Saturday 10th September

I can't believe how quick time is going, the days seem to be speeding past. It is a good thing that I write things down daily as I can't remember what happened this morning let alone yesterday....

Day 18 to 20 Ayers Rock Resort
Day 21 Alice Springs
Day 22 Attack Creek (on way to Katherine)
Day 23 Daly Waters Pub
Day 24 Katherine
Day 25 & 26 Darwin

It was a fantastic drive to Yulara, the scenery seemed to change all the time. Even though the drive time was nearly five hours we stopped at the Erldunda roadhouse and had a true Aussie lunch of Chiko roll & Caramello Koala!

There is so much burning off on the land at the moment, not sure if it is the local people or the land owners or the fire brigade, but all  you can see is charred trees, but at one stage we did drive past a bit that came very close to the road

We finally got to the resort and felt a bit funny asking the porter to take the ARB ffridge to the room, but it was full of frozen food and we needed power to keep it frozen, so it came with us!

We decided to have a nice meal that night, and it was probably one of the nicest meals that I have had, but $160 for a meal for 2 and 2 glasses of wine was a  bit expensive...so needless to say we only had a continental breakfast then next day ($28 per head) and then went to the local IGA store to buy a bowl, milk & cereal!

Next day we went to the Olgas and decided to go on 2 walks, one to a lookout and the other to a Gorge. They were both sensational. It is hard to explain, but I wanted to keep stopping and just listen to the silence and to the birds! You can actaully feel the peacefulness of the place.

We spent the afternoon beside the pool and it is quite warm in the sun, so we thought we would go for a dip as the sign said "pool temperature 24 degrees'" well it was absolutely freezing, enought to turn you blue! I was in and out in 2 minutes flat.

That night we went to the Sounds of Silence Dinner, what a treat!  We knew that this was going to be one of the highlights of the trip and we weren't disappointed. The coach picks you up from  the hotel and drops you in the desert about 5 minutes away and you are with about 100 people having a drink & canape and watching the sun set over the horizon and you are watching Uluru and the Olgas in the beautiful setting

We were then taken down a path and tables were set out with candles and linen and we sat with people from sydney, Texas and the UK. We chatted and drank and ate all night, the buffet was sensational and had kangaroo & barramundi and all salads and then the piece de resistance the dessert buffet and Port!  By the time Paul had consumed 2 glasses of champagne at the start of the evening, then a couple of red wines, he was in fine form with his international audience at our table. He was having a joyous time and so was I laughing at him (sorry with him). the night ended with a Story teller and showing us different stars and we toddled back to the bus (through the red dirt) and back to the hotel with very full bellies!

Next Day we went to Uluru (Ayers Rock), we got there for 8am in the morning and it was cold and windy, it was about 7 degrees, we needed to have our jackets on.

It took us about 3 hours to walk around the 9.5 kms the base of the rock, but well worth it. It seemed to change the whole time, grassy areas, to scrub and beautiful different flowers all the way around

The next day consisted of mainly driving, we drove nearly 650 kms from Yulara to Kings Canyon as everyone said how great it was. Well we were disapponted, maybe because of what we had seen the last 2 days??  We ended up taking a 4wd track to cut down on some of the km's and it was a bit of an experience. It was about a 100k road and it was mainly red dirt and some corrugation, it was a good thing that we didn't have the van (it was left at the caravan park at Alice Springs) and Paul had good driving skills, he got us through safely, but another couple didn't, we made sure that they were ok as they had a puncture in their tire.

Then we started the drive from Alice Springs North, it was pretty boring, i think because we had already travelled the road?? and it took us about 7.5 hours to travel about 570kms. We tend to drive at 90kms p/h so we get more mileage from the fuel.  We ended up at a free campsite and we can definately feel the difference in the air temperature, it is starting to get muggy!

 Next day we get to Daly Waters and head to the famous Pub, there is not much at this place except the Pub and the famous Beef and Barra Meal for $28. The Pub is full of business cards, signed shirts, bras, knickers and there wasn't much wall space left. It was really quite nice and we stayed the night next to the Pub, at the pricely sum of $14, so we didn't have to walk far after having a couple of beers.  They had a busker on called Chilli and he recited bush poetry and a couple of songs, which really made the night, we dropped a couple of gold coins in on the way to the van

Next day we stopped in at Larrimah to stop in at the Local Devonshire teahouse (outback style). Fran came out in her t shirt and thongs, she was a true character and she made us a good cup of coffee (mine in a Truck advertising mug) and lovely scones with jam and cream. She then sat down with us for a chat, she was good fun and we had a sense of her personality by the time we left!

We stopped at Mataranka and went to Bitter Springs for a quick dip. The water was so clear it just looked beautiful and it was a balmy 32 degrees

And then went on to Katherine, which wasn't too much. It was too hot and muggy and we had a quick walk around and the local indigenous people were all handing around the pub and boy oh boy some of them sure do smell!  We ended up staying at a Caravan Park as there isn't any free sites between Katherin and Darwin!!

The drive to Darwin is aobut another 4 hours (surprise surprise) and it is pretty much a boring drive as there is not much to see. the scenery changed to scrub and that was about it.  We didn't even get to see our Kytes and Eagles hovering over the roadkill!

We finally got in to Darwin and went straight for the Information Centre. The trouble is it is right in the middle of the CBD, we couldn't even park the van anywhere so drove right out and found a caravan park and we will stay here for about the next 4 days (if I can stand the heat)