Busy Busy Busy in Uluru and Sydney

We have been so busy since the last post. We've only been in Uluru and Sydney but we packed so much in. We flew into Alice Spring where we met Fossie's parents. From there we drove to Uluru taking a short detour (300km round trip) to King's Canyon. It was amazing. So steep and high.

We did the Creek Walk there before we continued on our merry way to Uluru. We arrived just in time to see the clouds ruin the sunset, so no colour change on the rock itself but we were still impressed by the sight of it. We got up both mornings to try catch a sunset, one at Uluru and one at Kata Tjuta. Neither of them really made the rocks change colour but the second one at Kata Tjuta was beautiful in its own right.

You can even see Uluru in the corner here.

Besides the sunsets we also walked around the base of Uluru, did the Valley of the Winds walk at Kata Tjuta and went to the Sounds of Silence Dinner.
The Sound of Silence dinner was lovely. We were taken out to the outback/desert to watch the sunset over Uluru (spoiled by bloody cloudsagain) while we were fed canapés of crocodile, kangaroo and smoked salmon and given as much champagne as we could polish off.

The main course was next and it was a buffet selection that inlcuded crocodile ceasar salad, kangaroo fillet and delicious lamb chops. That was followed by a local star gazer/astronomer coming to tell us about the stars (non-existent due to cloud) and some of the Aboriginal stories behind the constellations. He made the best of a bad situation though and really entertained us.
Lastly we were serenaded by the digeridoo while we gorged on the scrumptious desserts.
We really enjoyed it but it was a pity it was so cloudy.

We only managed to spot one kangaroo out in Uluru

but spotted a few at the Telegraph Station back in Alice Springs.

After the long drive from Uluru to Alice Springs, (it's as long as drving London to Paris) we flew to Sydney where we met up with Mum and Dad again. Unfortunately the East Coast of Australia has been battered by some terrible storms over the last few days so the weather wasn't great. Despite that we still got to see the Sydney Opera House and Harbour Bridge, both by day and night. They are both amazing structures. On our last night the Opera House was lit up spectacularly for some exhibition that's on.

We got out to Manly Beach but it was closed because of the weather but luckily enough the day stayed dry for us. The sea was quite rough for the ferry crossing though, the waves were huge and the ferry really got thrown around.

We spent a day out in the Blue Mountains too. We went to Govett's Leap, Katoomba for the 3 Sisters and Wentworth for the Falls there. Again it was cloudy but we did manage to admire the scenery during breaks in the cloud.

Darling Harbour was celebrating it 21st birthday so at the weekend they put on a fireworks show.

On our last day we went to Bondi Beach and were blessed with the weather at last. Both our dads, Foss and I went swimming, though the water was quite cold and there was a very strong pull.

We also managed to squeeze in a trip to the Aquarium, lunch in the fish markets and a few other touristy things.
And of course we couldn't leave Sydney a re-union of ex-Nathan's accountants.

So after those hectic few days we hired a campervan to head off up the coast. It's probably not quite what you'd imagine a camper van to be so have a look at this website and the video tour especially!

So far we've spent our first two nights in it. One at Hawk's Nest/Port Stephen's and one at Port Macquarie and we haven't killed each other yet so that's something.

BTW I have fixed the blog so that hopefully people will be able to leave comments now. Looking forward to them :)
Jan and Paul.