Hi! Here is the story of Ayers Rock......Enjoy!
We woke up at 5am, our flight was at 7.20am. We had our bags packed ready so I enjoyed 2 activia yogurts for breakfast (they needed using up) and we dumped the bags in the car.
I drove to the airport and we did well! We found the correct place to park up and handed in the keys. We named her Kiera and said our goodbyes!
We woke up at 5am, our flight was at 7.20am. We had our bags packed ready so I enjoyed 2 activia yogurts for breakfast (they needed using up) and we dumped the bags in the car.
I drove to the airport and we did well! We found the correct place to park up and handed in the keys. We named her Kiera and said our goodbyes!
It was so strange having a whole terminal for domestic flights! That just shows how BIG Australia is!
We enjoyed eating our grapes and then went to check in. We were flying Quantas which was a first! We would have asked for an upgrade but the flight was only 3 hours so we could hack economy for that length of time! Ha ha! X
We were placed in the emergency aisles which was a first! I said to Rach 'I don't know about sitting here! It's a responsibility!' The bit of leg room was worth it though I suppose. I was hoping our flight would be a safe one though and our assistance wouldn't be needed!
We enjoyed breakfast on the flight. It consisted of egg and bacon, potato hash brown and beans.
The air steward informed us that we would be flying over Ayers Rock so we eagerly looked out of the window in anticipation!
I moved to an empty window seat in front of us to get a better view. So I didn't have to see past Rachael's big head (even though my head is much bigger!!) but I had to move due to us getting ready to land which was a shame.
We first thought we had seen it in the distance but he informed us that that was Mt Connor. Once we saw Ayers Rock we noticed the difference! It was closer to us and more like the iconic shape!
It was beautiful. Just a wow moment. You always see it in pictures and posters but to see it with your own eyes is spectacular!
We arrived at the airport and collected our rucksacks.
We were staying at the Ayers Rock Resort in a 20 bed dorm. We had got used to double and twin rooms so sharing a room with 20 people was something we weren't looking forward to really. But we thought 'you're in Ayers Rock so your not really going to be in your room all day'!
We were staying at the Ayers Rock Resort in a 20 bed dorm. We had got used to double and twin rooms so sharing a room with 20 people was something we weren't looking forward to really. But we thought 'you're in Ayers Rock so your not really going to be in your room all day'!
With our accommodation they included a complimentary coach pick up and drop off at the airport which was very handy! We did think about hiring a car and doing the visits ourselves instead of paying for the tours. Rach enquired at a desk but we had to jump on the bus so didn't complete the enquiry!
The accommodation complex was great! It consisted of 3 hotels and a camp site. It had a town centre which had shops, restaurants and a tour booking centre. The complex even had a camel farm offering guests the chance to ride a camel for 10 minutes. The resort supplied a shuttle bus that took you to all the different stops and that was very regular and handy! As a guest at the complex you had access to all the facilities of the different hotels which was great, especially for us! We were in the cheapest accommodation and we could use the most expensive pool. We were quite determined to use that before we left!
We went to check in but unfortunately our room wasn't ready. We left our bags with the porters and jumped on the shuttle bus to visit the camel farm.
You saw a few camels in a pen when we arrived and you could get closer and have a good look around which was nice.
We saw the opportunity to get a selfie.
We had to be careful we didn't get spat on though! Camels can be moody!
This one loved the camera though and posed for us!
People were just departing on a 10 minute ride when we arrived so we watched them getting on.
We followed the path round and noticed an area which contained a kangaroo, chickens and ducks! Random combination but there you go!
We jumped back on the bus and went to see if our room was ready. Fingers were crossed!
No they weren't :( we had half an hour to go. We went for a wander around the hotel. There was a BBQ grill restaurant and take away place. The prices were quite steep as I suppose they have you stumped as there isn't anywhere else you can eat locally. We were in the middle of the outback!!
We noticed that there was a guests kitchen so we would be happy. We could go to the supermarket later and buy some supplies!
We had two full days to play with so we wanted to see what tours were available. We caught the bus and went to the town centre to the tour booking centre.
We passed a newsagents and just had to take a classic picture like this....
Inside the tour centre it was a little awkward due to all the tour companies been next to each other. We like seeing what everyone has to offer and obviously getting the best package for our money.
We spoke to a few tour companies and they had quite a lot of different packages on offer. You could choose from - Walking around Ayers Rock, seeing sunset or/and sunrise, visiting Kata Tjuta etc. There is a company offering helicopter ride packages from $110 to $1000! We were a tad overwhelmed really and came out with a lot of brouchers and information. We needed to sit down! We grabbed some lunch from the supermarket and found a seat.
We tried to figure out what to do! Wow it was tricky!
Some of the packages were quite expensive and didn't offer all what we wanted plus really you want the freedom of time. You don't want to rush the visits by having time constraints!
We came to the conclusion of trying to hire a car. We thought we would try to find some people with the same idea so we could cut costs.
We caught a diggerydo show - only male guests could join in due to tradition. Some of them needed more practice but the main guys were really good!
Rach was questioning if she needed this fashion accessory!
We thought our room may be ready so we caught the shuttle bus back.
Our room WAS ready so we headed off to see how they fit 20beds in one dorm! We had a pleasant surprise though as each 2 bunk beds were partitioned off so instead of seeing 10 bunk beds all in a row you were in a private area of 4 people/2 bunk beds.
Me and Rach were allocated two top bunks. I thought 'I want the bottom bunks'. They were empty so I went back to reception and enquired if we could swap. Easy peasy, bottoms bunks given!
We unpacked a little and ventured out. We were interested in finding some people who had the same idea as us. Plus we could half the costs.
We bumped into a lady and she expressed the same idea plus she had met a guy who she was going to hire a car with, perfect. They were meeting at 4pm so we tagged along.
They were interested in going to visit Kings Canyon which was a 4 hour drive there AND back! We didn't have enough time but were open to ideas. The big question first of all before we got too excited was are there any cars to hire?! We said we were going to the town centre so we decided to meet them later with an answer. Rach and I went and enquired if there were any cars available.
We noticed in the tour centre there were car hire places, Hertz had no cars available but Avis did. We phoned them up and they said they had about 80 cars available for hire tomorrow. He said we wouldn't have to book as it will be fine for tomorrow. We thought wow that's great we can hire a car! I felt confident about driving due to having driving practice in Cairns! Really driving in the outback would be a breeze compared to city driving!
We needed to buy meals so we went to the supermarket. Soup, noodles, bread and cereal bars were on the list!
We dropped our food back to our room and went to see our first sunset. The complex has 5 viewpoints around the grounds. We asked a few people and they recommended the best one was the centre viewpoint. Off we went.
Arriving from Cairns and only experiencing the coast, it takes a while to get used to the floor been so red and been surrounded by just trees and bushes. This was pure outback!
We reached the top and wow what a view. We could see Ayers Rock in front and the sunset behind plus Katu Tjuta! Ayers Rock is 28km away but it still looks giant so we can't wait to see what's it's like being next to it!!
The only thing that got me was the flies! I have a thing about them, they are just so dirty and annoying! The problem was they were just so tame! Flying around your face, trying to find your eyes and ears! I tried to calm down and enjoy where I was but it spoilt it. It felt like every 30 seconds I was shooing and waving my hands about! We saw some fly nets for sale earlier and wow I was definitely buying one tomorrow!! We heard that they were really bad around the rock too so it was definitely a must buy for me!
I came up with a quick solution for the mean time!
LOL!
We saw a Dingo while we were up there which was good! It was having a route around the bins!
We headed back to have dinner. The kitchen was lovely and clean.
Whilst having dinner we had a dingo greet us looking for scraps. Rach stood up to it and shooed it away.
We also had a conversation with our two new car buddies. We would meet them tomorrow at 8.45am to make it a full day. Early to bed!
We were lucky because both our top bunks were empty and we had our section to ourselves which was nice.
DAY TWO
We enjoyed breakfast in bed today....cereal bars! Ha ha
We met our car share friends and caught the free airport shuttle bus to go to the car hire place at the airport. We were all ready for a full day of adventure.
We got there and queued up behind two couples. When it was our turn he said 'Sorry we don't have any small cars, the two couples had the last two! There was only a 4x4 left!' This was expensive and fuel would not have been cheap, especially if a 8 hour round trip was planned. It was a no go! He advised us to phone at lunch time due to cars coming in all the time. Our bubble had burst!
We got back on the airport bus that brought us and went back to the complex. We thought, 'Now what?!'
The couple turned to us and said they would hitch hike and wouldn't bother with a car. We felt deflated! We thought we never have hitch hiked before and weren't that keen on trying really! Especially in the outback :S
We went back to the room and thought 'now what?!'
We thought we would try hitch hiking on the way to the tour place and see what happens.
We were in two minds really, hoping it would work because we didn't want to go to Ayers Rock and never actually GO to Ayers Rock! But then you never know who will pick you up so didn't want it to work either!!
A good few cars went past but it didn't work. We bumped into a couple and asked if they were going to Ayers Rock. They said they were hoping to go tomorrow to catch sunrise and walk around Ayers Rock! Perfect just what we had planned! The only thing was that they were here for a few days so if the forecast wasn't too good they would try a different day and tomorrow was our last day. We got chatting and we ended up been offered a lift with them tomorrow if they went. It meant an early start though 6am pick up at the petrol station! Plus hopefully it would happen, it depended on the weather. They seemed like such a lovely couple, fingers crossed it would happen. We were so thankful and decided to stop trying to hitch hike!
We were still in a dilemma of what to do today - we didn't want to waste a full day, well half a day now!
We decided to phone Avis and see if a car had come back. We were lucky!!! A small car had! We decided to go and get it as either way this would be the cheaper option instead of the tours!
We got the airport pickup and when the coach stopped at the campsite to pick up people a couple got on without any luggage. We thought oh are they planning on doing the same as us??!
Rach asked them...
They were!!! We thought wow we could hire a car together. We both had the same plan, just visit Ayers Rock, walk around and see sunset. Wow this was working out plus they seemed really nice!
We got to the airport and yes there was a car available! It was a Holden Cruz and was bright red! Rach didn't drive this time due to there being no need plus we needed to cut the cost and there was a surcharge of being under 25. We checked the car over - it had seen better days!! Scrapes and dents! :S
We didn't mind though and got on our way!! Wow we were going to Ayers Rock!! First we stopped back at the hotel for a jacket, it was chilly and cloudy today! I had my fly net and we were ready to go!
We paid our $25 3 day pass and were allowed in. It is so big!!
We stopped off at the cultural centre and watched a video and learned about the aboriginals. It was very interesting getting a deeper understanding about such an iconic monument.
We headed off to the Mala Walk. It was quite nice seeing Ayers Rock in a different light with the weather been cloudy and showing signs of rain!
We parked up and saw where people are able to climb the rock if they choose to. It was closed today due to wet weather. It looked so steep! I would have liked to have been able to see people try and climb it but oh well, maybe tomorrow.
We spotted the walk and headed off.
We could touch the rock which was amazing!! It felt warm which was surprising!
The rocks surface and colour is different everywhere you look. It has craters and is smooth. It mainly is orangey brown but had dark areas where the water falls down and over time has marked the rock.
At the bottom at places are little pools of water which you don't expect.
We saw the sign for the base walk which was 16km long and supposedly took 6 hours. The heavens opened and we watched how the rock turned brown due to the rain drops. Such a wonderful sight! We thought we would have enough time to cycle round Ayers Rock plus we didn't fancy walking in the rain but cycling wouldn't be too bad. We headed off to the cultural centre to see if we could hire some.
The van had gone! We decided to drive around it instead. I had that honour. What a thing to say 'I've driven around Ayers Rock' - wow.
We were all really getting on. It's funny how things can happen!!
Whilst we were there we spotted a wild dog but it just walked by and wasn't interested in us.
We drove on taking in the wonderful sights and pulled over again to take advantage of the quiet road.
Our walks were interesting spotting how many flies can land on you and what insects you can find. It was lovely listening to the silence apart from nature oh and our laughter and chat!
We completed the drive round and stopped at another walk. It was lovely. It had a waterhole and a cave which had some aboriginal drawings from years ago.
We headed back and stopped at the sunset point hoping to see a lovely sunset but it looked doubtful. We couldn't see the sun never mind a sunset! Ha ha!
Driving hazard from driving at Ayers Rocks....red tyre's!
We saw everyone parking up and setting up the cameras and tripods then 5 minutes later they decided it wasn't going to be spectacular so packed everything away and drove off. We were quite hungry and saw a family setting up table and chairs enjoying dinner. We wished we had been invited!!
We enjoyed noughts and crosses whilst watching the 'sunset'. It's a good job we hadn't paid for a tour to see sunset that tonight! I'd have wanted my money back!
We lasted as long as we could and headed back.
We chatted and swapped details. They were such a lovely couple! We will definitely keep in touch! :)
It was then dinner time and diary time before bed.
It was then dinner time and diary time before bed.
We had a dilemma though! The car had to be back at the airport for 12pm! What would we do if the lovely couple decide to pick us up?! Who drops off the car?!
We decided that we would drive to the petrol station and if they came, I would drive round to the couples cabin and drop off the car. They would drive to the airport when they were due to catch their flight and we would be at Ayers Rock (hopefully) and job sorted!
Let's see what happens....
DAY THREE
We woke up and enjoyed another breakfast in bed! We got our gear together and drove to the petrol station at 5.30am. We had our fingers crossed!
We sat there waiting until 6am and we saw a car which might have been them. We were lucky, Rach jumped out because obviously they weren't expecting us to be in a car! Rach chatted to them and filled them in with the story while I dropped the car off at the cabin! It was like a movie!! Foot down, GO GO GO! Under the speed limit of course! :)
We said goodbye to our hire car.
We were on our way to Ayers Rock again. We never thought we would be lucky enough to go once never mind twice! They were such a lovely couple too. We were chatting away with them and we were so lucky to bump into them.
Seeing Ayers Rock in the dark was a treat. Apologies for the pictures, they were taken from the car!
We showed our passes and in we went. We parked up at sunrise point. We were so lucky enjoying sunrises and sunsets at Ayers Rock. There was quite a crowd gathered already but we got a pitch!
We enjoyed sunrise and seeing the different stages.
We moved on and parked where we did yesterday. The climb was closed due to strong winds at the summit which was a shame! Today was our last visit. If you can't climb up it, walk around it! That's just what we did!
The base walk of 16km started.
Getting further!
We were feeling our legs at this point!
Last point!
Sun rays poking over the top
My new friend who hitched a ride!
First aid posts were dotted around the area. Fingers crossed we didn't need to use one!
We were making good progress!
Small rock....big rock
Shade area!
Getting further!
We couldn't believe we were doing it! It was such a lovely day too! Not a cloud it sight! Blue sky, sun shining - perfect! Because it was early you didn't have the heat of the sun too which is how it should be completing that walk!!
We felt so lucky seeing Ayers Rock in two different lights, cloudy and wet yesterday and sunny and bright today!
We finished the walk in 2 and a half hours! We were taking it in and taking pictures though so not too bad. Our legs will hurt tomorrow!!
We headed back and swapped contact details. You meet so many people travelling!
We said goodbye and a MASSIVE thank you!! Thank you Sandra and Abraham!!
We had some lunch and decided to visit all the look outs we hadn't been to.
We finished off the day with a little swim. In the posh hotel of course! They supplied towels, they didn't do that in our area!
We made sure we saw our last sunset over Ayers Rock. It was lovely knowing that we saw sunrise and sunset on the same day.
We needed to buy dinner so we headed off to the supermarket. Certain items had a lovely little reduced sticker on so we snapped them up! Dinner was going to be really random tonight!!
Pie, beans and bread?! We had no plates so we made do with serving it up like this.....
DAY FOUR
We had a bright idea last night of 'oh shall we get up and catch sunrise from the best view point'. We said we would but when the alarm went off at 5.30am we were so cosy and exhausted from all the activities that we couldn't manage to get out of bed. We made ourselves feel better by saying we don't know what creatures we may have come across in the dark!
We woke up and enjoyed breakfast in bed again. We could get used to this! Check out was
at 10am so we packed our bags and cut it fine for checking out! 9.59am!
We gave our bags to the porters. We then had a bright idea of how to share details of the blog.....
Put the address in a public area!
It was a lovely day and we both commented that the climb was probably open today! We didn't miss out though, we were happy with walking around it!
We headed off on the shuttle bus to the Visitor Centre to learn some more and buy some souvenirs.
This was interesting!
We enjoyed the kangaroo documentary while drinking our slushies!
We made our way back to the hotel to collect our bags and get the airport bus. We were sad to leave. We really have enjoyed ourselves!
Making our way to the airport! You know its a travelling day when my hat is on! There is no space in my rucksack for it! ha ha!!
Sydney here we come!!!
Love Nat xxx
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