July 4, 2018
4th of July. This day doesn’t mean anything here in the Outback, although, we did end up seeing some fireworks tonight. There are a lot of people that come over from the US to backpack around and work while seeing Australia. Don’t ask me where they get the fireworks though, that is still a mystery.
This morning I was up at 6 a.m., but decided it was too early to do anything, so went back to sleep until 7:30. Our first day in Uluru meant an entirely new routine, so I woke Rich up, so that we could head to breakfast and see how that works. Breakfast was very good, just like the dinner, the lattes were excellent and for me, that is the best part of the morning, getting my caffeine fix. The breakfast was also very good, I had some porridge (their version of oatmeal), fruit and yogurt. There were a couple of flys that wanted to join us for breakfast and the sun was shining directly in our eyes as it started to rise, which were both annoying, but overall, it was a great start to the day.
We decided that we would do the 3 mile hike around the perimeter of the resort today, so we got dressed appropriately and before setting off on our hike, walked up to the rooftop deck and plunge pool to check that out. It isn’t really a rooftop, but more like a deck that is built on the side of the resort on its highest point. The view up there is amazing. It really is gorgeous in the Outback. We sat there for a while and talked and just relaxed, exactly what we have been missing on previous days. We were supposed to do a tour first thing this morning, set up by the resort, but we decided to pass on the morning tour and just do the one tonight. At this point we have decided that some relaxation is more important than running ourselves crazy every single day. You just don’t enjoy it as much when you feel like the tours are a chore that you have to check off on a box.
After enjoying our time on the rooftop, we set out on our hike. It was going to be a pretty easy walk around the perimeter of the resort, no real hills or anything, but we had heard that the flys could be bad, so we put on our bug spray and set off. It is amazing how red the dirt is here, it is unlike anything I have ever seen. It does become very annoying though, because every time you go outside your clothes are covered in a thin film or fine red powder. The gray and white tennis shoes that I took on this trip have been retired to work shoes, because I cannot get all of the red tint out of them. We stopped every few feet to take pictures. The sun was shining bright, high up in the sky and the scenery was just amazing. And it was HOT. It is winter here, which reminds me why I would never want to get lost in a desert. About halfway through our hike we see another couple from the resort walking toward us. They had obviously started the hike on the other end. It turns out that people watching in the middle of the desert is just as good as a busy public place, because the woman of the couple had tight black leather pants on, a long sleeve sweater (remember it is hot) and over the knee leather, high heeled boots on. What on earth was she thinking? Even though I was talking to Rich about her thought process and shaking my head to myself, I have to give it to her, the fact that she could make it around that 3 mile trail in those boots was extremely impressive. The dirt was quite thick in places and made it kind of hard to walk at times. I have never understood it, but at the same time, I am always jealous of the women that can walk around in really high heels in the craziest places and not break a leg or just whine about the pain, and I know that heels can cause pain! Anyway, back to our hike. It got prettier and prettier the further we got into it and the further away from the resort that we got and I got some really good pictures. It didn’t take us too long to complete the walk, so we headed back to our tent to clean up for lunch.
The food at lunch was excellent once again and the staff continues to impress. They are just super friendly, but friendly in a good way, like it isn’t annoying or fake. Rich and I sat there and talked about how much we like this place and how the vibe is just really, really good. It all seems real. Don’t forget, we also get to drink as much as we want for free during our entire stay, that always helps! And, since we didn’t want to waste a meal without drinking, I had a glass of Rose and a Moscow Mule and they made me nice and sleepy, so after lunch I went back to our tent and took a nice little nap before our tour that evening.
Tonight our tour is the Uluru Sunset and Field of Light Walk. We go to the lodge at 5 p.m. to meet with our group and head out to the sand dunes just inside of Uluṟu-Kata Tjuṯa National Park, to watch the sunset over Ayers Rock. When we get there, there are a couple of workers from our resort at the base of the sand dunes with a table set up with Champagne, wine, beer and hors d’oeuvres. They love their alcohol here in Australia and it is awesome. I will admit though, in this case, since there are no bathrooms around and we have a long time to go before we get anywhere where there is a bathroom, I pass on the alcohol. We head up to the top of the sand dunes to grab our spot in front of the fence, and wait for the sun to set. While waiting, we met a couple from Arizona that are staying at our resort and talked to them for a while. He was a Colonel from the Army and they seemed pretty laid back and the type of people that we could relate to. The conversation was good and we found out that they were going to be on our flight out of Uluru into Melbourne in a couple of days. Small world! I did notice though that the Colonel was acting kind of odd, like looking at us weird and just starting to get loud and obnoxious. It turns out that he was drunk and getting drunker by the minute. He was starting to slur his words and get really, really loud. She must be used to it, because she didn’t seem embarrassed at all or try to stop it, she just ignored him, completely. We watched the sunset over Uluru (same thing as Ayers Rock) and it was absolutely beautiful. The sky around the rock turns purple the further down the sun goes behind the rock and it is gorgeous. As soon as the sun was behind the rock, we started back down to get back on the bus and head to The Field of Lights. On the way down, our new “friends” were walking separately. She was walking ahead of us talking to one of the guides about the rock and the Colonel was walking behind us. I turned around to see where he was, because I heard him being obnoxious and he is standing on the side of the path, for everyone to see (and there are a lot of people), peeing! At least now I know that I am not the only one that can’t drink without having to pee all of the time, but unlike me, he just relieves himself anywhere he pleases, no matter who is around. I think I will stick with my plan and just pass if there are no bathrooms around!
We get back to the bus, wait for the drunk to load up and head to the Field of Light. This is an art project in the middle of the Outback, where there is nothing for miles and miles and it is really pretty cool. My pictures couldn’t do it justice, so you will just have to go see it for yourselves! ;). We got there before any other tour buses did, so while we were walking through it was pretty much like Rich and I were the only ones there and that was nice. As soon as we finished, there was a huge group getting ready to go through and two more very big buses had just pulled up. It isn’t that big, so that place was going to be crowded! We made it through just in time and it seems as though the stars were aligning for us all around on this leg of our trip!
Next we headed back to the resort, where they have a dining area set up about a quarter of a mile from the lodge and it feels like it is in the middle of nowhere. By this time, it is very dark out and it is getting chilly, the nights here drop to about 40 degrees. We pull up and there is a fire going in a fire pit in the center of all of the tables, (thank goodness there are several tables of two, which means that they aren’t going to make us socialize with everyone else if we don’t want to), and we find a cozy spot in front of the fire. Unfortunately, our friends took the table next to us and we were forced to listen to the Colonel get louder and louder as he bitched about everything and kept repeating himself saying that he wanted to go back to the tent and go back to bed. Some people just aren’t meant to be out in public I guess. Anyway, the resort has it all thought out, there are heaters going by each table and blankets on the back of the chairs that you can use to cover up if you get cold. Later on, they brought around hot water bottles to put inside our coats to make us nice and toasty. The little things that they do and think of around here, really make this resort special. The dinner was a four course dinner with wine pairings and about half way through our guide from the sunset walk came in and stood by the fire pit to tell us some stories about the stars and how the Aborigines believe they came to be. She pointed out the southern cross as well, which was very cool, since we will never be able to see that one at home. This was actually my favorite part of the entire day. The sky was mesmerizing and so clear, it just looked unreal. It is one of those things that reminds you just how small you are in this world.
As soon as we were done with our dinner and dessert, we were handed flashlights and got in a group to walk back to our tents. You couldn’t help but stare at the sky the entire time you were walking, it was just unreal. When we got back to our tent, the fire was going outside on our deck and the bed outside on the deck was made up with a sleeping bag, with hot water bottles tucked on each side to keep us warm and there was a tray with different alcohols, like Cognac and Bailey’s, and munchies like nuts and popcorn. It really was a great touch and an excellent way to end our perfect evening. Before I crawled in the sleeping bag though, I got my camera out and set up my makeshift tripod and took some pictures of the sky. I don’t think I would ever get tired of looking at the sky here. When I was done, I was ready for bed, but Rich talked me into stopping for a minute to lay down and just look at the stars. I was not disappointed. I laid there for an hour just staring into the night sky in amazement at the beauty I was seeing. This was one of those times that I just felt very at peace and very blessed to be a part of this world. As I started to drift off, I got up and went inside and left the stars on their own.
