Day 11 & Day 12: Uluru aka Ayer's Rock

Thursday, Feb 16th & Friday, Feb 17th

We departed Adelaide connecting through Alice Springs to Ayer’s Rock arriving early Thursday afternoon. Simply put, THIS PLACE IS HOT! (to clarify I am speaking of temperature).

The Voyages Longitude 131 guest services staff picked us up, drove us to the lodge and showed us to our “tent”. We had a late lunch and prepped for our first Uluru adventure, sunset at the rock.

                                                          Our "tent".

We entered the Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park and upon arrival at the sunset viewing site soon realized that we would be joined by hundreds of fellow travelers from all over the world. Our group of six from Longitude was dwarfed by the mega bus loads nevertheless it didn’t feel crowded. Perhaps that was because on arrival we were presented with a “drinks and appetizer” table prepared by the staff for the arduous viewing. After a few beers, a little wine and champagne, all was well' "let the sun set". 



Cloud cover muted the sunset colors; nevertheless this was a good start to the Uluru adventure. 

Upon return to the lodge we had a great dinner with sounds provided by a local didgeridoo player. After dinner the Longitude staff offered a stargazing session; the sky is so clear that truly you see millions of celestial bodies, more so than anywhere I’ve ever been.

Friday started as if we were at boot camp with a wake-up call at 5:15 AM. We soon realized that everything is done early or late in the day.  Did I mention the HEAT? After breakfast we were off to Kata Tjuta, the lesser-known rock out cropping in the park. We spent the morning hearing of the history of the area and walking into one of the red rock canyons of Kata Tjuta. En-route to the lodge we saw wild camels sitting in the sun off the road.

               

Lunch (including a caesar salad with bacon) and rest followed as we prepped for a second tour to Ayer’s Rock, this time for riding and walking around the base and learning of the aboriginal culture. Upon return to the lodge we went directly to the local sunset viewing dune for more drinks and food, all in preparation for our evening’s dinner.

If we thought the wake-up call on Friday was early just wait for tomorrow’s blog.