Fri, 9-27-13 Outback Pioneer Hotel – Ayers Rock – “The Outback.”
We had an uneventful flight Tues. AM to Alice Springs where we met D & D at the airport in Alice Springs. We spent the afternoon walking around in town, and doing some shopping. It was really hot – over a 100 and we are not talking about a dry heat either ! While we were in town, we noticed a guy with a hat with netting all over. I aksed him why he had the netting and he told me the flies in the outback woud either eat you alive or lift you and fly away with you – and I am thinking, yeah right – good one buddy. It did however rattle us enough that we all bought netting to put over our heads – typical tourist thing for sure. That night we ate dinner and were intrigued by the local aborigines who were unfortunately all begging and a bit aggressive and quarrelsome if you did not respond. We were happy to catch up, but tired so we were all in be early to get be bright tailed and bushy tailed for our 5:45 AM pick up for our tour.
Here is the brochure version of what we are supposed to be doing in the outback:
Emu Run collect you from outside your Alice Springs accommodation at 6am. A light breakfast onboard our comfortable coach then stop at Erldunda Roadhouse and Aboriginal Art display. We travel along the Luritja Road to Kings Canyon. On arrival enjoy a prepared lunch, then a spectacular 3 hour Guided Canyon Rim Walk (though if weather conditions are over 35 degree celsius or if the group prefers we can do a base walk and visit Kathleen Springs instead) Travel back to Erldunda for dinner and overnight budget motel accommodation. Depart Erlduna at 9am the next day and travel to Uluru, arriving about midday. The itinerary here changes sequence between hotter and cooler months: We stop first at the Visitors Centre (warmer months only), enjoy lunch then travel to the Olgas, do a Gorge walk, then back to Ayers Rock and visit the Aboriginal Cultural Centre. We do guided walks at Uluru. The highlight of this great two day trip is a fabulous BBQ Champagne Dinner at Uluru while watching a magnificent Central Australian Sunset and the amazing changing colours of Uluru. What To Bring Tour Voucher, 1.5 Litre water bottle, strong, non-slip walking shoes, hats, sunglasses, camera & sunscreen Dress in the Northern Territory is casual and comfortable.
The first part of the tour was a big coach bus that we rode to the Erldunda Road house. This place is as you would imagine a road house in the middle of the dirty dusty desert. We dropped our luggage off, then waited for the smaller 21 passenger bus to pick us up for our trip to Kings Canyon. At this point, for once, we were thrilled we were doing the touristy thing and that we had the fly nets for our faces and heads. The flies were out in force and after about five minutes of wildy flapping my arms and slapping myself in the face about 500 times, I donned the fly net. I should add that Jon and I both had to buy big brimmed hats to put the netting over so the netting did not stick to our sweat covered faces – did I mention it was sweltering hot and that I was really looking forward to a hike around canyon…….. On our about four hour ride to the canyon, we learned that there were 1,000’s of wild camels, kangaroos and cats all through out the outback. We arrived at Kings canyon and I was pretty sure we were not going to do any hiking because now it was boiling water hot out but much to my surprise – the hike was on. I should have had a hint of what was to come by the fact that they insisted if you did not have abut 10 gallons of water with you, you could not do the hike. We loaded ourselves up like camels and set out on the hike. The hike immediately started out with a steep ascent up a small version of the Himalayas. Hike my a** ! (Excuse my French here) This was an all out mountain climb !! Anytime you can stand up straight, stick you arm out and touch the side of the surface you are “hiking on” it is no longer a hike !! I made it to the top, breathless, faint, and exhausted when I was informed that the actual hike was going to start for about 3 miles around rim – really ?! See ya later - end of story! I dragged Jon back down the slope to wait in comfort and shade with the other smart people who had the foresight not to optionally torture themselves with a “Hike” ! I did feel a bit bad for Jon because he wanted to do the rim hike, but hey, misery loves company and I had too much misery to share and di not want to keep it all to myself. After the 3 hour hike, we all boarded back on the bus for the four hour drive back to the dusty dirty road house in the wrong direction for the trip to Ayers rock the next day. Now back to the claim of all the wild camels, kangaroos and cats, we saw 1, count em 1, kangaroo who briefly jumped across the road about a mile ahead of us – so much for the animal viewing. We did not get back in till about 8:30 where we feasted on a great meal of fried frozen fish fillets and chips, which are really frozen French fries. If you want some ketchup for those chips, it is called tomato sauce – and it is an act of congress to get some. After a great night’s sleep in our concrete cell, we were up and back on the road where we drove back three hours south over the same road we had driven three hours north on the night before – same scenery shockingly enough. About four house later we arrived at the Olgas which is a group of big red rocks in the dirty dusty desert. We took a short hike, then onto, hold your breath, the mighty Ayers Rock !!!!!!!! Drum roll, there it was and all I could think of was, oh, another big red rock in the middle of the dirty dusty desert. We drove around the base of it, did a coupe of walks, then time to get serious ! We parked our bus near the base of the rock along with approximately 1,000 other buses at the base of the rock. The guides broke out the barby, poured wine or champagne, and we watched the sunset. People were 2 deep standing to watch the sunset. The sunset did not set behind the rock, but behind us, and the draw is to watch how the shades of red change in the big red rock. I did by a small painting form an Aboriginal woman who was there – more on her later. Most of group had to then drive back to Alice Spring which was about a 6 hour drive, luckily I had the foresight to know that we would not want to ride the bus another 6 hours, so we got rooms at one of “the resorts” in Ayers rock. The whole area is just desert and big red rocks, but the draw is the size of the rock, and that it steeped in history in the Aboriginal culture. So, after about 40 hours on a bus, deadly hike, one kangaroo sighting, and too many red rocks, today we are flying into Cairns to head up to Port Douglas for five days for R and R at eh beach and a trip to the Great Barrier reef. We are sitting in the lobby now waiting for the shuttle as our flight has been delayed by a couple of hours. As we were sitting here surrounded by our over the weight limit luggage, who do I see ? The Aboriginal woman who I bought the painting from the night befior in the parking at the the big rock, now checking in and getting a room key. Did I mention the rooms here are about $350.00 a night ? GO figure……..
SN #7 Chips are served with every meal whether Italian, Mexican hinese – does not matter, and vegetables are meant to be seen, not eaten, not a one has touched our plates.
We had an uneventful flight Tues. AM to Alice Springs where we met D & D at the airport in Alice Springs. We spent the afternoon walking around in town, and doing some shopping. It was really hot – over a 100 and we are not talking about a dry heat either ! While we were in town, we noticed a guy with a hat with netting all over. I aksed him why he had the netting and he told me the flies in the outback woud either eat you alive or lift you and fly away with you – and I am thinking, yeah right – good one buddy. It did however rattle us enough that we all bought netting to put over our heads – typical tourist thing for sure. That night we ate dinner and were intrigued by the local aborigines who were unfortunately all begging and a bit aggressive and quarrelsome if you did not respond. We were happy to catch up, but tired so we were all in be early to get be bright tailed and bushy tailed for our 5:45 AM pick up for our tour.
Here is the brochure version of what we are supposed to be doing in the outback:
Emu Run collect you from outside your Alice Springs accommodation at 6am. A light breakfast onboard our comfortable coach then stop at Erldunda Roadhouse and Aboriginal Art display. We travel along the Luritja Road to Kings Canyon. On arrival enjoy a prepared lunch, then a spectacular 3 hour Guided Canyon Rim Walk (though if weather conditions are over 35 degree celsius or if the group prefers we can do a base walk and visit Kathleen Springs instead) Travel back to Erldunda for dinner and overnight budget motel accommodation. Depart Erlduna at 9am the next day and travel to Uluru, arriving about midday. The itinerary here changes sequence between hotter and cooler months: We stop first at the Visitors Centre (warmer months only), enjoy lunch then travel to the Olgas, do a Gorge walk, then back to Ayers Rock and visit the Aboriginal Cultural Centre. We do guided walks at Uluru. The highlight of this great two day trip is a fabulous BBQ Champagne Dinner at Uluru while watching a magnificent Central Australian Sunset and the amazing changing colours of Uluru. What To Bring Tour Voucher, 1.5 Litre water bottle, strong, non-slip walking shoes, hats, sunglasses, camera & sunscreen Dress in the Northern Territory is casual and comfortable.
The first part of the tour was a big coach bus that we rode to the Erldunda Road house. This place is as you would imagine a road house in the middle of the dirty dusty desert. We dropped our luggage off, then waited for the smaller 21 passenger bus to pick us up for our trip to Kings Canyon. At this point, for once, we were thrilled we were doing the touristy thing and that we had the fly nets for our faces and heads. The flies were out in force and after about five minutes of wildy flapping my arms and slapping myself in the face about 500 times, I donned the fly net. I should add that Jon and I both had to buy big brimmed hats to put the netting over so the netting did not stick to our sweat covered faces – did I mention it was sweltering hot and that I was really looking forward to a hike around canyon…….. On our about four hour ride to the canyon, we learned that there were 1,000’s of wild camels, kangaroos and cats all through out the outback. We arrived at Kings canyon and I was pretty sure we were not going to do any hiking because now it was boiling water hot out but much to my surprise – the hike was on. I should have had a hint of what was to come by the fact that they insisted if you did not have abut 10 gallons of water with you, you could not do the hike. We loaded ourselves up like camels and set out on the hike. The hike immediately started out with a steep ascent up a small version of the Himalayas. Hike my a** ! (Excuse my French here) This was an all out mountain climb !! Anytime you can stand up straight, stick you arm out and touch the side of the surface you are “hiking on” it is no longer a hike !! I made it to the top, breathless, faint, and exhausted when I was informed that the actual hike was going to start for about 3 miles around rim – really ?! See ya later - end of story! I dragged Jon back down the slope to wait in comfort and shade with the other smart people who had the foresight not to optionally torture themselves with a “Hike” ! I did feel a bit bad for Jon because he wanted to do the rim hike, but hey, misery loves company and I had too much misery to share and di not want to keep it all to myself. After the 3 hour hike, we all boarded back on the bus for the four hour drive back to the dusty dirty road house in the wrong direction for the trip to Ayers rock the next day. Now back to the claim of all the wild camels, kangaroos and cats, we saw 1, count em 1, kangaroo who briefly jumped across the road about a mile ahead of us – so much for the animal viewing. We did not get back in till about 8:30 where we feasted on a great meal of fried frozen fish fillets and chips, which are really frozen French fries. If you want some ketchup for those chips, it is called tomato sauce – and it is an act of congress to get some. After a great night’s sleep in our concrete cell, we were up and back on the road where we drove back three hours south over the same road we had driven three hours north on the night before – same scenery shockingly enough. About four house later we arrived at the Olgas which is a group of big red rocks in the dirty dusty desert. We took a short hike, then onto, hold your breath, the mighty Ayers Rock !!!!!!!! Drum roll, there it was and all I could think of was, oh, another big red rock in the middle of the dirty dusty desert. We drove around the base of it, did a coupe of walks, then time to get serious ! We parked our bus near the base of the rock along with approximately 1,000 other buses at the base of the rock. The guides broke out the barby, poured wine or champagne, and we watched the sunset. People were 2 deep standing to watch the sunset. The sunset did not set behind the rock, but behind us, and the draw is to watch how the shades of red change in the big red rock. I did by a small painting form an Aboriginal woman who was there – more on her later. Most of group had to then drive back to Alice Spring which was about a 6 hour drive, luckily I had the foresight to know that we would not want to ride the bus another 6 hours, so we got rooms at one of “the resorts” in Ayers rock. The whole area is just desert and big red rocks, but the draw is the size of the rock, and that it steeped in history in the Aboriginal culture. So, after about 40 hours on a bus, deadly hike, one kangaroo sighting, and too many red rocks, today we are flying into Cairns to head up to Port Douglas for five days for R and R at eh beach and a trip to the Great Barrier reef. We are sitting in the lobby now waiting for the shuttle as our flight has been delayed by a couple of hours. As we were sitting here surrounded by our over the weight limit luggage, who do I see ? The Aboriginal woman who I bought the painting from the night befior in the parking at the the big rock, now checking in and getting a room key. Did I mention the rooms here are about $350.00 a night ? GO figure……..
SN #7 Chips are served with every meal whether Italian, Mexican hinese – does not matter, and vegetables are meant to be seen, not eaten, not a one has touched our plates.
Shelves of Deet and sunscreen - hhmmpphhh….
Dorothy styling with her insect net
Jon and his Indiana Jones fly netting
Our first night out - D & D - Alice Springs
Alice Town
This cracked me up - the sign says "sorry no dogs." If you lok closely to the bottom left hand side of the sign, there is a little black dog relieving himself on the sign post !
And we are off the Kings canyon stroll - No flies on Jon
Clinging to the side of the cliff for a rest
OK - I am getting tired - that is the tour guide behind me offering to give me a push
Where is my emergency radio ?
Still making some progress
Yep - that's me heading the wrong way back down the mountain - I am outta of here !
Kings Canyon
The camels offered some comic relief
It was so hot, even the camels were lying down
Let sleeping camels lie…….
Jon getting this bus moving
Our amazing view at the Erldunda Roadhouse
Now this is my kind of tour car
And we are on the road again…..
Jon kickin' it at the Olgas
The Olgas
Ayers Rock - Uluru
Ayers rock
Jon - the Fly Dundee of Australia
Getting ready for our BBQ
Sun setting at the big red rock - Ayers Rock
Dorothy and I buying our Aboriginal paintings - note the woman sitting on the ground
Our guides setting up
Back at the hotel - I like the reminder to slap on some sunscreen
And here it is - The Outback Pioneer Hotel
And here is the Aboriginal Woman form the night before that we bought the paintings from getting a room our hotel
