Tuesday, September 19, 2017: Uluru to Sydney

Slept poorly again.  Woke up a lot and got up for good at 0500.  I'm so far behind on my blogging.... Rosie got up at around 0600.  We have another busy morning planned.

We were showered, dressed and all packed up by 0730.  Way to early.  Made ourselves just relax out on our balcony until a little after 0800 at which time we left the room for the lobby.  Checked our luggage in with the porters to hold on to and waited for our ride to the airport for our helicopter outing.

Had a bit of a panic moment when I noticed that the date on our helicopter tickets was for the date we set-up the flight, 9/17 - Sunday!  Rosie reconfirmed the timing via the Porters calling PHS.  Shortly thereafter, a van with appropriate markings pulled up outside the lobby to pick up not only Rosie and I but, 3 other Pax.  Clint and Dave were the 2 pilots shepherding us around on this day.  Clint would actually be flying us around while Dave would act as ground crew.

Both nice guys, they gathered our weight and balance info and drove us out to the airport and the helicopter pads.  There was no one else in sight.  They would be performing all the duties required to get a helicopter off the ground.  Reminded me of the days when I used to fly around the country on 'training' flights just to burn OPTAR in the F-14.  A whole lot of fun.  These guys had a pretty cherry job, granted in the middle of nowhere but, they could really rack up some flight time on a busy day.

Dave provided us with a safety briefing before we all headed out to the helicopter while Clint took care of all the pre-flight checks.  The guys were good about taking photos of all of us in front of the helicopter.  Seating in this particular helicopter was 2 in front, 4 in the back.  A woman got the front left seat. Myself and the only other guy got the rear window seats; me on the right, the other guy on the left, and; our wives took up the middle 2 seats.  A bit cramped but fine.

This would be Rosie's first helicopter ride and she didn't even blink and eyelash.  I could tell she was enjoying it and that made me happy.  We took a fair amount of photos before we even got airborne. All strapped in and headphones donned, Clint started the bird up and we were airborne in no time headed directly towards Uluru.  Along the way Clint gave us some pretty good views to Yulara and Ayers Rock Resort, pointing out interesting features along the way.  The flight didn't take long to get to Uluru and we stayed north and west of the rock, not sure why... may have been what we paid for or, just avoided flying over sacred areas and the Aborigine town southeast of the rock.  Regardless, made for some really excellent views of the rock.  It's also fun being back in the air in a tiny aircraft - even if it's a helicopter!  Good fun.

Uluru done we headed west towards Kata Tjula. We'd be doing a couple of fly-bys of that much bigger rock formation.  We just didn't have enough time to include a road trip to this site.  Kata Tjula is a very sacred site for male Aborigines, no women allowed.  The name means 'many heads.'  Two passes by the formation so each side of the craft had good views and we headed back towards the airport, gradually descending along the way, all eyes out for wild camels - didn't see any on this day. Before we knew it, Rosie's first helicopter ride was over and we were on our way back to the Resort. Glad we were able to squeeze this in.

Side Note:  Kata Tjula.  Kata Tjuṯa, (Pitjantjatjara: Kata Tjuṯa, lit. 'many heads'), also known as the Olgas, is a group of large, domed rock formations or bornhardts located about 365 km (227 mi) southwest of Alice Springs, in the southern part of the Northern Territory, central Australia. Uluru, also known as Ayers Rock, located 25 km (16 mi) to the east, and Kata Tjuta form the two major landmarks within the Uluru-Kata Tjuṯa National Park. The park is considered sacred to the Aboriginal people of Australia.

The 36 domes that make up Kata Tjuṯa cover an area of 21.68 km2 (8.37 sq mi), are composed of conglomerate, a sedimentary rock consisting of cobbles and boulders of varying rock types including granite and basalt, cemented by a matrix of sandstone. The highest dome, Mount Olga, is 1,066 m (3,497 ft) above sea level, or approximately 546 m (1,791 ft) above the surrounding plain 198 m (650 ft) higher than Uluru). Kata Tjuta is located at the eastern end of the Docker River Road.
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Back just after 1000.  Rosie has been hinting at taking another visit to the camel riding area... she really would like to touch at least one of them.  So, decided we could squeeze in a HoHo ride to go visit them again.  Unfortunately, the HoHo service didn't start until 1030 each day.  Regardless, we'd be pressing our luck and timing if anything went sideways.  The HoHo actually showed up a bit early but, didn't intend to leave until 1030.  There were at least 4 other people who wanted to go visit the camels along with us so, that's a stop the bus driver included on this trip around.  Once at the camel enclosure we all jumped off and Rosie made sure the driver planned on being back in 20min.
Rosie was definitely excited!  There was a huge caravan of camels preparing to leave on a multi-hour trip into the outback as we started poking around the gift shop and reservation shack.  Rosie found out that for $15AU, you could take a 10min ride on a camel AND, those 4 camels were just getting back to the boarding chute!  Well hell, sign her up!!  We did and she was off and running.  The camel herder, a young lass we believed from France, was taking her time reviewing how to get on and off a camel with the 6 riders going on this next ride.  I nervously watched for the HoHo while taking photos of Rosie thoroughly enamored by the pending experience.  Not only was she petting camels, she was going to ride one too!

After a few mumbled 'hurry ups' from me - heard by no one - the 4 camel train was underway, just as the huge caravan of camels was headed out to the Outback.  The 10min ride felt like one of the longest spans of time I could remember.  I really didn't want us to miss the HoHo back to the resort. As Rosie and the camels pulled back into the loading chute, the HoHo was just turning down the dirt road for pickup.  We had time to walk into the main shack and out the front as the HoHo pulled up - couldn't have timed it better had we planned it!  Quite relieved.

We got back to the Desert Garden Hotel by 1130, plenty of time left, a whole 30min!  We wandered around the gift shop and up to the Aboriginal Museum.  Rosie ended up buying a few native made gifts before heading back to the lobby just as our AAT Kings bus pulled up for loading and boarding. The porters had already pre-positioned our luggage outside for us to help stow aboard and we followed suit.  The bus got us to Connellan Airport just after 12 noon.  As soon as we got our bags, we queued up to check in and check our luggage.  All of that went very smoothly and off to the security check area we went.
                                                               
Security was pretty easy.  Once we were inside the small boarding area, both Rosie and I did some last minute shopping in the 1 gift shop in the airport and then I bought us some lunch at the only food vendor there.  Michael and Madeline, who we met and did dinner with the other night at 'Sounds of Silence,' were also in the Terminal waiting to get on the same flight with us.  Chatted them up for a while and Rosie passed them some pics and a video of that evening by Airdropping to Michael's phone.  They appreciated it.

Starting at 1350, we once again boarded, first come, first aboard.  That meant walking out to the A320 and climbing up either the front ladder or aft ladder, depending on your aisle number.  Rosie and I were in seats 9D/E so, we boarded forward.  This flight's definitely not packed and we ended up having a spare seat between us.  It let Rosie stretch out for a bit during the flight back to Sydney. Taxied on time and took off from runway 13.  This time around, we had the perfect view to Uluru out the right side of the plane.  We eventually climbed up to FL370 for our 2+45 flight back to Sydney.

Just after takeoff a young lady in our aisle on the opposite side of the aircraft started to hurl.  Her husband was doing what he could and all we could do was pass over more barf bags.  Not pleasant. Fortunately, after we got settled out in the air, she got cleaned up in the forward head and spent the rest of the flight laying down in aisle 6, seats A/B/C.  It was empty and available.  Rosie and I both settled back for short naps.

Awake.  I never can or have slept well in flight, just fitfully.  There's another hour before we land close to our scheduled time of 1745.  Weather is clear and windy in Sydney.  Made our approach into Sydney and landed to the south.  Deplaning was easy and baggage claim carousel 4 had our luggage. Picked up our bag and headed down to the train station in the Terminal to ride a train 1 stop up to Mascot Station.  Before we hopped on the train, we topped off our Opal cards with $20 each.

We had no idea that the Opal/Train system is rigged to hose down unwary travelers who use the train to get anywhere after landing in Sydney.  Both Rosie and my Opal cards were docked about $9AU for a 1 stop ride!!!  Apparently, this is done on purpose (found that out from Erica the next evening). Just doesn't seem right. We will definitely book the hotel shuttle bus for our ride into Sydney's International Terminal on Thursday!

Left Mascot Station and walked back to the Holiday Inn, checked into the hotel, retrieved our 3 pieces of luggage and went up to our room, 816.  Thought we'd give room service a chance on this evening but after reviewing the menu, found it completely uninteresting.  Decided to go out and find a place to dine.  We noticed a Thai place right across from Mascot Station when we were exiting and thought we'd check that out.

As we approached the Thai restaurant, saw that it was sandwiched between a Vietnamese and Chinese restaurant.  Went inside and immediately saw numerous signs stating the credit card machine was broken and they only took cash.  It was obvious that those signs had been up for quite some time and that this particular Thai restaurant only wanted to deal with cash so, we left - I had a serious low Aussie cash light.  Didn't feel like Vietnamese or Chinese food so, just kept walking.  Didn't have to go far and ran into what would turn out to be a wonderful Japanese Restaurant, Taisho.

We ordered:  edamame; veggie tempura; chicken teriyaki, and; a spicy tuna sushi roll.  While I was perusing the menu I noticed the cover page to all the sushi options stamped with, "Jumbo Sushi." Wasn't sure what that meant.  Wasn't printed anywhere else.  Went ahead and ordered my sushi anyway.  The edamame came out first followed by my sushi... it was HUGE!  At least twice the size of a normal sushi roll, sliced into 9 round medallions of deliciousness!  I loved it.  Rosie's teriyaki chicken came next, missing rice but, we fixed that.  Was a great meal and we left happy and very sated.

Had a nice leisurely stroll back to the corner of Bourke Road and O'Riordan Street - Holiday Inn Airport's address.  We'll spend the rest of the evening sorting through our bags, clothing and souvenirs... and I'll continue to do some blogging.

Nice to be back in Sydney - at least for 1 day.

Fuji

Goodbye Uluru and Ayers Rock Resort!!  Until we meet again........