Alice Springs to Ayers Rock

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We had an early start this morning. We got up and had breakfast at 6am. We were outside waiting for our 6:55am pickup at least 8 minutes early and it was running about 5 minutes late. We were nearly the last pickup the bus made. It was half full when it arrived. The good news is that after all our stress over the one medium sized 20kg suitcase there was no weighing and our bags were not the largest or the heaviest. We were right in the middle and there was plenty of room under the coach. We drove for about an hour to our first stop. We had a half hour at Stuarts Well Camel Farm. For $9 pp you could ride a led camel up and down a paddock to say you'd ridden a camel in the outback. It looked like what you've done at zoos or state fairs in the past. I want to have an actual safari-type experience. We have a free day in Alice Springs when we get back so we'll see. We used the restrooms, shared a giant cookie at $3.50 and walked around to see camels, an emu and feed a couple of friendly, hungry kangaroos or wallabys. Next stop was at Mount Ebenezer Road House. You could buy hot or cold food and drinks and use the restrooms. We had a half hour again. There was also an Aboriginal art gallery that we walked through. We had a 5 minute photo stop at Mt. Conner which is close in size to Uluru but not as big and since it is closer to Alice Springs is often mistaken for it. We arrived in Yulara which is the hotel village outside Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park at about 1 to 1:30pm. We had been told check in would not be until after 2pm and that we could store our bags and go out. The bad news is that it has been raining almost all day and still is. The good news is that someone from the hotel ran out to greet us and let everyone know that all their rooms were ready. We were the next to the last hotel to be dropped off. We were told that they average 5000 tourists every night here at Yulara. The thing about the rain. Our driver/guide told us Uluru is in the middle of a 7-8 year cycle rain event. She said it started with a flooding rain on Boxing Day 2016 and is continuing. She said that over history the local flora only has a chance to flower and seed and go through a 4 season cycle once every 7 to 8 years. They are expecting an explosion of burrowing toads to surface and mate over the next 24 hours or so. I honestly could have waited a week to come here.

Our AAT Kings itinerary that we got this morning warned of an early morning tomorrow and we found we have no breakfast included when we checked in to Sails in the Desert. So when we got our luggage to the room, we walked out to the "Town Centre" for some groceries. We needed a quick lunch which we did not find. There is not a lot of choice. We didn't have a lot of time before our 4:30pm tour pickup either. We went to the grocery store and bought food for now and later. We could both stand to skip a couple meals but right now as I type this up at bedtime I'm thinking it wasn't a good time to skip a couple in one day.

We had the Y8 Kata Tjuta Sunset tour this afternoon/evening. Obviously not a great night for it. The hotel actually canceled all their night tours/events for this evening. That must have overwhelmed their indoor restaurants and when our bus got back this evening and everyone poured in there they were sad to find that they could not be accomodated. I know this because I was nearly stampeded as I waited to get a bucket of ice for the room. When they all stormed off and I was still standing there, the guy patiently told me, we cannot seat you tonight. Boy was he relieved when I told him, No I just want a bucket of ice to take to my room. So, there was no sunset but we had more cheese, dip and chips which is what we ate for a late lunch too. In addition we had wine & beer. Probably not a good combination. So we drove to view Kata Tjuta up close for a 10 minute photo stop and saw part of a medical evacuation. A man who was where we'll be tomorrow morning had fallen and cut his head and was on blood thinners so was bleeding profusely and they couldn't get it stopped. Hopefully he didn't fall because everything is soaked otherwise we might fall too! I guess it is good news for the burrowing toads though. Then we drove to a sunset viewing area. I am not sure I understand how it was supposed to work. You couldn't see the western horizon there anyway because the trees were too tall. I understand that the drinks and canapes were set up under a picnic shelter instead of in the open tonight. But even where we stood in the open we couldn't see anything happen to the massive rock faces as the sun set and the sky darkened. Maybe on big full sky turning colors sunsets the rocks change color. I don't know. It rained, the skies were cloudy, it got dark, we all drank too much. The saving graces were that on our first approach to Kata Tjuta the clouds opened a crack on the left side of the bus and a giant brilliant rainbow appeared in front of the massive rock formations. For about 5 seconds, it was breathtaking and then it vanished. The second thing was that as we drove to the sunset set area that a wild camel was spotted and the driver stopped the bus so we could see it. It was the only wild mammal we saw all day from the coach and other than a couple of hours, we were in a coach from dark to dark. Sad.

Sails in the Desert is designed as an outdoor venue with hotel rooms. I mean that it is not made for rain. Other than that, our room is nice and big and attractive and comfortable. It is upstairs but there was a lift for the luggage. It is about as far as you can get from the lobby/restaurants front door though. It is fine for the 2 nights we're here. We just have to be very careful on the slick wet tiles everywhere as we got back and forth across the compound. According to the hotel information book there is a complimentary guest laundry with free use of washers, dryers and laundry detergent. They tell you this after you leave 5 kg of dirty clothes in Alice Springs to meet the weight limits! If it really rains all week, I'll be wishing I can stay in and do laundry!

We have another long dark to dark day tomorrow so I'll stop now. I hope I reported everything!


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