Who ever called this a vacation when you have to wake up at five in the morning? Lord knows when we got to sleep.
No matter, it was time to catch the sunrise at Uluru! We parked near the same spot as yesterday and there were no other tourists there at this time in the morning! I’m very thankful I packed my toque as it was quite cold while waiting for the sun to rise.
Like any sunrise, it was beautiful and I’m glad we had the opportunity to watch it across the Outback.
Mark then dropped us off to walk around Uluru. I have a sneaking suspicion that he headed off to get some bacon and eggs and a nap while we walked for three hours around the rock. It was a nice walk and a group of us had a hilarious time making up stories of things we saw….Justin Bieber holding concerts on top of the rock and that’s why it looks like Uluru has tears, aliens parking their spaceship on top of the rock…silly stuff but it made the walk entertaining. I truly appreciated how the Swede spoke of two men and women who made the trek to Uluru and became inspired to become ABBA!
The smaller group of us found the path to the watering hole while the rest of the group completely missed it. I’m glad we weren’t following the rules and sticking together with the herd or else we would have missed it.
Aboriginals around Uluru ask that people do not climb the rock as it is am important part of their culture…a boy goes on a walkabout for years and if he survives he can scale the rock and come down as a man in his tribe. It is very sacred to them. On the flip side the Australian government knows that this is a great tourist attraction…who wouldn’t want to climb up one of the wonders of Australia? So they leave the entrance open with a ton of signs saying its against the Natives wishes.
None of our group did the hike up but there were quite of few others that we saw climb it. I find it interesting…on one hand I am a fan of ‘to each their own’ but at the same time this is like someone swearing in church, or worse. I told Vero that if she wanted to climb it, I wouldn’t judge her. But it shows a mans character if they choose to disrespect someone’s beliefs. Much like how I have the rule of no sex on my couch upstairs at home. People laugh about this rule but I would find it quite disrespectful if guests decided to go against my wishes. Andreane, Guillaume and Mike…I’m looking at you while you look after the house!
After the hike, it was the long trek back home. We pulled over for a quick lunch which had literally thousands of flies getting into the food. There is nothing like the sight of 543 flies in one can of tuna…yummers! Vero had to run around while eating her wrap so she didn’t eat any houseflies!
Outside Alice Springs we stopped for a group photo on the ‘Welcome to Alice Springs’ sign. I climbed to the top with Vero but when I jumped off I stumbled and skinned my leg in the sand. OUCH! It was like it was sandblasted and even a week later, it is taking its time healing up. The bright side is that it happened within civilization.
We went to supper a few hours later with Andy, Astrid and David to the Outback Steakhouse where we tried crocodile (not bad!), and kangaroo (good but still nothing different than beef). We have to thank Gaetan and Danielle for passing some cash to spend on somewhere to treat ourselves. It was a great meal. Merci!
Afterwards we headed to the Rock bar where the rest of the group had gathered and we listened to some excellent live entertainment who had the same Takamine guitar as me. He was a great time and I loved his finale of Copperhead Road.
The night descended into madness when mark bought Vero, myself and Simon something called the impression bomb. It was quite colourful and quite deadly. It boiled down to the delivery. Pick up the first shot glass and it triggers another to fall into a glass of red bull. Down the first shot, down the red bull and another shot, then chug the rest of the drink in the jug. As you may know, I am not one to chug so Simon, Mark and Vero definitely beat me at this contest!
Many cheap beers later, Vero and I stumbled (ok, I stumbled…Vero was fine after drinking about thirteen pitchers of water) back to the Motor Inn and hit the sack.
I am pretty sure I boxed with a kangaroo considering how I felt the next morning when we woke up. Drinking and flying the next day do not mix. It didn’t make me feel better to see Simon and Elaine in the same boat when they arrived at the airport. Vero and I flew into Sydney and then onto Brisbane to spend the night before heading to Hervey Bay. It was panic station in Brisbane when we couldn’t figure out where the heck the shuttle to the hotel was, but we eventually figured it out.
The Rock Tour is probably going to be the highlight of our trip. At first the thought of travelling to the Outback with twenty strangers is daunting but it turns out to be a fantastic time in the end. I went into the Outback quite scared but came out with an appreciation of it and realized that there aren’t snakes at every stop.
A little story about the Outback…Mark would go duck hunting with his father when he was nine. Not old enough to hold a rifle, but at the same time, after a day of following his father around, he would sleep in his swag and his father placed a shotgun next to Mark and said “If a snake comes close, pull the trigger.” He could never figure out why he wasn’t able to hunt duck, but it was acceptable to give a nine year old a loaded shotgun to sleep with.
With that said, we thoroughly enjoyed roughing it but I don’t think I would want to be thinking of snakes in my sleep!
