It's official! We have crossed into our new home state! We are now in the Northern Territory!
And with a new state comes new speed limits! 130 km/hr is unheard of in NSW so we were excited to test our car out at such a speed. Of course our car is was loaded down with things strapped to the top so every time a fast wind hit us we slowed right down to about 100.... oh well...it was fun when we were going downhill! 
Here's a picture from an Emu farm we saw along the way! Not a wild emu but being in a cage sure makes it easy to take a good picture!
On the way to Uluru we had another interesting experience. When we hit the turn-off for Uluru Sam was asleep and I was driving. Suddenly this Aboriginal man walks across this deserted highway right into my lane of traffic and is waving me down. I freak out (thinking I am going to hit him or something since he's leaning into my lane), wake Sam and we end up pulling over. The conversation goes as follows...Sam, "Do you need some help?"
Guy, "Yea man, we're outta petrol. Got any petrol?"
Sam, "No, sorry"
Guy, "Got any water? Money? Beer? Smokes?"
Sam, "Only water...sorry"
Guy, "Okay. Cool dog man"
How random can you get? Welcome to the Northern Territory!
We finally arrived in Uluru! We stayed at the Ayers Rock Resort...a completely posh mini town in the middle of the desert! There are apartments, 3, 4, and 5 star motels, a grocery store, an art gallery, and the list goes on and on. However, being the poor unemployed couple we are, we stayed at the campground and set up our tent along with all the other poor and adventurous travelers.
It rained the entire first day we were at the campground so all of our attempts to get a sunset picture of Uluru were in vain. Strike 1 for picture taking. It was because of this that we decided we would wake up early to get a picture of the sunrise. At this point we had actually switched our phones to the correct time zone and were confident they would wake us up on time. Unfortunately, when we plugged them into the computer, they were reset to Sydney time. This resulted in our alarms going off at 4am (although it said 5am). It was dark, but hey...it was before sunrise, that's normal right? We hopped in the car and went searching for the lookout spot to catch the sunrise. We end up getting lost and asking a tour bus driver (the tourists were loading up before sunrise...that sucks) for directions. He gives us directions and then laughs and adds, "But you may want to stay in your car until around 5:20, otherwise you may get wet". At this point we are thinking, "5:20? Didn't we already pass 5:20 this morning?" At which point we realize our phones were set to the wrong time zone! Whoops! Strike 2 in he attempt to get Uluru in all it's sun-filled glory. So we slept in the car with a wet, smelly dog for another 45 minutes before we got up to hike to the lookout. Of course we get there and it's raining so hard that there is no spectacular sunrise...strike 3....After that whole ordeal we head back to the tent and decide that we are going to stick it out at Uluru for one more night in hopes of catching the elusive sunset/sunrise. We head back to the tent, take a power nap, drop the dog off at the office (free dog minding...sweeeeet!) and head out for a hike. It had been raining only intermittently so we cruised around the cultural center and then drove to the start of the hike that takes you right around the base of Uluru. We chose not to climb out of respect for the Aboriginal people who ask tourists to respect the rock's spiritual significance. Here's photos from our trek....
At the lookout spot
So not only is Uluru an amazing and beautiful place, we got to see it during one of the EXTREMELY rare rains. (Apparently it does not rain very much here). The hard rain resulted in gorgeous waterfalls running off the rock on all sides. It was amazing to see an we were glad we fought through the rain to see it all. (Well, Sam convinced me to go on...I was ready to give up when we had a particularly bad pour down. Ha ha) The waterfalls running off Uluru are a once in a lifetime sight so we feel very blessed to be here during this time!
Cool Aboriginal rock paintings
Note: There is not usually a 'lake' here...yea for rain
The rain created an awesome effect on the rock! The grey rain mixed with the red rock created some awesome, colorful and amazing sights.
The rain created some serious puddles...we hiked with squishy shoes all day!
How cool is this? It looks like the rock is made of caves underneath with a smooth coat poured over top. You can see these crazy honeycomb looking caves where the 'surface' has weathered away! It is incredible and amazing! The pictures don't even do it justice!
And finally...completely non-Uluru related.... everyone has been asking to see the ring Sam bought me from Coober Pedy...so here it is!!!! It's absolutely gorgeous! He's so good to me!
Keep checking! Tomorrow we are making attempt number 4 at seeing the sunrise over Uluru and then off to Alice Springs! Catch you later!!!!
2 comments:
this is so awesome!!! i LOVE all the pictures. (the one of snoopdog is adorable). i am excited traveling with you! haha!
p.s. pretty ring. (and wedding ring!!)
mandy, the mountain picture (the one farthest up the page with the water running down it) looks like an elephant head (an elephant maybe laying down). in fact that's what I thought it was until I read the paragraph above it. AWESOME!!!
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