Hiking around the Outback

Today was a day of hiking around the Outback, started off with a very early start, breakfast 5:45 and a 6:30 departure.  They start early here due to the heat, wouldn’t be possible to do some of these things in the heat of the day.

Morning hike was at Kata Tjuta A very beautiful rock formation that is actually bigger than Uluru.  This morning we hiked the Walpa Gorge, very beautiful place.

Proof that we got a bit of much needed rain.

Today we learned that the aboriginal culture has sacred areas designated for men’s business, women’s business and private business.  The guides know very little about areas designated as private business, there are no pictures allowed of these areas. There are 36 domes. It is a conglomeration of rocks.

Aboriginal culture has designated some sites as sensitive that they believe should only be seen in person, which means no photos or videos. The entire East side of Uluru is a sensitive site.

Originally the aborigines owned the land around Uluru and Kata Tjuta, at some point the government took over the land.  In 1985 the aborigines took back the land and leased it back to the government.  This is known as the hand back.  Now they work with the rangers to care and protect the land.

Touching Uluru

October 26, 2019 a decision was made to no longer allow tourists to climb the rock, but climbing has left a scar on the rock face

Field of lights - by UK artist Bruce Munro. It consists of 50,000 solar powered light bulbs. The colors represent the potential for life and what he experienced in the Outback.

We have seen very little wildlife here, it’s a harsh environment

Off to the Outback

Wow... what a difference a couple of flights make...  we arrived In the outback this afternoon 110 degrees and it feels like it... they have only nine days of rain this year (and I’m pretty sure they are not talking about fiscal year)

We had a scare at the airport... our bags didn’t show up.  We went to report bags and they started looking for them... turns out they were on our plane but never made it onto the conveyor belt, not sure why... but we got them and were very happy to see them.

Right now we are having a bit of wind storm and it looks to be rain clouds hovering around.

Longitude 131 is owned by the same company that owns the lodge we stayed at in Kangaroo Island.  So we arrived to the same comforts.

Our “tent”

Inside our “tent”

Uluru is magical!

The moods of Uluru

It changes color with the light

It’s Sister rock across the way- Kata Tjuta

We had dinner outside

And we had drinks and fire waiting for us on the deck of our tent

The sky is normally filled with stars, including amazing views of the Milky Way.

It is overcast and it actually rained tonight.

Hoping for clear skies tomorrow.

Adelaide stopover

We had to leave Kangaroo Island😢
On the ride to the airport, we saw 2 kangaroos, a koala, a goanna, and an echidna on the side of the road. They ran off before we could get pictures.

Adelaide is a city of about 1.7 million-about the same size as Phoenix AZ.
While we are happy to only be spending a night here....here are a few highlights.

There is a lovely river walk by our hotel

There were 2 different festivals going on. In one direction was the VW festival.

They LOVE VWs here

And in the other direction was a gay pride festival

That’s all for the excitement from Adelaide. Looking forward to tomorrow and Uluru.

Kangaroo Island Animals & Nature

Today was all about animals and nature, started the morning getting to see adorable Koalas, even got to see a momma with a joey.  Koalas are not native to they island, many years ago they brought 18 Koalas to the island now there are more than 50,000 on the island.
We went to a national park that has planted lots of blue gum trees as they are a favorite of koalas.

Maggie is the official koala spotter. She is amazing. Below is her “I see a koala” face.

She doesn’t chase or disturb them.

Admirals Arch is a spectacular rock formation where two ocean currents meet.

Remarkable Rocks - they are just as their name states, granite rocks formed by wind and ocean waves.

Seal Bay is home to Australia’s 3rd largest colony of Australian sea lions.

Some terns hanging out with the seals.

Baby seal playing with the birds

Some random bird pictures 

Our stay at Southern Ocean Lodge on Kangaroo Island has been amazing! The lodge and staff are truly incredible.  Literally the menus are catered to every guest, Cheryl and I were given unique menus for every meal!  The staff knows how to make guest feel welcome and special!  We highly recommend this place!