Got up a little too early for my taste, around 6:30, so that I could double check that I had packed everything for Uluru and be ready to leave for the airport on time. Mariah will have the apartment all to herself this weekend after I leave, as Shea and Sian have already left for New Zealand.
Lisa and I left right on time and walked down a block towards the train station, knowing there'd be lots of taxis prowling the area. Sure enough, it didn't take long before we'd hailed one down and piled in. We talked with the driver for a bit, and he asked a lot of questions about America, particularly about how often Australia makes our news, or how much Americans in general know about Aussies. There wasn't as much traffic as we'd planned for, despite it being rush hour, so we got there with about an hour and a half to spare. We headed for security and were absolutely shocked at what we found. Besides there being only about five other people in line, despite it being nine o' clock, it took us only two minutes to go through the whole process. We didn't have to take our shoes off, or any liquids. The only thing that had to come out were laptops. You could leave your jacket on as you went through the metal detector, and only had to take it off if something like the zipper somehow made it beep. Aerosol cans are the only other thing that has to come out of the bags, so we saw a couple of those, which you'd certainly never see in an American airport. We watched as one lady walked through with a half drunken Coke, and were half-amazed, half-concerned, when no one even checked our ID. Or boarding pass. Or anything. That's right, we made it right through security without one person glancing at any form of identification or reason to be in the airport. It was incredibly bizarre, and so different from the environment I was used to. We had arrived at security right at nine, and were walking away by the time it turned 9:02. Craziness.
Now we were really here early, with still an hour and a half before our flight was meant to take off. We took our time and decided to head to the food court to get a donut (and a coffee for Lisa). We ate very slowly since we had so much time, and slowly meandered our way to the gate, which looked almost completely empty. We waited around for another 20 minutes before they finally started boarding the plane. From how many people were sitting at the gate, we expected the flight to be pretty empty, but, surprisingly, people just kept on piling and piling on. We had no idea where all these people were hanging out when they were waiting! We both have aisle seats though, and both the seats and leg room are way more expansive then anything you'd find on a domestic American flight. We set off on our way and had a very peaceful flight. I worked on my blogs and some articles, Lisa worked on finishing up some of the readings from the road trip she'd neglected, and the plane made its way towards the Northern Territory. The only sad thing was that I couldn't see out of the window very well from where I was, and it would have been nice to see some of Australia passing by, especially since we'll fly over the bush and through the Outback before we arrive. Oh, something I think I forgot to mention, there's a half hour time difference between Sydney and Uluru, which we think is pretty funny, and strange. If you look on a map (there was one in the last blog post) it seems like it should have a time difference of longer than that. It's very interesting, I think. Must just be the way Australia falls on the time zone maps.
The best part of the flight was definitely the landing, as we could see Uluru from the window. It was incredible, huge and red standing amongst all the little bushes and red dirt of the Outback. Everyone was crammed around the windows trying to catch a glimpse. Soon we landed on an extremely tiny little runway, red dirt all around us. I was actually surprised at how hilly it was, not that they were large hills, just little sand dunes, but I'd always imagined it completely flat. We got off the plane (no gate, we just walked down the steps and off the runway), we waited outside for the bus to take us out to our hotel, as it wasn't there yet. We didn't have to wait long before a huge coach bus pulled up, and we all (meaning about nine of us) piled in and set off towards the hotel. The drive was beautiful, and only about 15 minutes. The whole time you could see Uluru off in the distance, which was incredible. For part of the drive you could also see the Olgas, another large rock formation in the area, made up of a whole series of rocks.
We arrived at our hotel and had about 45 minutes before we could check in properly, so we grabbed a bite to eat, as it was nearly two o'clock by this time. We encountered our first mean Australian, who was at the counter where you order. She was obviously not into her job and kind of rude, which was a shocker, cause normally everyone here is super friendly. After lunch, we briefly panicked because we forgot to set our clocks back by the 30 minutes, so we thought we only had 20 minutes before we had to be back on the tour bus to see the sunset, but we really had an hour. So annoying, but we quickly changed our clocks to Darwin time. After checking into our room we lounged around until it was time to leave.
Lisa and I left right on time and walked down a block towards the train station, knowing there'd be lots of taxis prowling the area. Sure enough, it didn't take long before we'd hailed one down and piled in. We talked with the driver for a bit, and he asked a lot of questions about America, particularly about how often Australia makes our news, or how much Americans in general know about Aussies. There wasn't as much traffic as we'd planned for, despite it being rush hour, so we got there with about an hour and a half to spare. We headed for security and were absolutely shocked at what we found. Besides there being only about five other people in line, despite it being nine o' clock, it took us only two minutes to go through the whole process. We didn't have to take our shoes off, or any liquids. The only thing that had to come out were laptops. You could leave your jacket on as you went through the metal detector, and only had to take it off if something like the zipper somehow made it beep. Aerosol cans are the only other thing that has to come out of the bags, so we saw a couple of those, which you'd certainly never see in an American airport. We watched as one lady walked through with a half drunken Coke, and were half-amazed, half-concerned, when no one even checked our ID. Or boarding pass. Or anything. That's right, we made it right through security without one person glancing at any form of identification or reason to be in the airport. It was incredibly bizarre, and so different from the environment I was used to. We had arrived at security right at nine, and were walking away by the time it turned 9:02. Craziness.
Now we were really here early, with still an hour and a half before our flight was meant to take off. We took our time and decided to head to the food court to get a donut (and a coffee for Lisa). We ate very slowly since we had so much time, and slowly meandered our way to the gate, which looked almost completely empty. We waited around for another 20 minutes before they finally started boarding the plane. From how many people were sitting at the gate, we expected the flight to be pretty empty, but, surprisingly, people just kept on piling and piling on. We had no idea where all these people were hanging out when they were waiting! We both have aisle seats though, and both the seats and leg room are way more expansive then anything you'd find on a domestic American flight. We set off on our way and had a very peaceful flight. I worked on my blogs and some articles, Lisa worked on finishing up some of the readings from the road trip she'd neglected, and the plane made its way towards the Northern Territory. The only sad thing was that I couldn't see out of the window very well from where I was, and it would have been nice to see some of Australia passing by, especially since we'll fly over the bush and through the Outback before we arrive. Oh, something I think I forgot to mention, there's a half hour time difference between Sydney and Uluru, which we think is pretty funny, and strange. If you look on a map (there was one in the last blog post) it seems like it should have a time difference of longer than that. It's very interesting, I think. Must just be the way Australia falls on the time zone maps.
The best part of the flight was definitely the landing, as we could see Uluru from the window. It was incredible, huge and red standing amongst all the little bushes and red dirt of the Outback. Everyone was crammed around the windows trying to catch a glimpse. Soon we landed on an extremely tiny little runway, red dirt all around us. I was actually surprised at how hilly it was, not that they were large hills, just little sand dunes, but I'd always imagined it completely flat. We got off the plane (no gate, we just walked down the steps and off the runway), we waited outside for the bus to take us out to our hotel, as it wasn't there yet. We didn't have to wait long before a huge coach bus pulled up, and we all (meaning about nine of us) piled in and set off towards the hotel. The drive was beautiful, and only about 15 minutes. The whole time you could see Uluru off in the distance, which was incredible. For part of the drive you could also see the Olgas, another large rock formation in the area, made up of a whole series of rocks.
We arrived at our hotel and had about 45 minutes before we could check in properly, so we grabbed a bite to eat, as it was nearly two o'clock by this time. We encountered our first mean Australian, who was at the counter where you order. She was obviously not into her job and kind of rude, which was a shocker, cause normally everyone here is super friendly. After lunch, we briefly panicked because we forgot to set our clocks back by the 30 minutes, so we thought we only had 20 minutes before we had to be back on the tour bus to see the sunset, but we really had an hour. So annoying, but we quickly changed our clocks to Darwin time. After checking into our room we lounged around until it was time to leave.
At 4:45 we departed the hotel to drive into the National Park itself, about a 20 minute drive, as Uluru and the Olgas came in and out of sight as we drove. It was very cool. Our bus driver gave us some information about Uluru, and some of its general history, which was incredibly interesting. It's one of the only parks to have Dual World Heritage Status, the first of which was granted for its natural beauty, and the second for preserving its culture. The land is owned by the Ananu people, an Aboriginal peoples who inhabit the area. When the tourism industry began to grow in the 60s, lots of people began building huge hotels and resorts in the area, and attempted to get the Ananu moved out of the area because they were an "embarrassment", especially for international tourists. While they tried this at first, the tourism was getting out of control, and the Ananu refused to work in the places they were moved to, so they stripped down all the hotels and gave them the land back. There is now joint management between the government and the Ananu people, but the Ananu have the majority of the say over what happens here. By the time he'd finished explaining we were already there, but I'm excited for the cultural tour tomorrow where hopefully they'll talk some more about it.
We had stopped a couple miles away from Uluru and it looked beautiful. It's crazy to look at this giant, red rock out in the middle of the Outback, with nothing around it. I'm still confused about how it was formed and shaped, as it's just out here on its own, so I'll have to make sure I ask tomorrow. We were there early, which was good, because tons of tours come out this way, but we were able to grab a good spot right up against the little rope fence they had to keep you off the protected lands. We were given sparkling wine and little "nibblies" as they call them here, meaning cheese and crackers and veggies. It was very sophisticated looking. It didn't take long for the magic to start to happen. While Uluru had looked red when we first saw it, we soon realized that it had been dull compared to what we were about to see. The lower the sun got, the redder it got. It looked absolutely incredible as it turned a deep red. It looked even more impressive as the colors around it started to change again, turning pink, purple and blue. It progressed faster and faster to the point where if you looked down for a second and then looked back, it looked completely different. It was an incredible experience we were absolutely blown away. Definitely a must see if you make it to Australia, and well worth going out of your way for.
When the sky was finally dark enough that Uluru was no longer glowing, we got back on the bus and he drove us back to the hotel. We went to the little town center and ate at the little cafe there. It was very good, but we were really tired. We briefly talked to an American who was over here traveling with his Australian wife for 10 weeks, which was pretty cool. He was from New Hampshire but had lived in Hartford at one point, so he knew exactly where I was from when I told him.
After dinner, we stopped at the supermarket to pick up some water and then headed back to the hotel by cutting through the bush (on a path of course) and decided to stop at a little lookout, which was situated at the top of the little sand dunes, to try and look at the night sky. Even though here was some light pollution, and the moon was incredibly bright (surprisingly so), the night sky still looked ridiculously gorgeous. The Southern Hemisphere has the most incredible sky I've ever seen. Maybe it's just because I'm not used too how foreign it looks, but it's the most stunning thing I've ever seen. Especially the Milky Way. I think that's the most impressive part. It looks almost like a cloud, but in reality it's just looking outwards from the inside of our galaxy, at all the other stars clustered together out there. It's completely mind boggling to look out at all of them. Surely there can't be that many stars in existence, let alone even more we can't see. It was so striking, and really gave me a sense of calm, even though it was kind of terrifying at the same time. It's hard to be worried about anything you thought was important when you realize just how tiny you really are. I know it's kind of cliche to say that, but it really is true. Staring up at these unfamiliar constellations was a surreal experience, and one I won't forget. We even saw some shooting stars go by.
The night made us even more excited for tomorrow night, when we're going to this award winning dinner in which they take you out near Uluru to watch the sunset while you have drinks, and then drive you out closer where they set up a fancy dinner under the stars. An astronomer comes to give a talk on the stars, and they have huge telescopes so you can look out and observe all the stars. It should be amazing, and the stars and should be extra visible because it will be away from all the light pollution. Hopefully the moon won't be too much of a problem, but either way it should be an unforgettable experience. Well, I better be heading off to bed because we have to get up super early tomorrow to make it out to watch the sunrise! Happy 4th to everyone!
After dinner, we stopped at the supermarket to pick up some water and then headed back to the hotel by cutting through the bush (on a path of course) and decided to stop at a little lookout, which was situated at the top of the little sand dunes, to try and look at the night sky. Even though here was some light pollution, and the moon was incredibly bright (surprisingly so), the night sky still looked ridiculously gorgeous. The Southern Hemisphere has the most incredible sky I've ever seen. Maybe it's just because I'm not used too how foreign it looks, but it's the most stunning thing I've ever seen. Especially the Milky Way. I think that's the most impressive part. It looks almost like a cloud, but in reality it's just looking outwards from the inside of our galaxy, at all the other stars clustered together out there. It's completely mind boggling to look out at all of them. Surely there can't be that many stars in existence, let alone even more we can't see. It was so striking, and really gave me a sense of calm, even though it was kind of terrifying at the same time. It's hard to be worried about anything you thought was important when you realize just how tiny you really are. I know it's kind of cliche to say that, but it really is true. Staring up at these unfamiliar constellations was a surreal experience, and one I won't forget. We even saw some shooting stars go by.
The night made us even more excited for tomorrow night, when we're going to this award winning dinner in which they take you out near Uluru to watch the sunset while you have drinks, and then drive you out closer where they set up a fancy dinner under the stars. An astronomer comes to give a talk on the stars, and they have huge telescopes so you can look out and observe all the stars. It should be amazing, and the stars and should be extra visible because it will be away from all the light pollution. Hopefully the moon won't be too much of a problem, but either way it should be an unforgettable experience. Well, I better be heading off to bed because we have to get up super early tomorrow to make it out to watch the sunrise! Happy 4th to everyone!