All packed up and checked out of the hotel by 0715. We've really enjoyed the overall experience we've had with the Holiday Inn. Their location is ideal, prices competitive and, unless you're looking for an uber luxurious hotel (along with the associated cost), it was the perfect choice for us. We'd highly recommend this Holiday Inn location to anyone!
There's a marathon being run this morning in Sydney starting and ending near the Opera House. Fortunately, we're walking and not driving. Many of the street access points are barricaded off for most of the morning as thousands of runners participate. Pedestrians just needed to find a hole and time to cross making sure not to interfere with the runners. Made our way down to CQ and platform 2. Waited about 15min for our train to the Domestic Terminal. We are really getting the hang of Sydney's commuter train system!
A handful of stops later, we were exiting the train and and taking the escalator up to the Domestic Terminal. Found the JetStar kiosks, checked in and tagged our 1 suitcase. For some reason Rosie and I had to check in individually, wasn't a problem. Done, we moved over to the bag drop queue. We were turned away! Apparently, JetStar doesn't check anyone in for a flight before exactly 2hrs prior to takeoff. The time was 0810 and we were 20min early for a 1030 take off to Ayers Rock Airport in the Northern Territory. Oh well, so much for being early. Walked off, found some seats, and bought some coffees and breakfast to enjoy before we re-queued up. Bought Rosie a ham and cheese croissant and a spinach feta cheese roll for me. I really love the variety of food types there are in airports outside of the U.S. Tons of fascinating options to choose from and, oh, they even have McDonald's here in Sydney airport as an option, right next to more fancy food venues - love it!!
Finished up our morning repast and queued back up at the bag drop line. We got to the counter a little after 0829 and the JetStar employee there literally waited until the clock struck 0830 before she started processing us through - incredible! She weighed our suitcase, well below 23kg (15ish) and she weighed all of our carry-ons too. They had to be no more than 7kg/person. We were fine and our carry-on was tagged as such. Next, security.
Wasn't bad at all. Security for domestic flights once in country, in my experience, tended to be quicker, more straight forward and just easier. So it was with JetStar here in this airport. No need to show passports. Shoes and belts stay on. You do take out laptops, take off hats, take out liquids and aerosols, empty pockets and, go through the x-ray portal. Felt much easier than in the U.S. Of course, we have good reason to be much more deliberate with our security protocol... recall 9/11/01.
The Domestic Terminal is a bustle of activity with lots of interesting shops and food vendors. Rosie immediately went in hunt of the elusive Wiggles. Eureka! She finally found a Wiggles book for Ben in the first store she popped into! Much relief all around. :-)
Our flight today: JetStar flt#660, an A320, leaving out of Gate 55, direct to Ayers Rock. We're in seats 8D/E. I'm surprised at how many flights, 5, there are on the board to the center of this country, the middle of nowhere and colloquially known to Aussies as their 'red centre' in the Northern Territory. It's a half day's drive from Alice Springs the nearest 'big' town - which lies to the north of Yulara, the small town near Uluru.
Boarding started right at 1010 - it's a controlled free for all. Seating in JetStar aircraft just drives how you board: if you're seated in the forward half, aisle 1-15, you board via the jetway. In the back half, aisle 16-30, you walk out and down to the tarmac and board via stairwell at the rear of the plane. It's not bad at all. They are sticklers for bag size... if it doesn't look right at the gate, even after passing through bag drop, they will pull you aside and check it again. Seating in the plane is all 1 class, 3 x 3, configuration.
JetStar definitely reminds me of some of our low fare, low service airlines in the States: JetBlue, Southwest and the like. No frills, all 1 class and, you pay for everything with JetStar - water and other beverages alike (not sure about this with our U.S. carriers). We had pre-ordered some food to have on the ~3hr flight out to Ayers online. The JetStar cabin crew knew that. All aboard, we taxi'd out and were weight-off-wheels by 1056. We do have someone in the window seat, 8F, next to Rosie, a nice lady from Seattle, Ann. I'm sure Rosie and Ann will get along fabulously.
Anyway, we get airborne and I'm talking to Rosie about how exactly would the cabin crew know we ordered food for this flight? As we're speaking, a male flight attendant - nice young gent, Luke - tells us that the food we ordered for this flight: meat pies and sausage rolls for both of us, isn't available?? What? You gotta be kidding me! He was very apologetic (I still don't know why the food wasn't onboard? Why the heck would you have that as an offered service and muck it up!?) and asked us if we'd like to pick something else? So we did, the ramen noodles... turns out that wasn't available either!? Now, I'm starting to get just a bit 'on my ear' and the measured sarcasm starts coming out. All I want is my meat pie and sausage roll! Of all the food in Australia, EVERYONE has meat pies and sausage rolls! You can't swing a stick without hitting a food vendor that sells them!
Luke took it all well, pretty sure it wasn't his fault. We finally decide on and chose something that is onboard the airplane, egg salad sandwiches. He knows I'm a bit ticked so, I said how about tossing in some pringles and a beverage? His response: "I can make that happen." - Perfect. He did, all on JetStar. All is right in the world again. Still, would have preferred my meat pie and sausage roll.
As we began our enroute descent into Ayers Rock airport aka: Connellan Airport, excitement started to build for sightings of Uluru. We were on the wrong side of the plane. Pax on the port side would be front and center. A very nice young girl in the seats just a row up on the port side was good enough to snap a few beautiful pics of Uluru with Rosie's iPhone as we made to land. Touched down at 1321 local time on runway 31. Uluru's time zone is 30min earlier than Sydney so, time in Sydney at landing was 1351. There's only the 1 baggage carousel in the tiny airport so, that's where everyone queued up for bags. There are very large AAT King buses parked outside ready to spirit us away to Ayers Resort once they fill up. It's a complimentary lift to the various venues, there are 4, within the Resort.
A short 10min ride later, we're at the Desert Gardens Hotel time: 1415. Reception was expecting us but our room wasn't ready to be released to us until 1500. We had a little time to wander so, we walked over to the Towne Center where there were some shops selling all your necessities and souvenirs, some eateries, a coffee shop, a post office, bank and, an IGA food store. We went into the IGA first. Pretty well stocked for such a remote locale. Bought a 5litre jug of water so we'd be able to refill our water bottles throughout our stay. Rosie tells me that the town of Yulara and this Resort gets replenished twice a week via massive Aussie overland hauling trucks. Things are very expensive here because of the location and logistics to keep things civil. They do make a third of their own electricity via solar panels and get their water from underground aquifers. They have all the amenities, services and challenges, albeit scaled down, that any modern city does including: waste water treatment, waste management, police, emergency services, fire department, post office... this list goes on. Pretty amazing.
While we were in the Towne Centre, walked into the Visitor's center and started talking up the rep there. Had a ton of questions which he was able to answer easily... he's obviously heard our questions before. I really wanted to make this excursion memorable for Rosie so started asking about helicopter flights to view Uluru. There were several options and after a little bit of deliberation in my own mind, chose to book through Professional Helicopter Services (PHS). Set up a 30min excursion to both Uluru and Kata Tjula on Tuesday morning, the day we leave, pick up at 0855. Cost $450. Looking forward to the ride!
Walked back to the lobby of our hotel and picked up the keys to our room, 358. Our luggage had already been moved to the room on the 2nd deck of our building, nice! I'm not sure what we were expecting but, our room is quite nice with a view to Uluru, partially obscured by some rolling red mounds and trees. 2 King size beds, A/C, huge bathroom, balcony with a table and chairs, plenty of drawer/closet space, coffee/hot water making gear and, a small refrigerator. Purchased 3 days of Wifi access through the hotel for $30 and then remembered I have Skyroam! Oh well, no harm. (The hotel would take this off my bill when we checked out. Wifi was complimentary)
Another free service the Resort provide guests is a hop on, hop off (HoHo) bus service that circumnavigates the property about once every 20min. During the day it stops at all 4 Resort venues and the Camel Excursion/Riding center when asked to do so by a guest. Very convenient. It also stops at the unmarked Staff housing areas during early morning and late evening shift changes. They have to stay/live someplace. There's also some housing in the nearby town of Yulara. We're told that things are a bit slow here at the Resort at this time. That being said seems to us that there's a lot of people here all throughout the Resort... 'course, we wouldn't know busy vs not busy. This past weekend had to have been very busy because we weren't able to book the days we wanted at first and had to go with these 3days/2nights - actually worked out better for us.
Time was now 1645 and we'd spent most of it coordinating other events for the rest of our stay. Headed back to our room to get cleaned up for our 'Sounds of Silence' dinner this evening. We weren't sure what to expect and 5hrs seemed to be a long time for dinner... but we were definitely looking forward to it! To book this event cost: $199/person.
We were informed to be in the lobby by 1725 for the 15min ride out into the Outback. There werer enough guests waiting in the lobby to fill 2 large AAT Kings coach buses! Definitely getting interesting. As we waited to board, we met and chatted up a very nice couple, Graham and Shirley, in the lobby who were also headed out to dinner. He was from New Zealand and she was from Africa, Zimbabwe (hadn't been back since she left and married Graham). They now hailed from Brisbane, Capital of Queensland. They'd already been here for 4 days and this was their last evening before flying back home on the 'morrow.
Well, the overall dinner did last 5hrs and was just fantastic! A really good, fun, magical experience and we felt tickled and privileged to have been a part of it. I know the Resort puts this event on once a night but, they go out of their way to make it an remarkable event. We couldn't have been more pleased and impressed. Highlights:
- Loaded up both buses and made our way out to a remote location via red dirt roads. About a 15min ride and felt quite mysterious.
- We were all discharged at the base of a remote rise in the landscape with a great view to Uluru. We needed to make a short hike up to a loosely cordoned off prepared platform where they greeted us with beers, champagne and wine along with a selection of canapes. The canapes included a slice of smoked kangaroo on a cracker, delicious. There was also a canape with crocodile as it's main ingredient. It wasn't bad either. So far, the not so very silent crowd of just under 100 guests were milling about, enjoying the views and cocktails, making introductions and just enjoying the moment. We met 3 other couples, all a bit older than us (at least I think they were older than us :-) ), one couple, Graham and Shirley, we'd already become acquainted with. One couple was from Saskatchewan, Canada, and the other couple, Michael and Madeline, were from Sydney - all very nice. The sunset was spectacular and as the sun faded away, our hosts announced that we would be walking down to the dinner venue and to follow the lighted path. They also asked us to announce how many were in each group so that they could arrange seating on the walk down.
- we colluded with our new holiday friends to make 2 groups of 4 and when we got down to the dining area, we got a table for just the 8 of us. There were about 10 tables for 10, not all completely filled but, filled enough. This dinner was Outback 'tucker' themed: kangaroo, crocodile, barramundi, chicken, potatoes, other veggies, salad, and rice. All the meats were being BBQ'd on sight. The other sides were most likely prepared offsite and then heated here. Food would be served buffett style and served up table by table. While we were being served our wine by our table's host for the evening, 'Ossie' - he was great by the way - we were serenaded by a didgeridoo. Very cool. The night sky as it darkened was crystal clear. The Milky Way right over our heads! We had mood lighting at each table, candles, and there were space heaters strategically located around the seating area. It was a chilly evening and the added warm was appreciated. Dinner was great and so was the company. Everyone at our table were friendly, gregarious and engaging. So much fun listening and talking to one another!
Side Note: The didgeridoo. The didgeridoo (also known as a didjeridu) is a wind instrument developed by Indigenous Australians of northern Australia potentially within the last 1,500 years and still in widespread use today both in Australia and around the world. It is sometimes described as a natural wooden trumpet or "drone pipe". Musicologists classify it as a brass aerophone.
There are no reliable sources stating the didgeridoo's exact age. Archaeological studies of rock art in Northern Australia suggest that the people of the Kakadu region of the Northern Territory have been using the didgeridoo for less than 1,000 years, based on the dating of paintings on cave walls and shelters from this period. A clear rock painting in Ginga Wardelirrhmeng, on the northern edge of the Arnhem Land plateau, from the freshwater period (that had begun 1500 years ago) shows a didgeridoo player and two songmen participating in an Ubarr Ceremony.
A modern didgeridoo is usually cylindrical or conical, and can measure anywhere from 1 to 3 m (3 to 10 ft) long. Most are around 1.2 m (4 ft) long. Generally, the longer the instrument, the lower its pitch or key. However, flared instruments play a higher pitch than unflared instruments of the same length.
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- After we all went up and got dessert and had a bit of time to enjoy them, the crew came around and started turning everything off. It got very dark. We were now treated to the 'Sounds of Silence' portion of the dinner... a very interesting and amusing astronomy lesson provided by the local Astronomer. Most of the presentation was focused on the skies above us and how we fit into the larger scheme of things. Very interesting and so cool. He had a laser pointer, the kind Conor and I have, and was pointing out the various constellations and some related Aboriginal stories associated with the stars here in the Southern hemisphere. Ever since we arrived in Australia, whenever I've had the opportunity, I've tried to locate and identify the Southern Cross made famous by Crosby, Stills and Nash's song "Southern Cross". I thought I might have picked it out but, it wasn't until this evening that I knew for certain what I was looking at. In fact 6 of the 7 stars on the Australian flag are representative of the Southern Cross - just in case you were wondering.
- Everyone really enjoyed the presentation and the Service provided on this night. Really top notch! Before we realized it, almost 5hrs had passed and all that was left was the bus ride back to the Desert Gardens Hotel.
What an incredible experience on our first evening in town! We got back to the hotel at just after 2200. Well worth every penny and would highly recommend partaking in the 'Sounds of Silence' dinner if you ever get the chance to here at the Ayers Rock Resort.
Fuji
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