The Red Centre (Oct 13-15)

Our trip to the 'Red Centre' was better than either of us could have ever expected. We started by flying to Sydney and than onto Uluru (also known as Ayers Rock). We flew for hours over the desert with no signs of any buildings or homes giving us some perspective on just how far away from everything Uluru is.

 Trev spotted 2 whales as we were landing in Sydney

 Downtown Sydney and Harbour Bridge

Flying over the red desert.

View of Uluru from our room

 

For our first night we booked the Sounds of Silence dinner. I was unsure whether or not we were going to enjoy ourselves after finding many mixed reviews online (and whether or not it was going to be worth the $185/person price tag!) We were pleasantly surprised. The evening started with a tour bus ride from the resort down a red dirt road into the dessert. We were served canapes and champagne while standing on top of a sand dune watching the sun set over Kata Tjuta (also known as The Olgas; it is the other rock formation in the area) and the colors of Uluru change as the sun went down.

After the sun had set we were led down a path to our dinner location. Beautiful tables set with candle light just below the dune with a view of Kata Tjuta in front of us and Uluru behind us. We enjoyed a buffet dinner of Kangaroo, Lamb, Crocodile and Barramundi while a Didgeridoo played. After dinner we watched an aboriginal dance performance. Than the star talker arrived and spoke of the different constellations using an high powered laser pointer to point them out to us. The star talk was fascinating and ended with us viewing the moon and a galaxy through their telescopes. The night ended with desserts and tea and everyone ready for a nice warm shower and bed... most of us were surprised by how cold the dessert gets after dark including Trevor and his new besty, Mike from Sydney, who shared a table cloth to stay warm!

 Road out to the dinner location

 Uluru selfie with my hunny!

 Sun setting over Kata Tjuta (aka The Olgas)

 Last light as we settle in at our dinner tables. Trev and Mike enjoying the sunset together :)

 

The next morning we headed out to The Olgas for the 2.6km Walpa Gorge walk and the 7.4km Valley of the Winds hike. The Valley of the Winds circuit was actually pretty tricky in areas with steep rocky climbs and descents. area is known for being over run with flies and getting extremely hot during the day. We were lucky to have a cooler day (mid 20's) and a light wind to keep the flies down. After the hike we headed to the cultural center to read of the Aboriginal stories and view their paintings.

Kata Tjuta

 Walpa Gorge at Kata Tjuta

 Valley of the Winds hike at Kata Tjuta

 Trevor and I spotted a massive lizard dragon thingy at one of the water stations

 

That evening we headed over to one of the other hotel lobbies at the resort for a laid back unique dinner. You select your raw protein from the counter to BBQ yourself. It includes an all you can eat salad bar, potatoes, veggies and Apple & Plum Crumble. It unfortunately wasn't very good at all but it was still fun!

 You select your protein from the counter to BBQ yourself. Trev got the "Outback", Kangaroo skewer, Crocodile skewer, Buffalo Sausage, Emu Sausage and Beef Sausage.

The next morning we got up bright and early for a sunrise at Uluru. After taking some photos at the sunrise lookout we headed to the rock for our 10.6+km walk around the rock.

 Driving to the lookout at first light.

Sunrise

Sun rising changing the colors of Uluru. Kata Tjuta way off in the distance.

 We learned that Uluru is actually grey but is rusting

from the wind and rain giving it its red appearance.

 Trev

 Mutitjulu Waterhole

 Anangu paintings near the waterhole

 Kulpi Minymaku (Kitchen Cave)

Kulpi Nyiinkaku (Teaching Cave)

 Kulpi Nyiinkaku (Teaching Cave)

 

  

After our hike we had to rush over to the Camel Farm for our Camel ride. I was nervous about the ride when I realized how tall the camels where and the awkward way in which they stand up once your on them. I was also worried about two of us being on one camel but it turns out that they can carry 600kg's (several times their own body weight) so we were no big deal to them. The girl guiding the tour told us several stories about each camel and their individual personalities which we really enjoyed.

 Trev showing our camel some love

 

Rex - the camel behind ours was really cuddly but

because of his hay fever kept sneezing on Trev

 

We really had the best time at Uluru and would encourage anyone to visit the area. It is a really beautiful place and my only regret is that we didn't stay longer :)





Sunshine Coast, Moreton Island and the Hinterland (Sept 3-Oct 12, 2013)

Our first trip in September was to Noosa, a trendy holiday destination town on the Sunshine Coast. We stayed for two nights exploring the beach, markets and local restaurants.

 

Shipwreck we came across on the way home from Noosa

 

At the end of September we did a day trip to Moreton Island. There are a couple of really exciting things about this island... One being that Scooby Doo Spooky Island movie was filmed on the island!!!

 

We started the day with a snorkel trip out to where 15 ships that have been sunk in Moreton Bay to create a reef for the fish and shelter the waters for boats to anchor. We walked up the beach from the resort and swam out to the shipwrecks. The water was incredibly deep swimming out to the wrecks; looking down with our snorkel mask all we could see was dark blue... which was terrifying! Unfortunately due to a recent storm the water was a bit merky, the wind was blowing pretty good and there was a really strong current. The waves kept pushing us into the wrecks and Trev ended up getting a cut on his hand from one of the rusty wrecks so we decided to take a break from snorkeling until the bleeding stopped! We did end up going out again and managed to see some more fish and would love to try it again on a less windy day.

 Arriving at the island

 

Shipwrecks

Snorkeling at the shipwrecks; the water is a bit merky.

 Trev rescued a starfish stuck on the sand as the tide went out

 We spotted my favorite bird.. a Kookaburra! Here he is enjoying the sun.

 We got up close and he was not afraid.

 

That evening we planned to do the wild dolphin feed. For years wild dolphins have been coming to Morton Island at sunset for a feed. It started with fisherman throwing their fish bits into the water at the end of each day. There were concerns that they shouldn't be eating the poor quality fish bits that had been on the dock all day so a bucket of fish was kept on the dock to encourage fisherman to throw the it rather than their leftover fish bits to the dolphins. Later a proper program was put in place to ensure that professionals are assisting in the feeding. The dolphins are now only being fed a small small portion of their daily food requirement to ensure that they would still hunt for fish on there own and not be reliant on humans.

Anyway the wind picked up as the day went on, the waves got larger and by sundown we were wet and cold. We were told that the dolphins do not like waves crashing on their heads so we would be going farther than usual out into the water to feed them. At sundown several dolphins appeared near the dock, two of which were babies! We went out into the water and they swam around and took the frozen fish we held out for them.

 Wild dolphin attendance for the week

Trev going out into the freezing water

Me feeding a wild dolphin!

 

 

Our next excursion was a day trip to Purlingbrook falls with Rachael, Sean, Trev and I in early October. We had visited the falls once before but did not have enough time to do the full hike at the time so we had been planning to return and were lucky to have Sean and Rach join us!

 

View from a creek at the top of the ridge near the waterfall

Trev standing infront of the massive rock face

 

Sean and Trev exploring the falls

 Trev found the skeleton of a rat or lizard or something...? under the waterfall

 Rach and the boys

Time to start the hike back to the top

looking down into the valley we had just hiked back up from

 

 

A couple other random photos from the last few weeks:

 Unique looking bird I spotted at the Broadwater Parklands marsh area



 Helm Bar overlooking the river

 Big Black Swam we saw in the canel behind the mechanic's while waiting to have our car inspected.

Blue and yellow bee.

 

That's it for now.. next post will be on our trip to the outback!!!