Sunday, December 17, 2023
We got up at 4:00 am this morning to be out by 4:45 am to go see the sunrise at Uluru. Nice way to bracket our day at Uluru yesterday, as we finished with viewing the sunset at Uluru.
Sunrise was lovely and blessedly cool compared to the 100 degree + heat of yesterday. Lots of tourists come out for the sunrise which occured today around 5:50 am. As soon as the sun is up, those pesky black flies come out - so, on went the flynet over my sunhat.
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| Red sky over the outback at Uluru 12.17.23 |
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Uluru at sunrise 12.17.23
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The artifact in the face of Uluru reminded me of the "eye of Sauron" from Lord of the Rings!
As promised, I am also posting my photo from the sunset view of Uluru last night.
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| Uluru at sunset 12.16.23 |
Back at Sails in the Desert by 6:30 am this morning for our buffet breakfast and then back to our room to finish packing and get our suitcases outside the door by 9 a.m. and then we trooped down to the lobby around 9:20 a.m. to depart at 10 a.m. Before doing that, Carl made a run to the local grocery store for cold meds for me and another couple of bottles of water. The water in Uluru is safe to drink, but the process for making it safe involves some type of reverse osmosis which gives the water a peculiar taste.
Today has been a long travel day. We got on the bus at 10 a.m. for the drive to Alice Springs where we are picking up our Qantas flight to Darwin. We're not expected to arrive in Darwin until 8:40 pm tonight and will go straight to our hotel.
On our way out of the Uluru region, we passed by the 3rd of the large geological formations in the area, known as both Mt. Connor and Atilla. It has a flat mesa top.
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| Mt. Connor/Atilla geological formation |
On the way to Alice Springs we stopped at Erldunda - a glorified gas station with a convenience store/cafe and souvenir shop and a flock(?) of Emu that you can feed for $3 AU.
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| Emu at Erldunda |
We arrived in Alice Springs around 3:30 p.m. and did a quick drive through the town. Oh - on our way here (after our lunch stop) we almost were involved in a serious accident. Some guy tried to pass cars on a blind curve and suddenly our bus driver, Johnno, had to slam on the brakes as the driver of the car facing us head on desperately swerved to get back in his lane! Our tour guide, Melissa, was standing up in her seat at the front of the bus, giving us some history when the bus slammed on the brakes and she fell back and banged her ribs on the front rail of the bus - ouch! She thinks she may have cracked a rib but thankfully, there were no other injuries, and our bus drive was able to avoid the head on collision!
That's all for today - we're pooped and it will be too late to write anything when we get to Darwin tonight.
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