TR June 2016 Uluru, A Spur of the Moment - Homeward Bound and end of TR on Day 8; 02/25

PrincessInOz

Thanks for my avatar, Mary Jo!
Joined
Feb 8, 2010
Welcome to another one of my TRs!

It’s been a loooong 20 months between drinks since my last TR and I have to admit….I’m completely dying to bore you all to tears again. Wait…..that should be dying to entertain you all with another one of my reports filled with pictures and scintillating insights.


Our destination this time is the Red Center of Australia. Namely, Watarrka National Park and the Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park. We will be gone for an effective 7 night duration. I make no promises about how long it will take for me to complete this TR.

I will admit that I have been a bad Dis-ser. This trip was a spur of the moment thing. Believe it or not, this trip started out as a trip to Spain. We waited for the right flight deal to come our way but it was soon apparent that that Plane to Spain was firmly in the hanger, out of the rain. The alternative was Japan. DH and DS16 were very keen to head there and they continually mentioned Tokyo Disneyland to me. Yeah. Tempting as that was, I nixed this destination as June in Japan would be as cool as a melted ice cube on a hot pavement. The months came and went….until we got to Easter this year.

Jetstar, the low cost carrier wing of Qantas, went on sale. On the spur of the moment, hubby and I decided to head to Uluru…and within a 2 hour period, we’d booked airfares, accommodation and hubby had promised to book the car hire. That was as much planning as we did for this trip.

Yes, I have been a bad Dis-ser. There was no plan, no research, no pre-booking tours, dining plans…..nothing. In fact, I didn’t even do the standard pre-trip things of getting my hair done, nails done…..nothing.


This trip truly was a spur of the moment thing….both in the booking side of things….and during the trip. Did we survive? Did we get anything done?


Well…..you’ll have to hop on board and find out!




princess::upsidedow
 
Reserved for Quick Links



Day 1: Melbourne to King's Canyon Resort

The Start of Another Vacay
On the Road Again
Kings Canyon Resort - Our Room
Sunset at Kings Canyon Resort
Our First Dinner in the Outback




Day 2: All Day in Watarrka National Park

The First Sunrise (Wish #1)
Surprise! Breakfast Included!
About King's Canyon
King's Canyon Rim Walk Parts 1, 2 and 3
Desert Oaks Bistro Lunch
Enjoying the Resort and Flowers
Sunset at King's Canyon
Dinner at Carmichael's Restaurant




Day 3: Watarrka National Park to Uluru

The Second Sunrise (Wish #1 Comes True)
Breakfast at Carmichaels
Sky High Above King's Canyon
Red Centre Way
Six Minutes of Brilliance
Bunya Bar, Desert Gardens Hotel





Day 4: First Full Day at Uluru National Park

A Tale of Two Rooms - Part 1
The Third Sunrise (Wish #1 Still Holds True)
White Gums Buffet Breakfast
Kata Tjuta Lookout
Kulata Academy Cafe
A Tale of Two Rooms - Part 2
Grey-Muddy-Grey
Dinner at Gecko Cafe






Day 5: Another Full Day at Uluru National Park

The Fourth Sunrise (Wish #2 No More Clouds!!)
Breakfast is a Good Feed
Up Close and Personal with the Rock
Kuniya and Liru
Wish #2 Comes True
Field of Light Dinner - The Luck of the Draw
OOPS! How Did I Miss the Rock????





Day 6: Yet Another Full Day at Uluru National Park

The Fifth Sunrise (Wish #2 Still Holds True!!!!) - Field of Light
What We Had for Breakfast
Valley of the Winds Walk Parts 1, 2
It's a Clear Sky Sunset
It's a Clear Sky Night
Ayer's Wok
More Milky Way






Day 7: Our Last Full Day at Uluru National Park

The Last Sunrise - Clouds Again
Breakfast
Steady Strong Drizzle

The Rock is Getting Wet aka Wish #3
Lunch at the Resort
All That Rain MUST Go Somewhere
Our Last Dinner - It's A Clean Sweep for the Desert Gardens





Day 8: Homeward Bound


The Last Sunrise and Breakfast
Heading Home



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Hi there!
Long time no see!
Looking forward to seeing your photography :surfweb:
I can't believe your DS is 16! Where did all that time go???
 
Yay! Can't wait to hear about it! Even when I get down under preliminary research has told me that this is just too remote a sight to fit into an already packed itinear so I'll live vacariously through your TR!
 




I'm here and looking forward to reading more. popcorn:: I didn't realise Jetstar flew to Uluru. Banking that info for future reference.

Can't believe how much the boards have changed since I was last here. There's even a like button now.
 
Hi there!
Long time no see!
Looking forward to seeing your photography :surfweb:
I can't believe your DS is 16! Where did all that time go???

Hey! Right back 'atcha! It's been a while. If my DS is 16, yours must nearly been a teenager as well! Where does the time go???? :rotfl:

Glad you're still lurking.




Yay! Can't wait to hear about it! Even when I get down under preliminary research has told me that this is just too remote a sight to fit into an already packed itinear so I'll live vacariously through your TR!

YAY! Glad you're here. Thanks for subbing in.




I'm in. I'll be back later.

No rush. Hope things are well with you.




I am here, going to try to keep up. Been missing you!

:wave: Thanks for joining in, Usnuz. I miss you all too! Hopefully, with this TR in the works, I'll be stopping in the regular spots more often.



Welcome back! Looking forward to another entertaining and informative PIO TR popcorn::

Thanks! :goodvibes



I'm here and looking forward to reading more. popcorn:: I didn't realise Jetstar flew to Uluru. Banking that info for future reference.

Can't believe how much the boards have changed since I was last here. There's even a like button now.

:wave2: Nice to see you posting on the boards as well. Yes, Jetstar fly to Uluru. There's even a direct flight from Melbourne to Uluru!

You really haven't been around lately, have you? The like button has been around since about 2015. popcorn::
 
The Start of Another Vacay


It was an early morning start. That unwelcomed yet welcomed alarm went off at 5.30 am. It pierced the cold Melbourne morning air with a scream that cut right through the fog of dreams.





Too early for my mind to comprehend, I struggled out of bed. A shower, a brush of teeth and I passed for barely human.
The bags had been packed the night before. Only just. It had been a quick dash around the wardrobes to pull out the clothes we thought we would take. We were to regret that spur of the moment packing.....later. We shoved the toiletries in before the bags were all finally locked up.


Unusually for us, it was a calm departure. Perhaps it was because there was no plan, no military-to-the-second schedule that I would have mentally counted down which resulted in the patient calmness and the quiet
of our departure. Perhaps it was because of the total darkness of the time we left!





It was an uneventful trip to the airport. At this time on a Sunday morning, traffic was light.





Before long, we were at the airport and self-checking ourselves in. Bag tags and boarding passes printed out, we self-checked our luggage. At 16 kg and 19kg respectively, this ‘local, spur of the moment’ holiday was turning out to be the weightiest vacation I’ve had in a long time. But then, I had packed 5 kgs worth of water in the bags….and tripods….and extra food/snacks. That quick dash last night meant that none of us had really reflected on the clothes we were bringing on this trip!


The laid back nature of this departure continued through to breakfast. The options in Melbourne’s Terminal 4 were not great, but we still managed toasties and burritos. I just forgot to take pictures of the toastie!





Terminal 4 is the newest terminal at Melbourne airport. Despite the newness, we still had to stroll on the tarmac and walk up the stairs to board the plane.






Our flight left on time. I had snaffled a window seat......





.....and about 90 minutes into the flight, I could see why the middle of Australia is called the Red Centre. The land i
s turning red.





Inexorably. Calmly. Red.





And because I had the window seat on the left side of the plane, my view as we approached Connellan Airport was brilliant!














That really is one big piece of solid rock!






The pragmatic things apply. We had luggage to collect.....





.....car hire to pick up.......





......and lunch to get. On the spur of the moment, we decided to stop by the Yulara Resort for lunch. We randomly picked one of the 2 eateries in the 'town square'.











That’s when it hit me. We really are in the middle of nowhere and in a resort with a captive audience. Believe it or not….the pizza was $24!! That’s just downright extortion!






I was conscious of the minutes ticking by. And the minutes became an hour. It was definitely time to get this show on the road!




princess::upsidedow
 
I know what you mean on the early morning departure, having had one myself yesterday that didn't go as smooth as yours!

Thanks for the pictures from the air. I never would have guessed that the rock was triangular in shape. All the pictures from the ground make it appear to be an oval.

Yeah, that's the thing about being stuck in the middle of nowhere, they can charge whatever they want and you don't have a lot of other options so you're kind of stuck with what you've got.
 
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I've yet to visit the red centre (I knew it was red but now i'm imagining all that dust in my suitcase forever LOL).

Keep it coming :)
 
Checking in. This is somewhere I probably never get to see for myself so I am looking forward to seeing it through your eyes. The views from the plane are stunning. The price of that pizza is eye-watering.

Corinna
 
What a grateful vantage point from the plane to view the Rock. I was thinking the same as Alison, I always thought it was more long and oval.
 
Wow what a great introduction! Nice work getting a window seat on the right side of the plane - did you research that or was it just luck? We flew past Uluru on the way to Singapore a couple of years back and the pilot did a figure of 8 so people on both sides of the plane could see. Unfortunately we were stuck in the middle so didn't get to see anything!
 
Another one who didn't realise that Uluru was that shape from above.

What is that cluster of rocks in the top right of the pic?
 

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