Uluru

Very early (wake up call for 4am!) the next morning, we flew from Melbourne to Uluru, via Sydney. We experienced sunrise in the air. I managed to get a good photo over Sydney, as we approached our landing there. Over Sydney Our flight to Uluru from Sydney was delayed by an hour, but aside from that, it was uneventful. I took photos of the terrain below us, as we progressed into the bush. Just after leaving Sydney Approaching Uluru We disembarked at Uluru Airport, where they don’t have jetways:

We waited a while for our baggage in the single room that contained everything needed in the airport: car rentals, baggage claim, check-in, etc. Not actually my room, but virtually identical. Then, we boarded our bus, which took us to our hotel, Sails in the Desert. This is luxury, in an unconventional way. Here’s what my room looks like. Throughout the hotel there is lots of influence from aboriginal art — note the carpet! It was about 105F outside, so it was a great relief to get into my air-conditioned room, change, and take a very welcome shower. The bathroom is superb!

After a bit of a rest, we all went on the bus to a viewing area, where we could see Uluru at sunset. Uluru is certainly impressive, but the sunset didn’t cooperate, and we didn’t get a great show of color. But still it glowed… And on the way back we were treated to a great sunset over Sails of the Desert:

That evening, after an orientation from our tour director, Matt, we ate dinner at the Ilkari Restaurant in the Sails in the Desert hotel. We all agreed that this was a superb meal. The highlight was the lamb chops (‘lollipop’ style), but everything else was great, too. Our bus driver has told us that this restaurant’s chef is among the best in Australia, and we had no arguments on that count!

Breakfast had to be early the following morning (6:30am), because we set out early at 7:20am to go on our two walks, to beat the heat. We are having an unusually hot spell at Uluru, a high of around 104F, so we don’t want to do anything except stay in the air conditioning at that heat. So we set out when the temperature was around 77F. It was much appreciated! Once you get closer to Uluru, and learn about the geological and aboriginal history, it becomes more interesting. Cave with aboriginal paintings Finally, we returned to the hotel, where we once again welcomed the cool!