One of these days these boots are gonna walk all over ULURU!

I know you have all been on a plane and heard the announcement "Is there a doctor on board?" But have you ever responded? Now Nate has!! He helped the crew with an elderly man in distress and in return received a nice bottle of Syraz.

Upon arrival, we thought we had landed in Sedona! The heat and dry air was the first to hit us. Our first sighting of "The big red rock" otherwise known as Ayers Rock or Uluru was in the shuttle bus from the airport to our lodge. We choose to rent a car for the three days since transportation is limited and tours are expensive.

We first headed to the Cultural Center which allowed us to better understand the history and signifance of Uluru and Kata Tjuta (Las Olgas). One aspect we found interesting was a "Sorry Book" of letters written to apologize for taking either rocks or dirt from Uluru and are now returning it. Then we took a quick hike, drove around the "rock" and watched the sunset.



Our second day at "The Red Center" began with the sunrise at 5:30am followed by the 9.4km hike AROUND Uluru. I stress around because the Aboriginals feel very strongly that Uluru is sacred and should not be climbed by any tourists. You would not believe the size and number of flys around the rocks. They constantly fly in your face and cover your back. The walk was nice and although we were hungry and dirty we hadn't had enough, so we headed to Kata Tjuta for another hike. Although the second hike was only 7.4km, it was later in the day (high of 100 F) and more strenuous. It was a beautiful way to see the sacred land and we understand why they feel so strongly about it. Both Uluru and Kata Tjuta are stunning!

The rest of the second day was spent recovering including: drinking heaps of water, eating and sleeping. We went back to Uluru for the sunset, but it rained so we were not able to see much but we did have a little picnic in the car.

We flew to Sydney on 17th and have been enjoying city life again!