9/6/07 Thur.- to Uluru

We got up early today to catch a flight to Uluru from Cairns at 7am. We arrived at 9:30 and had a bit of time to hang out. One good thing about the desert is that you're very likely to have clear, sunny skies. By 10:45 it was warm enough to hang out by the pool, which Marc was very happy about. That afternoon we went to see Kata Tjuta- or the 5 olgas. It's a large bunch of huge rocks in the desert that has aboriginal importance. We did a little walk and learned more about it. At 5:45 we left for a dinner called "sounds of silence". It was really good and a bit of a splurge! It started off with champagne, appetizers, sunset over Uluru (an enormous rock in the desert that changes colors during sunset and sunrise), and a didgeridoo player (an aboriginal instrument that Marc thinks he's going to learn to play)- very nice! Then we had a full dinner in the middle of the desert under all the stars. We ate kangaroo, crocodile, baramundi, etc- all Aussie things, though they don't really even eat them much. After dinner there was an astronomer who talked about the southern sky and pointed out all sorts of things- it was great! The stars are amazing especially since there are no other lights around. And of course beer and wine were included too.

Unfortunately I'm having trouble loading pictures right now so later when I get home I'll have to add them in.