The Red Center

September 9-11, 2012 – Desert Driving, Kings Canyon, Uluru and Kata Tjunta, Northern Territory

Sunday, 9/9/12 we are “on the road”; heading south to see the Red Centre. We had a lot of miles today on the Stuart Highway (the main N/S Hwy in central Australia). By mid-afternoon we had made it to King’s Canyon, an imposing red sandstone structure that provides such contrast to desert floor. The April rains were still visible in the green vegetation seen around and in the canyon. We took a great helicopter flight over and around this amazing landmark. A great experience!

Back in the MoHo, Mike (AKA Crazy-Man Wraight) says, “let’s see if we can get to Ayres Rock this evening”.  You guessed it, by 7:15p.m. we had made it into the camp ground, at the Ayres Rock Resort; very tired, but excited to be at one of our most desired sight seeing stops.

Monday morning we are up early – racing to see the sunrise on Uluru. We made it, with only minutes to spare; BEAUTIFUL!!!! Words really cannot explain the magnitude of this grand ROCK.  After viewing the color changes and getting thoroughly moved by the specialness of this sight, we toured the Anangu Aboriginal Cultural Center and then took a bush/trail walk to the base of the rock.  There were so few people were around, we felt like we had the walk to ourselves. We then spent some time walking around the “Resort” 4 different hotels, shops and restaurants. At a local art collaborative we bought ourselves a souvenir; beautiful original painting of the Aboriginal Story of the Seven Sisters and Karen got a beautiful natural seed necklace.  After a few hours of rest back at camp we took a sunset helicopter tour of Uluru and Kata Tjuta. Oh my, it was such incredible scenery, Mike and I are certainly hooked on this way of sightseeing.

Tuesday morning we are chasing the sun again, wanted to see the sunrise on Kata Tjuta today, we were just a couple minutes late, but the view was still outstanding. The Red Center has certainly been everything we had hoped for and more. With many miles to burn we turned the MoHo south and set out for a LOOOOOONG Desert Drive towards Cobber Pedy, South Australia.  The Crazy Pilot was back in action, we reached our destination by 5:15pm. We snuck the MoHo into a secluded section of the parking lot of the Desert Caves Hotel (where we have reservations to stay tomorrow night J) The tired travelers made their way into the pub where they imbibed on a bit of liquid refreshment, followed by a marvelous dinner of fresh oysters, filet mignon and bottle of very good cab, cab-franc, merlot blend.  There are some rumors floating about that there might have been some dancing on or under tables, but this author will not confirm such.  This marks our 14^th day of our adventure – what fun we are having!