Note: Due to a terrible mistake…the second
half of our trip is blogged all at once. We understand if you don’t want to
read through it all at once, but we think days 19, 20, 22, 26, 27, 30, 31, 32,
36, 38 and 39 are some good ones.
Day 19:
Well, we are officially living in our own
world. We woke up this morning, packed up, and went to a deal of an all you can
eat breakfast next door. We were there before the doors were opened, ready to
kick start our Sunday with full bellies, ready for the long drive to Fox
Glacier ahead of us. Unfortunately, we were greeted with the news that it was
Monday, and there was no all you could eat, just regular overpriced breakfast
unless we wanted to wait until 11. We headed on our way with a car breakfast of
trail mix, granola bars, and apples. With disappointed stomachs, but smiles on
our faces none the less, we ventured forth. After another beautiful, but
equally twisty drive later, we arrived at our spot in Fox Glacier.
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| Mt. Cook |
Fox Glacier is a lovely little town, which
you can tell is a huge point of activity in the summer months. Great place for
a visit, or even a summer getaway for the family, but we figured a weekend is
plenty of time to explore all that the town has to offer. It does host the
tallest mountain in New Zealand, Mt. Cook, which our bedroom overlooks near
perfectly. We decided to spend the remainder of our day exploring some local
viewpoints, and watching the sunset on the beach, which also makes the snow
peaked mountains opposite it, turn into an intriguing shade of pink.
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| Maura's new sheep friend |
Friends and family, Maura fancies herself a
bit of a sheep whisperer now. We have seen so many on our numerous drives so
far that when we were driving back from the beach and we saw our first wild
sheep, she thought it was a good idea to stop the car, get out, and have a
photo shoot with our new friends. Well, we got a few funny photos and learned
that Maura should not change career paths.
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| Maura chasing sheep |
After another great day, we settled in for
dinner and watched some Revenge, a show that Alex has been raving over and
Maura has been reluctant to watch. Maura is now hooked and enjoying the
Hamptons version of Alias thoroughly. Ready for a good nights sleep before our
glacial hike tomorrow (literally). Love to all at home and abroad.
Day 20:
Hello again. Congratulations, we are now
practically nomadic. Only 18 days left to our adventure, but we wont speak of
this fantastic non-realistic lifestyle ending today.
We attempted to sleep in a little today,
but sadly our consistent early rises have gotten the best of us and we were
halfway through breakfast by the time our alarm went off to wake up. Up and at’em,
we got ready for our half-day trek along Fox Glacier, which is one of the
longest Glaciers in New Zealand (13 kilometres to be exact). We were lucky that
we booked our tour for a beautifully sunny day, very little wind, and even less
chance of rain/snow. We met our group (22 participants on this hike alone, Fox
Glacier must be raking in a hefty bottom line), met our guides, were fitted
with hiking boots, crampons, all the accessories we could want, and headed on
our way. We crossed the Australian/Tasman fault line, learned a ton about
glaciers (Maura actually did learn
something in Earth Sciences by the amount of information she recognized) and
started our adventure.
It was very uphill rocky climbing to get to
the glacier, and this was the hardest part of the day. Once we put our crampons
onto our hiking boots we headed off onto the glacier, exploring several glacial
features, hiking through tunnels, caves, and crevasses in the ice. It was very
cool, and very pretty, the ice was a shade of blue you only see in cartoons,
but trekking through the 80 year old ice had it’s way with us by the end of the
day. We finished with shaky legs, but enjoyed our day all in all. We have 3
treasured photos from this day, because, that’s all we’ll need (well, Alex
forgot to put a memory card in the camera before grabbing it, but lots of
mental photos were taken, and it wasn’t a problem in the least).
Came home, got cleaned up after our long
day, ate a fantastic meal and are now getting ready to head in for the night
before our drive to the adventure capital of the world….. but not before one
more episode of Revenge and the completion of our lovely bottle of Rosé. Cheers!
Day 21:
We wish you a Merry Christmas, we wish you a Merry Christmas.
Yes, we are aware that it is July, but it looks like Christmas here so we put
on a Christmas playlist and decided to go with it. Today we drove into
Queenstown, a measly 5ish hours we arrived. A leisurely drive, it seemed much simpler
today other that climbing down a very steep and windy mounting at the very end.
Great hostel, beautiful views and fantastic location. We were looking forward
to the free Internet to catch up with loved ones..... But unfortunately we
forgot Alex's computer charger and our only NZ/AUS adapter at Fox Glacier. The
said they would post it to us for when we get to Christchurch so fingers
crossed.
We spent the rest of the day exploring and getting
settled before heading out to an absolutely fantastic meal at a little French
restraint by our hotel. A great bottle of wine and 3 courses each later we headed
home to call it an evening before our big day bungee jumping tomorrow. Time to
get amped up to become bungee jumpers in the morning, cheers!
Day 22:
Good morning with a free fall! So, bungee jumping. We
did it, off the very first bungee in the world, established in 1988. Going into
today Maura was amped and Alex was nervous, but the tables quickly turned as we
were strapped in on the edge of the bridge. It makes for an entertaining DVD to
watch the terror on Maura's face progress before Alex starts crying mid-free
fall. We still weren't sure if we jumped or if we were pushed, either way we
went off and we survived a d we even got a t-shirt for our efforts. Back in
town we did some wandering around and had a bit of a chill time with a movie
before heading out to explore again. We found ourselves at a place called
"Wine Tastes" where there are over 80 wines on tap we are able to
taste. So we made an evening of it, shared some nibbles, and drank a lot of
delicious wines before selecting out favorites. Luckily one of our favorite
labels was going to the shop the next day for a free tasting; we will of course
head back there again tomorrow to have some more delicious treats free of
charge. Heading in for the evening now, night!
Day 23:
Wow! So we're still amazed that we can call ourselves
bungee jumpers. We had absolutely nothing planned for today, so we decided to
have a sleep-in. A much needed sleep-in at that. (It may seem like we spend a
lot of time sleeping in, but rest assured, a regular morning is 6am, and a
sleep in is 9am. Not to worry, no time is being wasted here.) After leisurely
getting up and eating breakfast we decided that we should do some laundry
before heading to our next destination, so we packed it into a bag and handed
it over to reception (our hostel does laundry for guests for $8 - bonus).
However, we were concerned that they would forget to not dry Maura's new wool
sweater or a few of Alex's non-dryer items, we had our first hand washing
experience. Alex in the shower hosing every thing down, washing them up while Maura
rang them dry. We put them outside in the sun to dry.... it’s winter here, so they
froze, in our defense it was warm and very sunny when we put them out, but not
by the time we got home to them. Our laundry experiences here have certainly
been interesting.
We headed out to stroll around the town. This included
a walk along the waterfront for some sweet beach glass finds, a quick beer
tasting that turned into a fantastic mulled cider that we will both be serving
everyone this Christmas. We went back to wine tastes to try some more Valli
wines before grabbing dinner at our second Monteiths bar. We're really liking
the local beer. This was actually our second choice of dinner location.
We had purchased a bottle of wine at wine tastes under the impression
that we could bring it to one of the local restaurants to enjoy BYO style.
After being rudely turned down at the first restaurant (even though discovered
it was a misunderstanding and we could have done so - we went back to wine
tastes and double checked) we decided not to give them our business.
Had to adjust our wet clothes again under the heater
before packing. Off to bed now though. Long day of driving ahead of us
tomorrow.
Overall, Queenstown is fantastic. Maura is counting
down the days until she is back to NZ, and is heading down the slopes of one of
the great mountains surrounding Queenstown. It is a fantastic lakefront town
that is a blend of Banff and Tremblant Village. So, touristy? Yes… but
beautiful, compact and convenient? Also yes. A big thumbs up from these nomads.
Off for our last night in winter wonderland, night!
Day 24:
Up early this morning. We had a long drive from
Queenstown to Christchurch today. The threat of more windy roads led Maura to
take a precautionary Gravol and ultimately a few naps. Alex enjoyed a
fairly straightforward drive considering the mountain we had to take to get
into the valley that Queenstown sits in, and guesses that we drove past twice
as many sheep today as we have the whole trip combined. This led us to Google
the population of New Zealand and the sheep population. It is estimated that
there are 12 sheep for every 1 Kiwi (person from NZ). We aren't even
surprised.
Driving into Christchurch tonight we weren't sure what to expect after the recent earthquake.
A first it doesn't look like much, but after unsuccessfully finding the car
rental return office with all the road closures (we ended up leaving it at
our hotel for them to get) we realized that the earthquake took out several
large chunks of the central business district. It's awful to think about. We
are glad we don't have much time here, we're just here the night as we fly out
before the sun will rise tomorrow morning.
Christchurch should be nice when it is all fixed up,
but for now, there is a major hole in the CBD, and all the attractions that go
with it. Unfortunately, Fox Glacier time moves even more slowly than Antigonish
time, so our charger is not here as it was promised to be. Luckily the hotel
here seems to be a little bit more on point, and says they will send it to
Alex’s house on the coast, so fingers crossed it will be there when we arrive.
We are now settled into the hotel for a major packing
session while enjoying a bottle of wine, and we are now off to bed, up tomorrow
bright and early to fly to Singapore. Cheers to all! Your new task is to
go try some wine from NZ, almost any white, or a Pinot Noir.
Day 25:
Early start to this day. Up at 4 to be at the airport for our 6:45 flight
to Auckland before heading to Singapore.
Unfortunately, we had to re-check our bags in Auckland before heading through
customs. For this leg of the flight we had decided to pre-purchase our seats to
guarantee we would be seated next to each other (11 hours is a long time to
occupy yourself if you don’t have to be in a middle seat between two strangers).
About a week or so ago we got an email saying the type of plane we were taking
changed and it changed our seats on us to the very back of the plane. No matter
what we did, we couldn't figure the system out so we hoped for the best going
into check in. And the best economy option was found. After seeing
that our tickets were printed with the back of the plane seats, Maura asked the
attendant why our purchased seats weren't given to us. Because those seats we
already checked in, the attendant gave us the emergency exits seats. No one in
front of us for 11 hours - SWEET AS! These seats were also right behind the
very empty first class section so we got off the plane and through customs very
quickly.
The customs forms sort of scared us at first,
especially considering it was either of our first time in Asia,
"trafficking drugs results in death by Singapore law" (which we ARE
NOT) but it was a smooth and friendly process. Both of our bags arrived
and we booked a cheap shuttle to the hostel. Boy is it hot here. It hit
us as soon as we got off the plane (both in pants, sweaters and jackets). It's
a nice change from the cold of New Zealand though; just don't judge our photos,
as we will be hot sweaty messes in all of them.
It was late when we got in so we used the last of the
sunlight hours to run out for water and an ice cream treat before heading back
to the hostel to eat ice cream on the rooftop terrace. Sounds fancier than it
is, trust us, it is not fancy. The standard of living here is very different
from home. We've been up for 20 hours now so we're about to climb up the ladder
and into of loft bed. Again, it's an interesting experience here, but
lovely nonetheless.
Day 26:
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| Singapore Art and Science centre |
Since we're only in Singapore for 2 days, we were up
early today to make the most of it. We also woke up early today because we're
still on New Zealand time, which is four hours ahead of here. We showered
and went down stairs for complimentary breakfast and coffee before heading out
to Little India. Everything we had heard about Singapore being such a clean city
isn't exactly true in little India. Thank goodness the food was so good. We
walked around all of it, ate tons and saw lots of interesting sights. Even a
Halifax trading co. and a Campbell's lane (lots of neat vendors along it, but
no silver bracelets, Alanna).
After all the walking around, we headed back to the
hostel to enjoy a local beer and give our feet a rest. When we thought we could
handle some more walking we went down to the marina to ride the Singapore
Flyer, the worlds highest wheel (even larger than the London Eye). It was so
cool you see the whole city in every direction. Afterwards we went down the
water a little more but our feet couldn't take it. We need to save them for
Orchard Road tomorrow, which we have heard lovely things about. One road, 22
shopping malls...can't wait! Time for bed xoxo
Day 27:
Getting up and packing is so normal for us now, we're
not sure what we'll do when we don't have to pack up anymore. We're so looking
forward to our next leg in Thailand and one place for 6 whole days, but we
still have a whole day left to explore a bit more of Singapore. We decided to
take the subway down to orchard road to see the sights. We've already concluded
that Singapore is a super clean city, but our subway ride was even more proof.
This was the cleanest subway we have ever been on, and probably will ever be on.
Spotless. No garbage or dust anywhere. And very well laid out with clear
signage when connecting to other lines as well.
Orchard road, what an experience. So many shopping
malls on one street. Overwhelming almost. We browsed. Around a few of the
higher end malls, imagining what it would be like to have endless funds before
people watching from a bench. We headed back towards our hostel to grab a quick
tie and a beer before catching a taxi to the airport. We had the best taxi
driver too. He was quite friendly and told us lots about Singapore. He also
gave us tips for our time in Thailand, which was good, if only to tell our
mothers we got some advice before embarking.
The Singapore airport is another example of how well
nice the country is. Very new, very modern. We went through customs and quickly
found our way to the duty free for some very cheap vodka (Smirnoff 40oz, $12
CDN) and rum (Bacardi 40oz, $20 CDN) for our upcoming week in the sun. It was
only a quick flight into Phuket, but seemed like forever. After boarding, we
were handed customs cards. On the Thai card it asks for a visa number. Now,
Alex was certain she had looked into it, but as the blank space stared at her,
she second-guessed her thoughts. What would happen if you landed in a country
without a visa when you need one???? Luckily, we didn't need one and all was
good. We got through customs, got our bags and met the little Thai lady holding
the "Mr. Alex Musial" sign to drive us to the resort. It's late
now, so we haven't explored much. Clean room. Air conditioning. Comfy
bed. All we need for now.
Day 28:
Our first sleep-in in a long time. Not that it was
very long. The time difference alone had us up earlier than we needed to be. We
thought we would head down to breakfast and figured out the buffet set up. Since
we booked this hotel from their website, we got a better rate, AND included
200bht ($6.50CDN, not pricy, but still saves a little money) per person all you
can eat buffet breakfast. The food is really good too. Seems like we lucked out
so far with this resort. It was a grey day, and we had no cash yet so we
decided to venture out to the 7-11 (they are actually everywhere here) to get
some cash and snacks for the week. The 7-11 is only a ten minute walk from our
resort, and didn't it decided to rain as soon as we got far enough away that it
didn't make sense to turn back. Luckily the rain didn’t last long, only 10
minutes or so, but it lasted the entire duration of our walk and was RAIN. Not
drizzle, not even a heavy rain. The kind of rain where you can hardly see the
sheets connecting with the pavement they are so frequent.
Oh wow. We are loving cheapy cheapy Thailand. Today at
the 7-11, we made the wet walk worth our while as we bought 10 local beer ($1
CDN each), 4 coolers ($1 CDN each), two containers of Pringles, 2 large bottles
of pop, a large bottle of water, 4 Hersey chocolate bars and a box of mini
custard cakes for $26 Canadian. We think we're in for a great (and full)
week.
Day 29:
This morning, we adventured out to check out the local
tailors to look at fabric, but opted out of getting anything made. We popped to
the beach, which is just past the 7-11. It is so beautiful, but due to the grey
seemingly stormy sky, the waves were bad and the lifeguards put up ‘no
swimming’ signs. Not that anyone cared but we still figured it wouldn’t be
smart and if anything happened we would get a slap on the wrist for being
careless instead of a bailout from loved ones if needed. The sand was gold, not
like down south where it is white, it was a yellow-gold and so fine the grains
would squeak beneath our feet. We headed back to the hotel to watch a couple
movies, as the rain had picked up. After the rain settled down we decided to head
to the hot tub and herbal steam shower. Since the hot tub opens at 4 each
evening, we have discovered that it doesn't get hot until later in the evening.
Thank goodness the steam shower gets hot faster. Still not adjusted to
this time change, so it's another early night for us.
Day 30:
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| If you can't have coconut drinks... |
We decided today would be the perfect day to laze by
the pool with some beer, and finish the coolers we had purchased. The sun is so
hot that tanning turned into sitting at the table in the pool under an
umbrella. After the beer were gone we wanted to try some of the coconut drinks
we saw everyone with so Maura called the bar to see if we could get some. We're
not sure how the coconut drinks work because apparently we are supposed to call
the spa. It was time for dinner anyway so we headed that way.
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| A lovely waterfall |
In our happy
place, we went to dinner to carb up. We caught up on some news and watched a
bit of TV and now it's time for bed. A great day overall, and we are enjoying
that the pool is on the roof of the hotel so we have a great view, but don’t
have to worry about people creeping around or watching from other areas, we
will have to go back again tomorrow. The sun and heat certainly takes it out of
you (not to mention the beer).
Day 31:
For a forecasted week of rain, we are having the best
weather. We went to the store beside the 7-11 this morning and found a few new
cooler flavours to try by the pool today (more expensive, instead of $1CDN
each, they are about $1.30 CDN, but in the view of supporting local business
and getting more flavours, we decided to splurge). We got our tan on, sipped on
some coolers and floated in the pool before showering for our shopping
adventure. We passed a large outlet mall n your drive from the airport so we
thought we would start there. It was not outlet shopping at all. Well maybe for
Australians, but not compared to prices in Canada or American retail (not even
outlet) prices. So we thought we would try our luck at the night market. This
is a market that takes place every Saturday and Sunday form 4-10 that Maura
sketchily found online, but seemed interesting enough, so we crossed our
fingers.
When we first got to the market it didn't seem that
big. A bunch of stalls squished into a parking lot of sorts. But once we got
inside we realized it was really huge. The whole area was covered by tarps to
help block the sun, but it kept the heat in so we were glad we had some water
with us. There was everything at this market from local cuisine to knock off designer
bags to shoes to jewelry to every electronic imaginable. We even saw some Himalayan
kittens - which would have gone home with Alex if we were in Canada.
About halfway through we started to get really tired
and dehydrated so weren't we happy to stumble across a bar. Yes, a bar. But not
just any bar, a western bar with wooden bar stools and lots of leather, in the
middle of a market in Thailand. So, obviously, we had a beer. How would one be
able to resist? It gave us just the perk we needed to continue. We spent about
3 hours wandering through the stalls and didn't even come close to seeing
everything. We took a pimped out tuk-tuk (taxi with blue lights under the
peddles and dash) back to the resort and are calling it quits for the
night.
PS we realized today that when Maura called the bar
for coconut drinks, she actually called the spa, not the dining room. When she
thought they said to call the spa they must have said we are the spa and the
broken English and beers translated that message otherwise. We're still
laughing.
Day 32:
Today we had cooking school. We were up early to get
some breakfast into us before being picked up to be taken into town. W started
our day with a shopping trip in the local market before going to the school
itself. The school is located on one of the most gorgeous properties in Phuket.
Right on the beach. Beautiful palm trees, golden sand and blue skies with a
perfect view of several Thai islands.
 |
| (HOT) Tom Yum soup and Spring Rolls |
We had a spicy, spicy day at cooking school. We
started with vegetable spring rolls then on to hot Tom yam soup with chicken.
After that we made green chicken curry and of course chicken pad Thai. We were
shown how to make sticky rice, but because of time we didn't make it
ourselves, but did sample it at the end. We were given recipe cards for all our
dishes (and we bought some others we didn't get to try) so everyone can expect
some Thai meals when we get home.
It was a long day so it was fitting that we each
booked a Thai massage for when we got back to the hotel. We were so relaxed we
didn't even have the energy to think about packing up yet. This is our last
night in Phuket and we're crawling into bed early. We do have a few more adventures
tomorrow before our red eye flight to Sydney and onwards go Cairns.
Day 33:
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| Elephant trekking |
It was a beautiful day in Phuket today. We woke up to
blue skies and a hot dry sun. After breakfast we worked some serious packing
magic before we wandered down to the 7-11 to get some snacks for the flights
ahead of us. After checking out we headed off for an elephant trek. So much
fun. The elephants were so beautiful, such kind and friendly animals with
personality. We got to share an elephant and went on a half hour trek with the
cutest Thai guide who thoroughly enjoyed being our photographer. He hoped on
and off the elephant (being escalated up and down by his trunk) and took some
really great shots for us. At the end of the trek, he hopped off and had Alex
sit on the head while he took photos. The elephant walked us back to the base.
While scary, it was so much fun.
 |
| Alex learning to drive an elephant |
Back at the hotel we had our last lunch. Delicious
food, but they had the same 4 slow songs on repeat. We had to sit in the lobby
and wait for our taxi for the next hour, so they got really annoying, really
quickly. We made it through customs alright and found a DQ near our gate.
There are no DQ's in AUS so Alex was very excited by this. Curled into our
nine-hour flight now. We will touch base once in Cairns.
Day 34:
It’s been a long haul, but we are settled into the
Caravella Hostel with our new favourite hostel worker Paul. A younger Scottish
man with a wicked sense of humour. We had a five-hour layover in Sydney this
morning so we didn’t have much time to explore Cairns today. Our hostel has
free dinner at one of the local pubs so we headed out for groceries and dinner
after getting settled in. Dinner was decent, spaghetti and meat sauce. Can’t
complain about free dinner. Grocery shopping wasn’t bad either. It’s nice to be
back somewhere more familiar, but the prices are high again. We couldn’t stay
in cheapy-cheapy Asia forever, sadly.
Day 35:
This morning we felt we deserved a sleep-in after our
day of traveling and no sleep for Alex. After we got up we decided we should
figure out a Great Barrier Reef tour for tomorrow. So we went to reception and
asked Paul. His advice “not tomorrow” as there are several conferences in town
that have filled up most of the tours. Well all we have is tomorrow, so we had
him work his magic and he got us on a tour for all day tomorrow. He said it
wouldn’t be the best because it will be an “older crowd”, but we’ve been in and
out of hostels so much, we don’t really feel like being on a booze cruise with
people our age. We are actually looking forward to snorkeling by ourselves.
 |
| Maura and Conal |
After our tour was arranged we decided to go
exploring. We picked up a couple of brochures and headed out to find the local
brewery. What a disappointment. Apparently our hostel doesn’t update their pamphlets.
After our hour pursuit of the brewery, we discovered it had closed. So we went
to a pizza bar for lunch and a pint. Exactly what we were looking for so our
day wasn’t a bust. After our late lunch we headed back to the hostel for a
while before heading off for a beer with Maura’s friend from home, Conal. Lovely
bar, it was nice to see Conal since Alex met him this time last year, and Maura
had not seen him since her 21st birthday this past December. After a
couple of pitchers we called it an early night out of fear of being hung-over
on the reef, and ruining our day. Time to get some shut-eye before knocking off
another wonder of the world.
Day 36:
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| Sea turtle |
Good morning! Up and off to the Great Barrier Reef!
After a short walk to check in and get to the boat we got settled into a great
little couch area for our about 1.5 hour trip to get to the outer reef. Once on
the boat we got a couple of free cups of tea and coffee for the trip.
 |
| Starfish |
Once we
got to our platform, we were in the first group of the day to our private
snorkel tour of the outer reef of area outside of the allocated swim area, with
a marine biologist as our guide. Easily the best half hour of our day. The
corals were brighter, the fish were more frequent and we even had three sea
turtle sightings. Once our tour was over, we headed back to the boat to
re-sunscreen and get some buffet lunch. Though skeptical at first, it was a
delicious meal and just what we needed.
 |
| Maori fish |
After lunch we checked out the semi
submersible and glass bottom boat before doing our own snorkel exploration. How
fantastic! Major props to Ms. Erinn Musial, who was the most generous person
for giving up her underwater camera for the Canadian summer for us to use. Was
it ever worth it! The photos we got are worth at least 2000 words.
Once it was
time to get out of the water, we got changed, got some more tea and coffee and
settled in for the trip back to Cairns. When we got back and cleaned up, we realized
we were not even sunburned. So, out we went with Conal again, and he brought
some of his friends from work this time. Several pitchers, a couple of games,
and nonstop laughs later, we called it an evening and headed back to sleep
before our early rise to pack and fly to Ayers Rock.
Day 37:
Good morning, we think. After a slow morning, and some
sickness in the airport, we are feeling slightly better and are enroute to
Ayers Rock. What a fantastic sight from the plane! Ayers Rock looks even more
fantastic from the airplane as it ever had in the photos. Once we got there, we
got the complementary (tour buses acting as city buses around the main resort
areas for free) bus to our spot, checked in, settled in before going out to
explore the resort town. We look at some art booked shuttles for the next day,
got a few groceries and then headed back. Upon our arrival we made a little
dinner and curled in for an early night because we are heading off to explore
Ayers Rock tomorrow. Wish us luck!
Day 38:
 |
| Alex is just so strong! |
What a day! We got up, had breakfast and then headed
out to the rock. We walked all 10km around the rock, not including several
exploration detours to view various caves or canyons and such. What a phenomenal
site. In photos it almost looks like clay or a thickly packed sand, but
goodness it is ever really just a big rock. No clay or sand about it, just a
really large rock. It is also very red (once we got in we saw that both of the
bottoms of our pants, and our shoes were RED).
Now for the middle of the desert, it was really cold. Super windy and
much colder than you would expect. We found out later that the rock holds so
much heat that when it is hit with a cooler air temperature it creates the
wind.
 |
| It's a really big rock |
After exploring the rock, we headed off to the
cultural centre. Kind of nice to see, but we wouldn’t go out of our way to see
it again. We were picked up by the shuttle at the centre and taken off to a
look-off to watch the orange and pink colours of the sun dance off the rock as
it set behind us. We headed back to the hostel after the sunset and took a
quick break before heading to the dinner buffet. A bit of a treat for us on our
last night as we shared a great meal and a glass of wine. Alex even tried Kangaroo
(essentially a chewier steak) and Crocodile (not great).
 |
| Sunset at Ayers Rock |
Back in our room after dinner we had the daunting task
of packing FOR THE LAST TIME! We didn’t unpack much from our Cairns pack, so it
wasn’t too, too bad. Since everything is settled in its proper bag and our
clothes for tomorrow laid out, we think we deserve a game of Monopoly before
bed. Who’s your money on?!
Day 39:
Being as prepared as we were for this morning, we had
very little to do once our alarm went off at 7:30. Up, dressed and breakfast
into us while sitting at the bus stop. We must say, Ayers Rock has a great FREE
public transportation system around the resort area and to/from the
airport. Off to the airport we went for
the longest flight of our lives – a whole 45 minutes to Alice Springs before
connecting on to Brisbane. Nothing exciting to see at Alice Springs, but we did
get some free wifi to check into our social lives.
Almost 3 hours to Brisbane, and we had lunch and a
movie on the plane! Big excitements when most of our long flights had nothing. Once
in Brisbane we took the thrilling train ride back to the coast and although we
could have taken the bus to Alex’s apartment, we opted for a cab. Two 50lbs
bags, two 20lbs carry-ons, a backpack and a purse, was not fit for the bus.
Back at “home”. It’s sort of nice, although we both
agree we are ready to wash our clothes, pack up and head back off tomorrow. We
have no groceries, so an order of pizza was in order. Alex has two new
roommates and found out she can move into one of the smaller rooms and save a
few bucks, so we have the lovely task of moving rooms tomorrow….a tad daunting,
but most of our things are still packed up from our adventure. Wish us luck!
