Uluru. The big rock.
Big? Yes.
Beautiful? Yes.
Worth the trip? Debatable.
We flew 3 1/2 hours from Sydney to Ayers Rock Airport to go see "the Rock." We arrived and took the resort shuttle to the hotel. My first impression was it felt like Disneyworld. A master planned resort community with all the shuttle buses and tourists you can handle. With Uluru lurking in the background, it had the sort of unreal, scenery backdrop sort of feeling that Disneyworld has too.
This is where the similarities end. We arrived at the hotel (us and all the other people from our flight) and there were TWO hotel workers to check us all in. Fortunately I ran ahead and got in line while Jason sorted the luggage so the wait was not too long. Of course our room was not ready yet so we went to grab lunch. After that, we headed to our $400 a night, 2 bedroom apartment. While not the most expensive accommodation ever, it was enough money that I had expectations. For example, I expect a clean apartment. I expect sheets on the beds. I expect no mold - especially in the desert where humidity is not a problem. I did expect insects and spiders being in the Outback and all. I did not expect furry friends in the room. What did I find? I found a baby cot with no sheets and a dirty blanket that looked like it had been eaten by mice. I found a filthy apartment with mold all over the bathroom. I found a pull out bed with no sheets. I found 2 mice in the apartment. Other than that, it was great. Nice and big with plenty of room for our family - I just wish I did not have to put on my shoes to go to the bathroom because I was so grossed out by the floors and what was lurking under the couch! In the end, what do you expect? There is one hotel company with NOTHING else around for hundreds of miles. They've sort of gotcha on this one.
Settled into the hotel, we chose a sunset camel ride for our first activity. I took the big kids as the little ones were not allowed to join us. We had a wonderful time. Riding the camels was lots of fun. The big man got to ride along with the guide while M and I rode together. The scenery was amazing and yes, the rock was beautiful. We enjoyed an amazing sunset and watched as the rock changed colors as the sun hit it. This experience is what it is all about. Doing it while on top of a camel was just an added bonus.
The next morning, we got up early and headed out to see the sun rise on Uluru. The time difference was an hour and half earlier than Sydney so the kids were up before dawn anyway making this not too difficult. We almost missed it because we were a little slow but fortunately saw the beauty of the colors changing once again. It is so big and again, breathtaking. It is sort of like the Grand Canyon in reverse.
Next stop - the Cultural Centre. We had some breakfast and then headed out to do a little hiking. It was hot and the flies were bad but we made the best of it. Fortunately a friend had warned us about the flies and loaned us fly nets so we were all set. We chose the Kuniya walk that took us the the Mutitjulu waterhole. It was very serene and again, beautiful. Bright Orange and just unbelievable in size. I can see why Uluru is such a wonder.
After this we headed back to the car and drove all the way around the rock to see it from all angles. We stopped at the place where you can climb it. Of course the kids wanted to climb but it is very steep and the aboriginals request you don't climb. I did let them go up a few feet so they felt like they had conquered the Rock!
By this point, we were hot and tired. Enough flies and heat for us so we decided to drive on to Kata Tjuta. This is another part of the National Park and was equally beautiful. The domes may have even been prettier. We had some very tired children by this point so we did not get out and hike but just drove to a few lookouts and then headed back to the hotel for naps.
Naptime brought a thunderstorm - this seems to be a theme for us on our vacations lately! M and A were not happy as we had promised the afternoon at the pool. Instead, it was a few more rounds of Rat-a-tat Cat for us. Fortunately by about 4 the skies had cleared and we headed to the pool.
Sunday morning came and it was time to go home. We waved goodbye to the Rock and headed back to Sydney. I was very happy to leave the dirty hotel and sleep in my own bed. My final thoughts as we left Uluru... if this is the best of Australia tourism, it is no wonder we needed Oprah to come and try to sell it. I hope she did not have mice in her room!
Getting the gold...
An original house in the Chinese Settlement
Unbelievably beautiful canyon on the way to Arrowtown. This is the canyon we went through on our jetboat trip.
