Rhys – We celebrated Kathy’s birthday with much pomp and fanfare, one complete day in the car traveling. She was very impressed with the quality of the drive! To make up for it we arrived just in time to see the sunset over Ayres Rock / Uluru. After sunset went out for a nice meal at the Gecko Café in Yulara. Camped in the campground at Yulara Resort for two nights.
Ayres Rock v Uluru? Some bloke Ayre was the whitefella it was “named” after. Uluru is the name of the Blackfella that was living at the rock, you be the judge of what you think the name should be. Around the Rock both are used! I’m confused.
The rock apparently goes for 6000 metres underground! The bit sticking out the top is only 385 metres.
We did a “cultural” walk around the rock it was interesting seeing the different weathered sections, gullies and nooks and crannies. After this walk we headed back to the car to leave, as access to climb the rock had not been allowed for several weeks. As we where leaving the gate to access the rock opened and Lachlan and I promptly went through the gate and headed off up the rock. All the people ahead of us turned back. We were the fist to the top for the day and had the place to our selves for 45min. or so. The top has many “canyons”, pools, gullies ect My guess is the “flat “ area on top of the rock would be 100 acres (40 hectares) or so. Quite a steep climb, not for the faint hearted! 47 people have died on the rock trying to climb it, may more have suffered heart attacks after doing so. Guide advised that they think it will be closed for climbing on within 10 years! Fantastic experience.
Would be absolutely awesome to see the rock when it is raining with all the water pouring off. Enough of the rock…
Next day off to the Olgas. I am told on good advice this is where Shriek is now hiding, not sure if I believe this. Olgas are good, I guess was not feeling so well so I didn’t walk far around them.
About that not feeling so well thing. As most of you are aware I have “Chronic Fatigue” and Kathy / Lachlan have very similar symptoms. We are hoping to learn a bit more about what is causing this in us, two theories we had, have now been dispelled, one our water supply at home, the other was some toxins in our house or something like that. We are both still feeling the same, however we are getting plenty of rest and go to bed not long after sunset, the getting up well after fist light.
After Ayres Rock / Uluru / Olga’s headed off to Kings Canyon 300kms away. Nice place more Dingo’s at night howling, very comforting for me (with 3 kids). After Kings Canyon off to Glen Helen where we camped in the Finke River. Fantastic sights and bright stars at night. During the day we visited Gorges / Canyons etc. Most people walk into the “tourist” area, a 300m walk. We discovered if you go further the sights are better and there are no other people. Played a game of 40-40 (hide n seek) in Ormiston George great experience. More dingo’s howling at night within 10 feet of where we were sleeping, mmm not sure of this.
Some of the colours in the rocks are fantastic, unfortunately the photos don’t capture how rich and vivid the colours are.
I’d better finish now or I might not leave space for the others.
Kathy – Sorry it’s been so long since our last blog – too much to see, too little Internet access! We’ve managed to pack a lot in since our last posting. We decided not to allow a broken back windscreen to defeat us and after Rhys ingeniously crafted a temporary windscreen we set off for Uluru on 27 June – my birthday. We went via the Henbury meteorite craters and then along a very 4x4 road to Uluru. We managed to check into the camp ground, set up camp and race to Uluru just in time for the sunset viewing. What a lovely birthday present.
The next day we got up super early and saw Uluru at sunrise. It is amazing how quickly the sun races down the rock. We then went on a tour of the rock by one of the rangers at which we learned about one of the aboriginal legends of the rock. At one stage the ranger asked if anyone knew what a particular cave painting was (it was of a spear), Campbell enthusiastically put up his hand and said, “I know, it is a jabbawoggie” (Rhys’ term for aboriginal spears). The ranger tactfully declared that she hadn’t heard that term before. Later that day I had to intervene when Campbell was asking some poor unsuspecting Japanese tourists in the Cultural Centre which implement was the jabbawoggie. Thanks Rhys! Straight after the walk Rhys and Lachlan got to climb Uluru and after that we went to the Olgas which I just love. They have such beautiful curvy, voluptuous shapes.
On the 29th we went to Kings Canyon. We shouted ourselves to a night of luxury at the Kings Canyon Resort – ensuites, no setting up and four walls and a roof – beautiful! Before we got to the luxury part we did a walk of the Canyon. The walk was meant to take four hours but because we started fairly late in the day we decided we better hotfoot it and managed to get around in 2 hours! The Canyon
was quite spectacular. Here's a shot of Campbell being the "king of the mountain - or canyon at least!) There were amazing and varied rock formations, trees growing out of rock and an oasis known as the Garden of Eden. It was quite a walk but well worth it. We went back to the resort for a beautiful warm shower and then had a buffet dinner. The kids thought it was fantastic. The highlight was probably the smoked kangaroo and watching Campbell tuck into over a dozen prawns. Campbell declared the meal better than the Cuckoo (so it should have been for what it cost us).
After Kings Canyon it was back to reality and we bounced along red dusty roads to Glen Helen Gorge. Mick and Sue you’ll be pleased to know we found the 2 Mile camp on the banks of the Finke River. This is a beautiful campsite with 4x4 only access. We camped virtually on the riverbed. We looked out onto a scene of sand, river pebbles, reeds and lots of ghost gums in the background. The sort of thing you pay lots of money to recreate in your own backyard and here it was for free for everyone to appreciate (we’ll send you some shots Age. I think God did a pretty good job of this job – you’d love the rockwork and tree placement!). We spent the two nights there. The night sky was absolutely fantastic. Did you know that the Southern Cross is actually in the middle of the Milky Way and surrounded by millions of stars? You’d never know looking at it in the Melbourne sky. While we camped on the Finke River we toured the area a bit – Glen Helen Gorge, the Ochre Pits and Ormiston Gorge. We’ve found that most people only seem to go to the main viewing area of most of these attractions and when you go in that little bit further it can often feel like you are the only ones there. At Ormiston Gorge we continued down the Gorge for about one km. Apart from two or three others we saw no one else for well over one hour. The kids climbed the sides of the Gorge (yeah!) and played 40 40 with Rhys – they could well be the only kids to have ever played 40 40 there! I got some amazing photos of rocks – you’d be very impressed Dad. The kids commented how much you would like them.
We are now in Alice Springs for today and tomorrow and then on Friday we head off for Katherine. Rhys hopes to make it in one day but realistically we’ll take two. We hope to spend about 4 or 5 days there before heading up to Kakadu for about a week.
Lachlan – We went to Uluru at sun set and sun rise. It looked amazing. When we went to the gate to climb Uluru it was closed so we went on a tour around a bit of Uluru. We saw our first aboriginal rock art they had 3 caves that we saw. All of them were not very well decorated but one was highly decorated. Then when we came back the climb on Uluru was open! Dad and me were the only people in the family to climb it. It feels like mud with little rocks sticking it together. It was very steep and you got a good view from the top. It was hard on the down because it was slippery and I got lots of blisters. That day we also went to the Olgas they look like big domes. We went to lots of permanent waterholes with big gorges around them. We camped in the middle of nowhere and all night we could here camels grunting and dingoes howling. In the morning you could see dingo footprints in the sand. Today our back windscreen is getting fixed.
Pippa – Went to Ayers Rock and saw the sunset. We went back and went out for tea because it was Mum's birthday. Next day I climbed Uluru and went to the cultural centre. After that we went to the Olgas. We went to Kings Canyon and got a room there. We also went on a walk that was 6 and a half. We went to a Buffet for tea that night. We went to Finke River and Bush Camped. That night we went into Glen Helen to see a Guy play on a Guitar it was cool he also played the spoons. Now we are back in Alice Springs.
Campbell – we went to Uluru it was fascinating. I climbed it. We went to Kings Canyon. We climbed the rocks. It was fun. There were many fascinating places. There were places that looked like blinds. The dinner was very nice. We went to Finke River. We made this food that wasn’t to eat. We made it from salt muck and bulrushes and leaves. We went to Glen Helen Gorge and I met Craig and Alexander from Darwin. I had lots of fun playing with them. They liked doing things that I liked doing. We played in the Gorge in the rocks. It was fun. We went to Ormiston Gorge. We went to a rangers show that told us what type of animals were around and if there weren’t any around what animals had been there by looking at their footprints. Today we went back to Alice Springs to get the back windscreen fitted and I bought a little hot wheels Hummer.
Ayres Rock v Uluru? Some bloke Ayre was the whitefella it was “named” after. Uluru is the name of the Blackfella that was living at the rock, you be the judge of what you think the name should be. Around the Rock both are used! I’m confused.
The rock apparently goes for 6000 metres underground! The bit sticking out the top is only 385 metres.
We did a “cultural” walk around the rock it was interesting seeing the different weathered sections, gullies and nooks and crannies. After this walk we headed back to the car to leave, as access to climb the rock had not been allowed for several weeks. As we where leaving the gate to access the rock opened and Lachlan and I promptly went through the gate and headed off up the rock. All the people ahead of us turned back. We were the fist to the top for the day and had the place to our selves for 45min. or so. The top has many “canyons”, pools, gullies ect My guess is the “flat “ area on top of the rock would be 100 acres (40 hectares) or so. Quite a steep climb, not for the faint hearted! 47 people have died on the rock trying to climb it, may more have suffered heart attacks after doing so. Guide advised that they think it will be closed for climbing on within 10 years! Fantastic experience.
Would be absolutely awesome to see the rock when it is raining with all the water pouring off. Enough of the rock…
Next day off to the Olgas. I am told on good advice this is where Shriek is now hiding, not sure if I believe this. Olgas are good, I guess was not feeling so well so I didn’t walk far around them.
About that not feeling so well thing. As most of you are aware I have “Chronic Fatigue” and Kathy / Lachlan have very similar symptoms. We are hoping to learn a bit more about what is causing this in us, two theories we had, have now been dispelled, one our water supply at home, the other was some toxins in our house or something like that. We are both still feeling the same, however we are getting plenty of rest and go to bed not long after sunset, the getting up well after fist light.
After Ayres Rock / Uluru / Olga’s headed off to Kings Canyon 300kms away. Nice place more Dingo’s at night howling, very comforting for me (with 3 kids). After Kings Canyon off to Glen Helen where we camped in the Finke River. Fantastic sights and bright stars at night. During the day we visited Gorges / Canyons etc. Most people walk into the “tourist” area, a 300m walk. We discovered if you go further the sights are better and there are no other people. Played a game of 40-40 (hide n seek) in Ormiston George great experience. More dingo’s howling at night within 10 feet of where we were sleeping, mmm not sure of this.
Some of the colours in the rocks are fantastic, unfortunately the photos don’t capture how rich and vivid the colours are.
I’d better finish now or I might not leave space for the others.
Kathy – Sorry it’s been so long since our last blog – too much to see, too little Internet access! We’ve managed to pack a lot in since our last posting. We decided not to allow a broken back windscreen to defeat us and after Rhys ingeniously crafted a temporary windscreen we set off for Uluru on 27 June – my birthday. We went via the Henbury meteorite craters and then along a very 4x4 road to Uluru. We managed to check into the camp ground, set up camp and race to Uluru just in time for the sunset viewing. What a lovely birthday present.
The next day we got up super early and saw Uluru at sunrise. It is amazing how quickly the sun races down the rock. We then went on a tour of the rock by one of the rangers at which we learned about one of the aboriginal legends of the rock. At one stage the ranger asked if anyone knew what a particular cave painting was (it was of a spear), Campbell enthusiastically put up his hand and said, “I know, it is a jabbawoggie” (Rhys’ term for aboriginal spears). The ranger tactfully declared that she hadn’t heard that term before. Later that day I had to intervene when Campbell was asking some poor unsuspecting Japanese tourists in the Cultural Centre which implement was the jabbawoggie. Thanks Rhys! Straight after the walk Rhys and Lachlan got to climb Uluru and after that we went to the Olgas which I just love. They have such beautiful curvy, voluptuous shapes.
On the 29th we went to Kings Canyon. We shouted ourselves to a night of luxury at the Kings Canyon Resort – ensuites, no setting up and four walls and a roof – beautiful! Before we got to the luxury part we did a walk of the Canyon. The walk was meant to take four hours but because we started fairly late in the day we decided we better hotfoot it and managed to get around in 2 hours! The Canyon
was quite spectacular. Here's a shot of Campbell being the "king of the mountain - or canyon at least!) There were amazing and varied rock formations, trees growing out of rock and an oasis known as the Garden of Eden. It was quite a walk but well worth it. We went back to the resort for a beautiful warm shower and then had a buffet dinner. The kids thought it was fantastic. The highlight was probably the smoked kangaroo and watching Campbell tuck into over a dozen prawns. Campbell declared the meal better than the Cuckoo (so it should have been for what it cost us).After Kings Canyon it was back to reality and we bounced along red dusty roads to Glen Helen Gorge. Mick and Sue you’ll be pleased to know we found the 2 Mile camp on the banks of the Finke River. This is a beautiful campsite with 4x4 only access. We camped virtually on the riverbed. We looked out onto a scene of sand, river pebbles, reeds and lots of ghost gums in the background. The sort of thing you pay lots of money to recreate in your own backyard and here it was for free for everyone to appreciate (we’ll send you some shots Age. I think God did a pretty good job of this job – you’d love the rockwork and tree placement!). We spent the two nights there. The night sky was absolutely fantastic. Did you know that the Southern Cross is actually in the middle of the Milky Way and surrounded by millions of stars? You’d never know looking at it in the Melbourne sky. While we camped on the Finke River we toured the area a bit – Glen Helen Gorge, the Ochre Pits and Ormiston Gorge. We’ve found that most people only seem to go to the main viewing area of most of these attractions and when you go in that little bit further it can often feel like you are the only ones there. At Ormiston Gorge we continued down the Gorge for about one km. Apart from two or three others we saw no one else for well over one hour. The kids climbed the sides of the Gorge (yeah!) and played 40 40 with Rhys – they could well be the only kids to have ever played 40 40 there! I got some amazing photos of rocks – you’d be very impressed Dad. The kids commented how much you would like them.
We are now in Alice Springs for today and tomorrow and then on Friday we head off for Katherine. Rhys hopes to make it in one day but realistically we’ll take two. We hope to spend about 4 or 5 days there before heading up to Kakadu for about a week.
Lachlan – We went to Uluru at sun set and sun rise. It looked amazing. When we went to the gate to climb Uluru it was closed so we went on a tour around a bit of Uluru. We saw our first aboriginal rock art they had 3 caves that we saw. All of them were not very well decorated but one was highly decorated. Then when we came back the climb on Uluru was open! Dad and me were the only people in the family to climb it. It feels like mud with little rocks sticking it together. It was very steep and you got a good view from the top. It was hard on the down because it was slippery and I got lots of blisters. That day we also went to the Olgas they look like big domes. We went to lots of permanent waterholes with big gorges around them. We camped in the middle of nowhere and all night we could here camels grunting and dingoes howling. In the morning you could see dingo footprints in the sand. Today our back windscreen is getting fixed.
Pippa – Went to Ayers Rock and saw the sunset. We went back and went out for tea because it was Mum's birthday. Next day I climbed Uluru and went to the cultural centre. After that we went to the Olgas. We went to Kings Canyon and got a room there. We also went on a walk that was 6 and a half. We went to a Buffet for tea that night. We went to Finke River and Bush Camped. That night we went into Glen Helen to see a Guy play on a Guitar it was cool he also played the spoons. Now we are back in Alice Springs.
Campbell – we went to Uluru it was fascinating. I climbed it. We went to Kings Canyon. We climbed the rocks. It was fun. There were many fascinating places. There were places that looked like blinds. The dinner was very nice. We went to Finke River. We made this food that wasn’t to eat. We made it from salt muck and bulrushes and leaves. We went to Glen Helen Gorge and I met Craig and Alexander from Darwin. I had lots of fun playing with them. They liked doing things that I liked doing. We played in the Gorge in the rocks. It was fun. We went to Ormiston Gorge. We went to a rangers show that told us what type of animals were around and if there weren’t any around what animals had been there by looking at their footprints. Today we went back to Alice Springs to get the back windscreen fitted and I bought a little hot wheels Hummer.
5 comments:
hi
Hi Guys, Evan here,going to Alex next weekend, are you interested? Lauren is in PNG doing Kokoda Trail, Sass is in Malaysia, I am just at work like usual. Mitchell won basketball grand final, I still haven't shaved my beard off. All been rock-climbing at Nunawading today with Beryl, Mitch, James, Mez, Mia, Mike n Luke. Grand Prix in Melbourne for next 15 years starting at 5pm. Shapelle Corby in dire staights. Angelina Jolie had quadriplets. Siwft is going to Guys and Dolls musical (without the wife), instead of going to Alex. Hope the sun has not scorched your scone. Love to you all EVAN and the BOYS
This is BERYL. Hi Darlings, my Sweeties, my honeys, borrowed a few boulders out of you garden, had a bit of trouble in fact. The OUtback was dragging its tail all the way back to Yarram. Popsie was used as the counter balance. Heavily into fooball these days and Home and Away is getting better and better. Letting my hair go grey and growing it down to my waist. Marsh wants to borrow your your motorbike to ride up and see you, please advise of fuel card no.
Love you all Beryl
Hi guys just checking that I got this right. Got your details of mez last night. I typed a note before without realising that you had to open an account first and lost it all when I went to send it. Looks like you are having a great time.
Hi guys, think we are all on track now. We got back from Europe a couple of weeks ago which apart from being a bit of a climatic shock was a bit of a culture shock for Niall especially having to go back to work straight away. I am still on leave until September as I had extra leave accrued that I had to take.
Not the best time weatherwise to be off work as it is freezing. It has been raining a lot which is good. Good excuse to sit next to the heater and watch the olympics. I've become a bit obsessed and the mobile calls and text messages to Niall keeping him updated every two minutes I am sure have put the phone bill through the roof.
The negative of all the rain is that we are dog sitting my mum's dog at the moment. Because of the renovations we have had to have them inside a bit. Mud,rain and two very energetic bored dogs are not a very good mix. I think Niall's stress levels have soared in the last week. Scruffy and Niall have a rather complicated relationship. It's a case of love and hate. Scruffy loves to upset Niall and Niall hates him.
Now we know how to use this thing we will keep in touch. Look forward to keeping up with all of your adventures.
Lots of love Tania and Niall
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