AUSTRALIA :- Sydney >>Ayers Rock (Sunset
Tour and BBQ Dinner)
17th Day: 22.03.2016
My flight is at 09:50 with the Virgin Australia. I had
made the booking for 08:45 shuttle from my Hotel. I woke up earlier then my
IPhone had to wake me up. I decided to take the Redy2Go shuttle at 07:45 because
I had nothing to do in the hotel.
Together with the customers of the 07:45
shuttle I was downstairs and talked with the driver. He said that there is only
one seat available and I can drive together. That is great.
The shuttle took us in 8-9 minutes to the
International Terminal but due to the heavy traffic we arrived at the Domestic
Terminal around 08:40. I thought it was a critical decision of mine to take the
earlier shuttle from the Hotel. Otherwise I could miss the flight.
I went to the Virgin Australia section and
made my check in through their kiosk. I put also the tag onto my luggage and
waited at the queue to drop it off. I think Virgin Australia is on the second
rank compared with Qantas Airlines. Anyway after waiting for 20 more minutes I
gave my luggage and then I moved to the gate for Ayers Rock (Yulara) flight.
In the plane, I found out that someone has
already taken my seat. One of the guys (most probably they were two gay friends)
requested me to sit on his seat which is on the same row but at the left side
of the plane. I said ‘OK’ but I figured out that an obese lady is just at my
side and she was eating rolls of chicken whatever with condensed smell of garlic,
onion or whatever. It is not fault to be obese but she is eating take away wraps
and the smell of the wraps is like ….(?).
I closed my nose and mouth with my jacket and
could not breathe through my nose. Finally, the guy who had already taken my
seat offered me my own seat and I moved away from this obese lady.
In my opinion, the airline companies must
avoid people to eat their own food on board. Only water might be allowed!
The Uluru flight is to the west direction
and after a short while the landscape is changing into desert type plantation.
It is getting red and red in the middle of Australia. This is why they call it
“Red Center”. After 3 ½ hours we landed at the Ayers Rock Airport which is also
known Uluru. Uluru is a town of the Northern Territory of Australia. Just to
remember I had been in Darwin, Jabiru during the first week of my journey.
These two mentioned towns are also within the NT. Darwin is the capital city of
this territory.
Uluru and its surrounding having wild
nature are part of a big dessert. There are also some reservations for the
Aboriginal people. Uluru is famous with the big, red, massive stone laying on
the dessert having a length of 2-2 ½ km and 350 meters height. There is also Kata Tjuta. It is a big sedimentation
of stones and sand on the land having a few domes of height more approx. 100
meter in height.
When we landed it was around 12:40 with the
local time. AAT Kings buses took us free of charge to the resorts where we are
staying. There is almost 10-12 minutes distance by bus between the airport and
the Ayers Rock Resort area. The Town
Yulara is a part of the resort area. Imagine a pear shaped road with a
circumference of 4-5 kms. There are more or less 6-7 different hotels, lodges.
All of them accessible from this road.
I had booked at the “Outback Pioneer Hotel
& Lodge”. The reception gave me the dormitory room #903. 4 people or a
family of four may easily share the room. I stayed in this dormitory room
alone. They did not sell other beds. The weather is real hot. It is 33-34 deg C
outside. The rooms are cool and clean. Apart rooms are on the ground level the
doors are opened to outside.
I put my stuff in the room and went out for
a walk and to know what is around. I walked to the town. It took around 15
minutes in the hot weather. I bought apples, water and orange juice in the
market and then I occasionally met a group of people. An Aboriginal guy was
explaining to the people how to use the wooden tools (various shapes of
boomerangs, etc.) for hunting.
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| Various boomerangs, Uluru |
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| An aboriginal guy is explaining how to use boomerang, Uluru. |
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| Aboriginal ladies doing art work (Note: They do not allow for pictures) |
Then I walked back to my hotel. There is
already an organized tour with AAT Kings.
The name of the tour is “Kata Tjuta sunset tour and BBQ night”. At 15:00
o’clock
(they are always very punctual) the bus
took us to the “Uluru-Kata Natural Park”
area . Everybody must have tickets for enetering the NP. It costs 25.-AUD. We
drove to Kata Tjuta. The bus stopped there and we walked together with the
guides to the most accessible point within the Kata Tjuta.
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| Approaching to the Kata Tjuta, Uluru-Kata Natural Park |
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| Kata Tjuta, Uluru-Kata Natural Park |
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| Formation of the Kata Tjuta, Sedimented stones and sand under pressure of sea water. |
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| Kata Tjuta |
Just before the sun set
we came back to our bus and we have been taken to another place having
spectacular view over to the Uluru during the sunset. They served us in the
open air during the sun set wine, prosecco together with some cheese, chips,
Doritos and dips. After having a few pictures there during the sunset we moved
with the bus to a restaurant in the desert for having BBQ.
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| Near sun set at Uluru |
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| AAT Kings sun set party at the Uluru |
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| Uluru at the sun set |
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| Uluru at the sun set |
I took seat together with an English family
and two Spanish senoras. We were altogether 5 adults and two kids around the
table. We chat and we ate together.
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| During the BBQ Party organized by AAT Kings |
After the BBQ night they took us to our
Hotels where we are staying. Next day I need to wake up very early for
the Kings Canyon Trekking.
Good night !!!
After the
lunch break we continued to drive. At a junction we have stopped in order to
change some passengers from the other bus to ours. 
