Melrose to Uluru

Hi everyone

3000km covered in 4 days- what an effort! Now it's time to slow down and not move so fast. We were due to arrive at Uluru today, but yesterday afternoon we were on a roll and had more sunlight so decided to press on. So here we are!

But let's go back a step. Melrose in the Southern Flinders Rangers, South Australia was beautiful. It was a slight detour from the main drag, but worth it. It nearly turned out to be a far bigger detour as I thought I was using Google Maps on my iphone but was using Apple Maps by mistake. BIG mistake. It was suggesting we take roads that ended up being dirt. Never use Apple Maps is the lesson I learned here. Once we were back on track it was a lovely scenic drive and the towns in that area of S.A. are definitely worth a revisit when we have more time to spend there.




Bartagunyah Estate, Melrose, South Australia. We had this all to ourselves.

We stayed at Bartagunyah Estate and were the only people camping there. Surrounded by hills, grape vines and an open fire pit, it was a lovely spot. Chris got a 2 hour mountain bike in before we headed for the highway up to Coober Pedy, 600km away. We were told that the driving from Sydney to South Australia was some of the most boring roads in Australia but we both found them really interesting. The changes are subtle but you start to notice the small things and even though it can be flat, dry and straight, there is something about huge wide open spaces as far as they eye can see that is exciting for a city slicker like me.


Wide open spaces

We had a chuckle at the GPS voice telling us 'in 530km, turn right'. OK then, better keep a look out for it!

The rolling green hills slowly changed into scrub, then red dirt, then Coober Pedy- what a bizarre interesting weird place that is! Nearly 80% of residents live underground to escape the extreme temperatures. There homes stay between 22-24 C all year around. What is strange it that it looks like there are empty blocks of land everywhere but they have what looks like a shed in the corner which is actually the entrance to the underground home. Things like the RSL had a sign at the front and nothing else. You had to look for the way in. A hill side would just have little chimneys sticking out. It's so bizarre! We found a lovely little underground restaurant that was new-ish and treated ourselves to a lovely dinner out- just the two of us as it's the last time we will be able to do that for a few months. The restaurant reminded us of some in France & Italy that were underground with the wine cellars.



Underground Restaurant, Coober Pedy. It filled up after a while!

Our campground looked run down and dirty but it had the most luxurious loos & showers that would not have looked out of place at the Hyatt or Hilton. It's a crazy place I tell you!

After having a look around Coober Pedy the next morning, we hit the road hoping to get just over the NT border. We saw a couple of cyclists on the way- in these areas it is 200-300km between places and even then, it's usually just a roadhouse, they're brave or stupid, I'm not sure which- but it would be an adventure. As I said, we were on a roll with light still left (we don't want to drive in the dark or near dusk because that's when the animals come out) so we made it all the way to Uluru. The sky was looking good so we headed straight to the sunset viewing area for Uluru before checking into Ayers Rock Resort Campground. It really is amazing seeing the rock for the first time. You expect it to be big, but it really really is a huge rock! It was shivers down your spine stuff seeing it come into view. Chris got some good photos with the tripod.

 

This morning we woke at 6am so decided to get in the car to see the sunrise. The sun rises at 7.22am here which is quite civilised I think! We drove to Kata Tjuta (Olgas) to see the sunrise there. Beautiful. Again Chris got some good photos.

Which leads us to now. It's 90 mins until our gorgeous girls arrive into Yulara Airport, 6km away with my Mum & Dad. We can't wait to see them. It's been a really great 4 days just the two of us but we're looking forward to the next few days of relaxing (not too much driving!) and then the next chapter of our adventure once Mum & Dad fly home and the five of us start to head deeper into the Northern Territory. And it's my gorgeous hubby's birthday today, so Happy Birthday Chris!



Uluru



Happy Birthday Honey!