Here in Ayers Rock now...
I had a very nice evening out with James, Mishy, Jade, and Ben who arrived later. We went out for Vietnamese food, which was actually the first time I've had any, much to Jade's horror resulting in a whack on the arm for me.
It was a good meal, although James took rather an interest in an unidentified part of the deep fried flounder that he found...it was nicknamed "The Slug", and continued to be a source of amusement until he asked the restaurant owner what it was and he pulled it off the rest of the fish, squeezed it a bit, sniffed it and basically had no idea what it was. Pictures will be forthcoming when I get to Cairns as I can't upload anything here unfortunately.
Afterwards we went to the Atrium bar up on the 35th floor of the Sofitel hotel - it has great views out over the city, and the bathrooms have a huge picture window that you can stare out of while at the urinals (and presumably people can also stare right back in while you're urinating for England on the 35th floor in a brightly lit bathroom for all to see).
We then went back to my hotel so Jade could pick up her CDs that she'd left at Amanda's months ago, and had a drink in the Casino complex before they had to get going.
I got up about 6 to get ready to drive over to the airport, and it was a fairly early flight up to Alice Springs where we stopped over for an hour and a half before flying on up to Ayers Rock, or Uluru as it is known by the Aboriginals. There were a few of us picked up at the airport and then driven over to the hotel here. The hotel consists of a large tented building where the communal areas are, and 15 smaller tented buildings which house each of the 15 double rooms that the guests stay in. They are arranged so each has an uninterrupted view of Uluru. Website of the hotel is here: http://www.longitude131.com.au/
We went out for a drive around Uluru yesterday evening, and a visit to the Aboriginal cultural centre which was fairly interesting. Yesterday marked the 20th anniversary of the handover of the land to the Aboriginals and the simultaneous lease back of the land to the government.
The one thing I wasn't prepared for here is the flies. They don't bite, they just irritate you by flying into your face, tickling your arms and legs, and generally being a pest. We were fortunately given fly nets to put over our heads, and that does help, but for someone from England where you'd be unlucky to have more to worry about than a couple of bluebottles buzzing around the garden and a handful of mosquitoes, it is a bit much sometimes.
They do however go away after dark, only to be replaced by incredibly dumb grasshoppers and moths. Out here there is very little light pollution, and last night it was possible to look up into the sky and see all the major Southern constellations. It's also fairly easy to spot shooting stars - I saw 2 in the space of about 15 minutes.
This morning I got up at 4:30am in order to leave at 5 to drive over to Uluru for a Sunrise walk. It was pretty warm even then, so shorts and a t-shirt were all that was necessary (and the fly net of course). Sunrise was pretty impressive, and we walked about two thirds of the way around Uluru before being picked up and returned for breakfast which we have just had.
There are plenty more things that I'm going to be doing here, and I've got another 5 am start tomorrow too, so right now I'm going to do a bit of relaxing and go for a soak in the pool.
Photos will be forthcoming (I have plenty to upload) when I get to Cairns, where I should have an opportunity to spend a reasonable amount of time uploading them.
All the best...
Ken
It was a good meal, although James took rather an interest in an unidentified part of the deep fried flounder that he found...it was nicknamed "The Slug", and continued to be a source of amusement until he asked the restaurant owner what it was and he pulled it off the rest of the fish, squeezed it a bit, sniffed it and basically had no idea what it was. Pictures will be forthcoming when I get to Cairns as I can't upload anything here unfortunately.
Afterwards we went to the Atrium bar up on the 35th floor of the Sofitel hotel - it has great views out over the city, and the bathrooms have a huge picture window that you can stare out of while at the urinals (and presumably people can also stare right back in while you're urinating for England on the 35th floor in a brightly lit bathroom for all to see).
We then went back to my hotel so Jade could pick up her CDs that she'd left at Amanda's months ago, and had a drink in the Casino complex before they had to get going.
I got up about 6 to get ready to drive over to the airport, and it was a fairly early flight up to Alice Springs where we stopped over for an hour and a half before flying on up to Ayers Rock, or Uluru as it is known by the Aboriginals. There were a few of us picked up at the airport and then driven over to the hotel here. The hotel consists of a large tented building where the communal areas are, and 15 smaller tented buildings which house each of the 15 double rooms that the guests stay in. They are arranged so each has an uninterrupted view of Uluru. Website of the hotel is here: http://www.longitude131.com.au/
We went out for a drive around Uluru yesterday evening, and a visit to the Aboriginal cultural centre which was fairly interesting. Yesterday marked the 20th anniversary of the handover of the land to the Aboriginals and the simultaneous lease back of the land to the government.
The one thing I wasn't prepared for here is the flies. They don't bite, they just irritate you by flying into your face, tickling your arms and legs, and generally being a pest. We were fortunately given fly nets to put over our heads, and that does help, but for someone from England where you'd be unlucky to have more to worry about than a couple of bluebottles buzzing around the garden and a handful of mosquitoes, it is a bit much sometimes.
They do however go away after dark, only to be replaced by incredibly dumb grasshoppers and moths. Out here there is very little light pollution, and last night it was possible to look up into the sky and see all the major Southern constellations. It's also fairly easy to spot shooting stars - I saw 2 in the space of about 15 minutes.
This morning I got up at 4:30am in order to leave at 5 to drive over to Uluru for a Sunrise walk. It was pretty warm even then, so shorts and a t-shirt were all that was necessary (and the fly net of course). Sunrise was pretty impressive, and we walked about two thirds of the way around Uluru before being picked up and returned for breakfast which we have just had.
There are plenty more things that I'm going to be doing here, and I've got another 5 am start tomorrow too, so right now I'm going to do a bit of relaxing and go for a soak in the pool.
Photos will be forthcoming (I have plenty to upload) when I get to Cairns, where I should have an opportunity to spend a reasonable amount of time uploading them.
All the best...
Ken
posted by Ken at 1:13 am
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