To Darwin

So I know I haven't updated the blog for a couple days...it's been a CRAZY couple days!!! So here's the update since we hiked around Uluru several days ago....

After hiking Uluru and getting some absolutely amazing pictures of the rock in the rain, we spent another rainy night in the caravan park meaning we still didn't get any sunset or sunrise pictures... but we weren't worried. The pictures we got are something we will never see again, so we were happy.

The next morning we dropped Snoopy back off at doggy daycare and headed out to Uluru's 'sister' rock Kata Tjuta. This rock is so sacred the stories surrounding it are only passed to worthy elders of the Aboriginal people, but we can see why they see it as an important spiritual place...it is breathtaking! The hiking paths are limited around this sacred place so we didn't get many pictures, but hopefully the one below will give you a slight idea of it's beauty.

Sam getting ready for some serious mountain biking around the rock

A new little friend...he was as curious as I was!

After a quick hike around the rock, Sam and I picked up the dog and headed out to Alice Springs. And that's when things started to get interesting...

We arrived in Alice Springs at about 6:45 or so and headed straight to the only caravan park that allows dogs. It was closed. At 6. No after hours check-in. Not impressed.

So Sam and I called every hotel/motel/caravan park in the city...no vacancy. Granted I am not pregnant with the Savior of the word but I can somewhat relate to how Mary and Joseph must have felt when they were forced to sleep in a stable because there was no room in the inn.

Instead of a stable, however, Sam and I found a church parking lot. That's right..you heard me...church parking lot. We are talking tent on asphalt. Sweet.

Needless to say it was a hard night. We were awakened by drunk people several times during the night and the morning just didn't seem to come fast enough. However, despite our trials, this experience has actually taught me how to better put my trust in the Lord. The next morning was Sunday and we waited in the parking lot for someone to open the building so that we could get ourselves fixed up and ready for church. Both the branch president and the Darwin district president arrived 2 hours before church and let us in. We met some amazing people at church and by the time church was over at 1, we had some new friends to console us about the fact that all the roads north were flooded and we weren't going to be travelling anywhere.

This is where learning to trust comes in. The branch president, President Ford, invited us to stay with him and his family until the roads cleared! It was one of the greatest experiences I have had on this trip. The Ford's were amazing! They have a huge family and great family dynamics. We were served an amazing dinner and were able to take part in their family home evening filled with music from their family's many amazing singers. If we had never had to sleep in the parking lot and been flooded in we would have never experienced the kindness and charity of the Ford family! This experience has taught me to have more trust in the Lord. He is aware of our individual struggles and despite the hardships our stay in Alice Springs turned out to be a memorable 2 days where we were blessed in countless ways. Many thanks to the Fords who shared everything they had with a couple of travelling strangers!

One of the 'puddles' we went through because of the rain

(yes, I got out of the car so Sam could turn around and drive back through it to get a good action shot! ha ha)

Here's pictures of the awesome Ford family!

(This is President Ford's kids, their spouses, their spouse's siblings, etc)

Another blessing we encountered was that the rain stopped on the 11th and the roads were clear for driving on the 12th. Since we had to be in Darwin by the 13th, we had the perfect amount of time to get there. Here are some things we saw on the way to Darwin...

Welcome to Wycliffe Well...the UFO capital of Australia...

stopped for petrol here and just had to get some pictures of the local 'residents'

We stayed overnight at Daly Waters on the night of the 12th. The local pub had some of the craziest decorations we had seen...here's some of them....

Did I mention that there are termite mounds...and I mean HUGE termite mounds EVERYWHERE in the north of NT. Here are just a couple of them I took a picture of while we getting petrol... but there were bigger mounds everywhere!

And finally, in Australia they have huge road trains which are semis with 3 or more trailers attached to the back. This was just one we saw. This one was a double decker for cattle...crazy!

We are now in Darwin staying at a super ritzy hotel. We dropped the dog off to be watched while we are in Darwin (poor thing...he's having trouble with all this)

Sam has training everyday but I've been just bumming around...not bad! ha ha

Here's a map showing the locations we stopped at during the last leg of our trip. Enjoy and stay posted.... we'll post photos of our fancy new digs here in Darwin! Peace out!