Travels

We stopped off at the Sydney Tower, hoping to take a quick ride to the top, unfortunately there was a 45min wait to go up with a minimum wait of 1 hour before coming back down. Dropping that idea we thought about getting tickets for the Wallabies vs All Blacks game that was being played at the Olympic Stadium that night, as we had heard it was surprisingly not sold out. It was not our night as the city Ticketek shops had already closed, so we settled for watching the game on the TV in the hotel. Australia won comfortably.

After checking out of the hotel, it was a quick drive to the airport followed by a lengthy search for a petrol station before checking in for our flight to Alice Springs. With Qantas deciding to choose this weekend to switch over to a new computer system, this was not as easy as it sounds. Our paper tickets seemed to add to the confusion.

After the usual air conditioned jet ways, it was a contrast to exit the plane straight into the full sun of the Red Centre. We picked up our hire car, a Diesel Nissan Patrol, and headed into town along the Stuart Highway. It was sobering to see the roadsigns indicating it was 1500km to Darwin or Adelaide going North or South along the highway respectively with only one other stop listed in either direction!

Arrived at the hotel, the Crowne Plaza, just behind a coach full of people, so we settled for drinks from the bar before checking in. After the queue died down we dropped off our bags and headed into town. Forgetting it was Sunday, we found most of the stores closed, including the tourist information centre. However, there were still plenty of aborigines just sitting around in the streets, which gave the town an odd feel. We jumped back in the car and headed up Anzac Hill for a birds eye view of Alice. After a quick walk down and back up the Lions path we were ready for the air conditioning in the car. We then drove north to the site of the Telegraph Repeater Station that was the original Alice Springs before the town took the name. We took a short walk up a nearby hill that was used during survey of the area and enjoyed the breeze we found at the top. We returned to the hotel and had dinner at an excellent Indian restaurant that was quite at odds with the rest of the place. The rest of the evening was spent doing some more laundry.

The next morning we checked out and headed back into town for breakfast (Gloria Jean's again) and provisions. We stopped at the tourist information centre to get our permit to travel the Merimbee Loop road (as it is Aboriginal land) before setting off west. We took a detour to check out Standley Chasm, a narrow break in the Macdonnell Range, before continuing on to Hermansburg, after which we were on unsealed roads.

The quality of the road varied from dusty to bone breaking and we were glad to reach a bit more tarmac when we took a detour to Gosse's Bluff, the remains of a 1km comet crater. However, we were soon engaging 4WD to negotiate the track into the picnic site, where we stopped for lunch with not another soul in sight. Continuing on, we came across the remains of a camel by the road before starting on the Merimbee road proper (which meant no stops for the next 100km). The quality of the road continued to vary and we used all of the road in order to find the smoothest track. Luckily traffic was very light and every oncoming vehicle was announced km's in advance by the dust cloud that followed it.

We finally reached Kings Canyon Resort just before the sun set, after driving almost 300km from Alice Springs (of which almost 250km was unsealed). We checked into our suite, and managed to miss the sunset in the process. The suite was again a decent size, with a spa bath in front of a picture window looking out on the bush. We had dinner at the BBQ restaurant at the resort while listening to an “interesting” couple perform. We left swiftly when they started looking for audience participation.

We had breakfast in the room (bought from the resort supermarket) before checking out and heading into Kings Canyon where we completed the “Rim of the Canyon” walk, a hot 8.4km hike that started with a steep climb to deter the wary. The white Converse shoes worn by one of us did not fare well. After making it back to the car, we stopped for lunch and some expensive diesel at Kings Canyon Station before another long run (this time on sealed roads) to Ayers Rock Resort. We discovered Mt Connor along the way, known as the forgotten monolith. We arrived at the resort again just before sunset, but having learnt our lesson the night before, headed straight into the park towards Uluru.

Despite the unexpected and pricey entry fee, the view of Uluru from the sunset viewing platform was just what we had been expecting. After getting the kids back down from the roof of the car, we headed back to the resort for dinner at Gecko's Cafe, which was 75% okay with the caesar salad well past its best. We made do with some expensive deserts.

The next morning we head breakfast at the resort Deli before heading back into the park to the Olgas where the two intrepid members of the family headed off to complete the 8km Valley of the Winds walk. That evening we had dinner at the Outback Pioneer BBQ, a cook your own affair. The Contiki crowd were just as entertaining as the evening entertainer. We left once he started on the alternative bush songs!

Packed up one again and drove to the tiny Ayers Rock airport for our flight to Perth. The descent into Perth reminded us of England, green and wet. We managed to get ourselves into the international terminal, despite the confusing and complicated transfer, to find ourselves in a building site. It didn't get any better when we found our flight was delayed. We boarded 30min late and then spent almost an hour sitting on the plane before we took off.