Uluru - Part 3

24.04.12

I woke up at 05.30 today. I wasn’t very happy about that as I’ve had so many early mornings lately and I wanted a lie-in. But then I realized that since I had woken up so early anyway I might as well walk up to the lookout at the hostel and watch the sunrise, because the sky was actually clear today. It was beautiful, and I would imagine it would be amazing at the sunrise lookout nearer Uluru, but the one near the hostel was enough for me.

 An Irish Girl I met on my first day here is leaving today, so I went and saw the camels again with her and to a couple of the lookouts. We also saw a lot of centipedes! At first we saw a few on their own and then we started seeing ones that were hanging on to each other! Apparently they do it because they’re blind, so they play follow the leader. I felt sorry for the really long line I saw that was crossing the road. I tired putting a stick down to turn them around, but they just went under it.

Yulara is a nice small resort. You can walk everywhere, but there is also a free shuttle bus every 15 minutes that goes anywhere within the resort. It’s nice that they actually have some free things since everything else is so expensive.

It’s really nice here, but I’m glad I’m not staying much longer. I could have probably left today but it’s nice to have a day where I’m not doing anything special as well. There isn’t much to do in Yulara, so if you book all your tours: Uluru, Kata Tjuta, Kings Canyon etc., you can just leave when you finish them. But I guess that’s all the resort was built for, so people wouldn’t have to stay as far away as Alice Springs.

When The English Guy came back from his tour of Kings Canyon we went and watched the sunset from the lookout at the hostel. It was really nice, it would have probably been even more amazing if we had been closer to Uluru, but I think it was lovely anyway.

Shame about that pole there...

 After EG and I had some dinner we walked back to the lookout and watched the stars. I LOVE star gazing. I told EG he had to tell me when he wanted to go because I could stay up there all night. It’s amazing how many "shooting stars" you see if you just look up at the sky long enough. While we were there we talked to a couple from England that had done the Uluru sunset tour that night. They complained and said it was the worst $150 they had ever spent! I thought that was a surprise. But maybe they had built it up too much in their minds so that when they finally saw it, it didn’t meet their expectations. I think that might have been what happened to me with the Whitsundays. It’s always best to try to not have any expectations at all, or at least not too high, when it comes to tours etc. That way you won’t get disappointed. EG and I ended up star gazing for a couple of hours before we finally went down to the hostel bar for a couple of drinks and then retiring for the night as we were both leaving the next day.

25. 04.12


I woke up early again... So, again, I watched the sunrise from the lookout. I was the first one up there at first. While I was the only one up there I could hear music in the distance. Then I realised it's ANZAC Day, and the monument was just over a few of the hills. I have to say it was amazing. Watching the stars slowly give way to a lighter sky and sunrise, while listening to the birds and the music in the distance, while everything else was completely quiet... There are worse ways to spend a morning... It would have been nice to share the moment with someone, but it was nice to have it all to myself as well. To not share it with the people attending the dawn service over the hill, just stand there all on my own... Best morning so far in my life I think!