Just for fun as we travel towards Coober Pedy
Next stop Coober Pedy Opal capital of Australia
The Olgas 40 Kms from Uluru SOON South Australia
the ground between The Olgas & Uluru is very flat Apparently Uluru has the same statistics as an Iceberg !! Only one tenth of this monolith is above ground Its hard to imagine what is beneath the ground in the other nine tenths ? (apologies to my friend Olga in Perth for recent comments !!) We head out today bound for Coober Peedi (yes I know its spelt wrong) with a couple of overnight stays in the bush.Probably NO internet signal ….Next post in a couple of days with more pics & write ups…..
Uluru (Aboriginal name) Ayers Rock
today we visited Uluru From a distance it appears as a HUGE rock sticking out of the flat bushland.As we approached the perimeter the views are awesome ,We ventured onto the Rock,climbing the heights was canceled today due to it being windy.The place is pock marked with water holes around the base & high up we could see “holes” where water was trapped an trees are growing (looks kind of weird trees growing out of rocks) It is a magnificent display of mother nature !! The only down side was the $25 entry fee PER PERSON !! of which 25% goes to aboriginal residents and the rest pays for general maintenance of the area (the signs could do with updating as they are starting to fade!!) Never the less well worth a visit ..Next how I touched Olga,s !!! We are still going well & this life IS for us.Hopefully continue for lots of years yet
Leaving Kings Canyon and arriving Uluru
we explored the surroundings and admired the gob smackig scenery,The younger people scaled to the top of the canyon and in the photos people can be seen on the edge of the very high cliff face !! We amled along the river bed to a raised sight seeing platform.The views are incredible & to see people high above us was very eerie (for those of you ho know how daft I am I did my Tarzan call!! and the echo was magnificent,Annie was telling people she is NOT with me !) we started early ish 8am so we didnt get caught in the heat.Amazingly the car parks were full BUT we hardly saw anyone! We then set off for a drive to Uluru taking in the fabulous sight of the very flt topped Conner Mountain.We booked into the Ayers Rock camp site & viewed ULURU>Tomorrow we will explore the site & also take in the Olga,s Very unusual for flowers & greenery in this area There has been heavy rainfalls over a long period ( we haven’t seen any rain !!)
Towards Uluru via Kings Canyon
We took a detour of around 500 kms & stayed at Kings Canyon so Just a shor Blog today I cant use my BIGPOND here in the Park BUT I can ,hire time! For approx 50 mins We stayed overnight in a ,freebie, park water & fireplaces provided but NO toilets In my case quite a few plants were “watered” the area is SO remote but we are getting quite expert at setting the satellite dish up!! We ventured out into the dark around 9ish and the sky show was magnificent (the Milky Way is like a cloud!) around 10pm the moon rose in the sky and created an eerie ghostly light (the area was quite visible just via the moonlight) We set off around 9am ish and travelled to Kings Canyon & have booked in for the night The surrounding Canyons are fantastic Photos will be taken tomorrow The day was spent doing nothing Annie was reading and I spent some time getting sore lips playin me didgeridoo. Night time entertainment in the camp was quite good two elderly Ozzies calling themselves The Roadies did a cabaret show ( very family orientated) the kids all got involved and had a great time The older audience were selected to go on stage and made utter fools of themselves .Odd thing was a glass full of beer (mine) sat quietly on the table and for some inexplicable reason just Blew up !! Nobody touched it or knocked the table,,,very eerie !! Thankfully I got a free replacement !!! Kings Canyon was MAGNIFICENT !!!a Km walk to the botom om the Canyon was incredibe.Although lots of photos were taken YOU actually need to be there to get the real ambience of it all !!! Next the trip & arrival at ULURU (Ayers Rock)
We Travel on today Sunday towards Ayers Rock
may be out of signal for a while.We had a few drinks with Tommy last night he a very nteresing bloke,He handpainted& signed my didg with a Goanna trailing over water to protect he WaterHoles Brilliant,He has beeb offfered over$10000 for his beautifully self hand carved didg BUT he s not selling.The Frlly necked Lizard was spotted outside Kmart! didnt see any shopping bags tho!!) I really liked Alice Springs bur for now we go towards Uluru
For those who want to see Tommy in action (err accompanied or is that hindered by me) have a look at this Video
Alice Springs Goodbye Final ….Uluru here we come !!
We have wound up our visit here by having a few drinks with Tommy and he painted an original scene on my didgeridoo and signed it ! (picures forth coming) We were so impressed we bought a signed hunting boomerang All in all we had a very pleasant night Tommy told us he is negotiating to write his life story ! next week he travels to Cairns to maintain contact with Mother Earth (his words) it was a pleasure meeting up with him and you can catch a video of him and me Jamming on didgeridoo.s what a great experience (look me up on Facebook under Geoff Luxton)
Farewell Alice. next..On the road to Uluru (Ayers Rock)
we initially came here overnight but stayed a week !! Alice is a great place & lots to see In the next batch of photos is a mountain range that resembles a pregnant woman ( look for it) The Western Arrernte Aborigines, call the mountain Rwetyepme. And they have a legend of a pregnant woman who did wrong by the tribe and was forced to forever lay on her back watching the sun crossing the sky. The Bo Jangles pub leaves everlasting memories.The Desert Sanctuary,the very unusual flood waters,the surrounding creeks/chasms/water holes are fantastic viewing The Didgeridoo lessons were free & very entertaining & tutors were great,The painting by Tommy will always remind us of where we have been (We WILL return) We have made many friends & Life dont get much better than this Tomorrow we set off towards Uluru with stops on the way & no doubt lots of pictures to take Could possibly be out of signal again STOP PRESS Tommy came over and offered to paint a Goanna on it he just did a Jam session in front of our bus and gave me a lesson Wait for more Tommy Pics
Bit of Fun from the pub
Desert Sanctuary outside of Alice Springs ALL are protected
the pictures speak for themselves taken in this magnificent Desert Sanctuary SO I will just let you view them (click on a photo for a full size pic)
Watch me play Didgeridoo
Geoffs Life After Work ! 