driver
recommended the “Desert Dweller’s” face cream made of olive oil and rosemary,
which did actually work well to keep the flies from landing on us. Bug spray
just seems to attract them. Anyways, we also had a bit of coffee and some
snacks at the sunrise site. We also managed to see a dingo!
From there our driver dropped us off
at a spot near the base, and we walked about 6km along the path back to a
meeting point. I took tons of pictures because it was just gorgeous, but they
truly do not capture the enormity and impressive presence of Uluru. There were
signs along the way marking the sacred spots where we were not allowed to take
pictures. We were going to go on a guided ranger walk at the meeting spot, but
we’d had enough of walking at that point and took the bus to the Cultural
Centre instead. Also at the meeting spot was where you could climb the rock.
For many years this was promoted as must- do for tourists, but now is strongly
discouraged for environmental (garbage and bacteria drain off the rock from the
climb site), safety (people have in fact died doing the climb, and it’s quite
physically demanding – it’s closed in extreme weather conditions, such as the
40-50 degree heat which isn’t uncommon to the region), and cultural (Uluru is a
sacred site to the Anangu people and the climb is not meant for just anyone to
do or die on) reasons. They are working to permanently ban climbing. After
looking at the tiny chain link fence zig zagging up the rock face, even if I
wanted to be an asshole and climb Uluru, I would be scared off!! The cultural centre
was very interesting, and we learned a lot about the landscape and the Anangu
people there.
We managed to catch in some rays at
the pool again, and then got ready for our fancy dinner out. We were lucky to
be able to book two spots to the Sounds of Silence dinner, which was highly
recommended by anyone we spoke to. It’s an open air dinner at a site with views
of Uluru and Kata Tjuta (The Olga Mountains) at sunset, followed by a guided
tour of the stars by an astronomer. It was worth every single penny we spent on
it. We started at a lookoff point where we sipped champagne and wine, and dined
on delicious crocodile, salmon, and other canapes while we watched the sun set
over Uluru and Kata Tjuta. We were treated to some traditional dances by Anangu
dancers, and then escorted to our dining area under the twilight sky. Dinner
was a delicious buffet of local food cooked by a very talented chef, and the
wine just kept flowing. Our star guide showed us the various constellations in
the night sky and told us some traditional stories, and then we got to view the
Orion Nebula and moon by telescope. Seeing the stars in the middle of the
outback with no signs of civilization for miles is an incredibly breathtaking
experience. Doing so while sipping wine, port and munching on delicious deserts
is not bad either ;)
December
23rd 2015
Wednesday morning we again rose at
3am to get ready for our sunrise camel ride! I’ve got to say camels are one of
the coolest creatures I’ve ever interacted with. In some ways they are like
cows – they eat the same way, have the same laid back personality, and rise with
their hind end first like cows do. But they're also incredibly tall and just
funny looking. Our camel’s name was Stumpy, and he was quite lovely, I loved
him a lot. We rode tandem with Mom in the back and me in front. When sitting on
a camel you have to lean back when they get up and sit down, as they go down
with their front legs first and it’s quite the steep angle. It’s a pretty weird
feeling when you’re up there looking 7 or 8 feet down at the ground. The camels
have plastic nose rings which are only used if they don’t cooperate and stand
up when asked. They’re very intelligent animals (about as smart as a 6 year old
we were told) and very laid back. They’re also perfectly designed for the
desert – they can go weeks without water, have wide flat feet that leave only a
small impression in the hot sand, and have long eyelashes. Camels are not
native to Australia, but were introduced when the land was being settled 1800s
because horses could not traverse the harsh landscape of the outback. The
camels were then set free and prospered in Australia where they have no major
predators and can eat almost all of the vegetation (often dying from obesity!),
and it’s one of very few places in the world with “wild” (feral) camels. They’re
a bit of a conservation and invasive species concern, but it’s certainly a cool
way to experience the outback. We were all attached in a line and went for a
walk through the desert, with our guides explaining the scenery and all about
camels. Plenty of opportunity for beautiful pictures of the rising sun over
Uluru and Kata Tjuta. Once back at the farm we had a bit of a photo op with the
camels (baby camels too!!), emu, water buffalo, and kangaroo. We also had a
light breakfast with coffee and perused the gift shop, where I just had to buy
an “I heart camels” t-shirt. I also tried the vegemite, which I probably won’t
do again.
Our flight back to Sydney was later
that afternoon, so we had brunch at the hotel and packed up the rest of our
things. The airport experience was less than fun (loooooong lines and extra
baggage fees suck), but the fight to Sydney was uneventful. Once in Sydney we
made it to the bed and breakfast we are staying at (owned by the sister of one
of Mom’s co-workers). It’s a lovely apartment in Pyrmont, and our hosts are
very welcoming and gracious. Another traveller from Toronto was here as well,
and he’s been in Sydney a while so was very helpful to talk to. The family has
two corgi dogs Taffy and Candy, and they are just adorable. After a delicious
lamb and greek salad dinner we walked along the water front to Darling Harbour,
where we were charmed by the busy Christmas boardwalk scene and lights. We took
a ride on the giant ferris wheel (because of course!) and I enjoyed a delicious
ice cream before we took the light rail train back. After that it was straight
to bed after a long day.
I’m currently writing this on
Christmas eve here and have some interesting stories to share, but I’ll save
that for the next blog post! Merry Christmas to everyone back home, and I’ll be
in touch soon!
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