We flew from Sydney to Alice Springs (4hrs). The Alice, is in the center of Australia. It is
referred to as the Red Center as it is desert and very red sandy soil. The land was inhabited for 40,000 years by Aboriginals and was first visited by white men in the late 1800's. The town was set up as a single line telegraph station between Darwin(north) and Adelaide (south). the town is quite remote and has a population 25,000. We met many Americans as there is a military base communications base here, as well as many American tourists.
The first night we went to a dinner to learn about aboriginal culture. We had Kangaroo, Emu and Crocodile for dinner. The men performed some of the traditional Aboriginal dances for us. We learned about the traditional tools, weapons and ways of life. It was very informative.
We hiked into the West
McDonnel Ranges. Sam spotted a dingo on a dry river bed. And No--"the dingo did not eat my baby!"
We came to this
surprise in the middle of the desert! Ellery's Big Hole was a very refreshing place to cool off. The kids swam and played in the water. It was 80 meters deep in the middle and quite cold. It was about 150 meters across-Sam swam it and was very
surprised at the extreme cold in the middle.
We had a dinner planned where we were to ride a camel into the desert and have a bush tucker dinner. The camels are all lined up and tied in a row for our adventure. We are to ride tandem so Sam and I pair up. The guide chose Sam and I to mount first. The camels all sat down preparing for their "cargo." As Sam and I approach our camel, the guide says to just ignore her noises of protest--she is just a noisy camel--no worries mate! Sam put his foot in the stirrup and started to mount her and she started these horrific groaning noises. Sam is on and now it is my turn. The camel continued its loud protests. I got on the camel and now the camel has to stand up. In a very loud noisy way. The camel stands up with us leaning way back and then extreme forward as the camel gets completely upright. I am so happy to be in a normal sitting position and wait for the guide to adjust the stirrups as he promised. I notice all of the camels are beginning to get up with no passengers. Did you know camels don't like rain? Well, it started raining--in the desert--that is in extreme drought--I mean the worst drought in 50 years! And it rains as Sam and I are on a camel who does not like rain!! So all of the camels who are tied together--take off. I mean--stand up and start moving with out the guide fairly rapidly. I hear one of the other tourist yell--"Get the boy off of the camel!!!" The guide did get the lead camel and tie him to a fence. The remaining camels coiled around, with the camel Sam and I are on, in the center. So camels are all around us. Did I mention that when you sit on a camel you are really high off of the ground? No joke, we were 10 feet off of the ground. So we are high up surrounded by camels and a bit nervous. The guide quickly tied camel by camel to the fence with us being the last secured. He then had to get the camel to sit--which it did not want to do and protested quite loudly. Sam and I finally disembarked. The guide shared with John that he was worried we were going to be part of a camel race to the desert! He was obviously nervous. Needless to say --I do not care to get on another camel ever again. The tour ended abruptly for all and we had dinner in town. It took 3 Vodka tonics to get me to stop shaking. Sam, of course, was mad and wanted to go back and do it again!
We had our last coffee at Litani's today. I have met some wonderfully amazing women whom have become good friends. It was sad to say goodbye. 
On Thursday Night we had a farewell dinner with Pete, Jenny, Clare and Mathison Edwards. We will miss them. We got to know them 10 years ago when they were in Ohio. It has been wonderful to renew our friendship with them and hope we can get together again--maybe in 10 years?
We have only 5 days left in Australia and they are going fast. We leave early in the morning on the 4th of November and 29 hours later we will arrive in Napoleon in the evening of the 4th of November. Happy Melbourne Cup Day to our Australian friends and Happy Election Day to our American friends. Love to you all!
About 30 kilometers away is Kata Tjuta (means "many heads"), it is a group of 36 red rock domes that rise from the ground. The tallest is 546 meters. These rocks are conglomerate of lots of small rocks--like concrete. 
We did the Valley of the Winds hike. It was very hilly, and pretty.
That night we had a special dinner--Sounds of Silence. We had dinner on a far away sand dune to see the sunset of Uluru and Kata Tjuta. After the sunset, we learned about the stars and the southern hemisphere night sky. We were able to look through powerful telescopes to see Jupiter and its moons, and an amazing close up of the moon. We met people from all over the world on this holiday. At dinner with us are two couples from England. We met others from Holland, Norway, China, France, and USA.
We drove to Uluru (Ayers Rock is the English name that is not really used). the first morning we were there we started out at 4am to see the sunrise.
We were with a group of people, for a bush tucker breakfast including damper,on a sand dune about 25 kilometers from Uluru.
Sam and Kait are looking for animal tracks in the red sand. They found lots of Goanna tracks--the 2 meter long lizard. We never did see a wild one but there were plenty around.
Back at Uluru we saw the ancient cave painting and learned about the dreamtime stories relating to the mammoth rock. The Aboriginals see Uluru as a sacred place and have been having religious ceremonies there for centuries. There were many places that we were not allowed to photograph. Tourism began in 1955, with only crude camping available. In 1983, a resort was opened. And in 1985 the property rights to Uluru was given back to the Aboriginal traditional owners. We had a very nice and modern 2 bedroom apartment to stay in. It was a marvel all of its own to see how a resort functioned and survived so far out in the desert. The first trip to Uluru from Alice Springs in 1873 took 3 months by camel.
Then, we had the long, long drive to Kings Canyon. There was no speed limit so John maintained 140--that's KPH or about 86 mph. We were warned to watch for wild camels, kangaroos and emus. We did see a camel and cows. 
This is our hotel in Kings Canyon--the only one for at least 200 kilometers. It was considered eco friendly with a small footprint. The room was very nice--with a sitting area in the back and a spa tub in a huge bay window.
This is our view out the window--The rocks were brilliant reds and oranges.
We were picked up early for our quad bike tour. We drove out to a cattle station that was 3000 square kilometers--a huge family farm!!!! We had to go on a dirt road for part of the trip. We rode the 4 wheelers for about 2.5 hours through the desert.
Here we are!! It was only the four of us and two tour guides.
John got this photo--I am getting instructions about going down the steep hill.
The first night we went to a dinner to learn about aboriginal culture. We had Kangaroo, Emu and Crocodile for dinner. The men performed some of the traditional Aboriginal dances for us. We learned about the traditional tools, weapons and ways of life. It was very informative.
We hiked into the West McDonnel Ranges. Sam spotted a dingo on a dry river bed. And No--"the dingo did not eat my baby!"
We came to this surprise in the middle of the desert! Ellery's Big Hole was a very refreshing place to cool off. The kids swam and played in the water. It was 80 meters deep in the middle and quite cold. It was about 150 meters across-Sam swam it and was very surprised at the extreme cold in the middle.
We had a dinner planned where we were to ride a camel into the desert and have a bush tucker dinner. The camels are all lined up and tied in a row for our adventure. We are to ride tandem so Sam and I pair up. The guide chose Sam and I to mount first. The camels all sat down preparing for their "cargo." As Sam and I approach our camel, the guide says to just ignore her noises of protest--she is just a noisy camel--no worries mate! Sam put his foot in the stirrup and started to mount her and she started these horrific groaning noises. Sam is on and now it is my turn. The camel continued its loud protests. I got on the camel and now the camel has to stand up. In a very loud noisy way. The camel stands up with us leaning way back and then extreme forward as the camel gets completely upright. I am so happy to be in a normal sitting position and wait for the guide to adjust the stirrups as he promised. I notice all of the camels are beginning to get up with no passengers. Did you know camels don't like rain? Well, it started raining--in the desert--that is in extreme drought--I mean the worst drought in 50 years! And it rains as Sam and I are on a camel who does not like rain!! So all of the camels who are tied together--take off. I mean--stand up and start moving with out the guide fairly rapidly. I hear one of the other tourist yell--"Get the boy off of the camel!!!" The guide did get the lead camel and tie him to a fence. The remaining camels coiled around, with the camel Sam and I are on, in the center. So camels are all around us. Did I mention that when you sit on a camel you are really high off of the ground? No joke, we were 10 feet off of the ground. So we are high up surrounded by camels and a bit nervous. The guide quickly tied camel by camel to the fence with us being the last secured. He then had to get the camel to sit--which it did not want to do and protested quite loudly. Sam and I finally disembarked. The guide shared with John that he was worried we were going to be part of a camel race to the desert! He was obviously nervous. Needless to say --I do not care to get on another camel ever again. The tour ended abruptly for all and we had dinner in town. It took 3 Vodka tonics to get me to stop shaking. Sam, of course, was mad and wanted to go back and do it again!
