Jack, Jarrah and I were away early this morning to do the final shopping before heading to the Red Centre for Christmas. We were at Woolies by 7am and easily whiled away a couple of hours foraging for food items and last minute gifts that would make for a great outback Christmas.
With shopping spread all over the caravan floor and the axles groaning under the extra weight, we pulled out of the caravan park in Alice Springs just after 10am.
We headed south on the Stuart Highway to Erldunda, in the company of Eragon and Sophira, with those pesky urgals in hot pursuit.
The rain hit just after the dust storm. And when it rains in the outback, it buckets down. By the time we stopped at Erldunda Roadhouse for lunch the car park was flooded and the temperature had dropped to 23 degrees. Perfect travelling temperature and no need for further worry about the Christmas food going rotten in the heat (fridge doesn't cope too well when the temperature is over 35 degrees!)
After a quick sandwich in the van we turned onto the Lasseter Highway amidst much excitement about who was going to see Uluru first. We had driven through some quite heavy showers but had no idea how much rain had actually fallen.
Just when we thought our days of water crossings were over, we traversed through no less than six water crossings on the Lasseter Highway prior to the turnoff to Kings Canyon. Jack, as we've come to expect, had his fingers crossed and his head buried in his lap for the duration of each crossing. For the rest of us it was great fun! And we sent a silent thanks to the Gods that we decided to make today a travel day.
Our next stop was at the Vegemite Tree. It can be found behind the Red Centre Way sign at the turn-off to Kings Canyon.
There are lots of vegemite jars and tubes on there and a lot of them are still full of vegemite!
We arrived at the Ayers Rock Resort at about 4.30pm. There is so few people camping here at the moment that we could pretty much pick our own site. We settled on a great site right next to the volleyball net, playground, swimming pool and giant chess set, and just a short walk to the reception/kiosk.
We were witness to some pretty cool dust storms.
The rain hit just after the dust storm. And when it rains in the outback, it buckets down. By the time we stopped at Erldunda Roadhouse for lunch the car park was flooded and the temperature had dropped to 23 degrees. Perfect travelling temperature and no need for further worry about the Christmas food going rotten in the heat (fridge doesn't cope too well when the temperature is over 35 degrees!)
After a quick sandwich in the van we turned onto the Lasseter Highway amidst much excitement about who was going to see Uluru first. We had driven through some quite heavy showers but had no idea how much rain had actually fallen.
Water by the road
Water on the road
Just when we thought our days of water crossings were over, we traversed through no less than six water crossings on the Lasseter Highway prior to the turnoff to Kings Canyon. Jack, as we've come to expect, had his fingers crossed and his head buried in his lap for the duration of each crossing. For the rest of us it was great fun! And we sent a silent thanks to the Gods that we decided to make today a travel day.
Our next stop was at the Vegemite Tree. It can be found behind the Red Centre Way sign at the turn-off to Kings Canyon.
Quirky
There are lots of vegemite jars and tubes on there and a lot of them are still full of vegemite!
At the Vegemite Tree the car park was well and truly flooded.
In true outback style, Fletch had his first bath in two weeks!
I was pretty excited to be the first one to see Uluru until Bruce pointed out that this wasn't actually Uluru. Embarrassing!
Mt Conner
Ahh. That's better.
Jarrah was the first to spot the rock, at about 50 kms out. We also spotted two tyre trees but they had nothing on the Vegemite Tree.
We arrived at the Ayers Rock Resort at about 4.30pm. There is so few people camping here at the moment that we could pretty much pick our own site. We settled on a great site right next to the volleyball net, playground, swimming pool and giant chess set, and just a short walk to the reception/kiosk.
By 5pm we were set up and ready to hit the town and join the Uluru Christmas Carols Variety Concert. We were lucky enough to arrive at the very same time as Santa so the kids chased him (in the fire truck) up the road until he stopped outside Sails in the Desert Hotel.
None of which can be purchased at Yulara so I sure hope that Santa has access to these items in his workshop in the North Pole.
We all had a great time singing Christmas Carols and browsing at the local market stalls. The boys ate candy canes, cakes with macaroon icing, quiche, party pies and sausage rolls until their eyes bulged!
When the carols finished about 7pm the rock and roll started up. Despite the fact that there was only 15 of us in the audience, we made the place rock. The entertainer was great, managing to get us all up on the stage for a dance, and then to stay there! He pestered the audience for requests, and played encore after encore.
We didn't get around to serving dinner until 9.30pm tonight, and very soon after we were all sound asleep!
None of the boys missed out on asking Santa for their special Christmas present.
Jack = MP3 player
Jarrah = Star Wars Lego
Fletcher = a big lolly pop
None of which can be purchased at Yulara so I sure hope that Santa has access to these items in his workshop in the North Pole.
We all had a great time singing Christmas Carols and browsing at the local market stalls. The boys ate candy canes, cakes with macaroon icing, quiche, party pies and sausage rolls until their eyes bulged!
When the carols finished about 7pm the rock and roll started up. Despite the fact that there was only 15 of us in the audience, we made the place rock. The entertainer was great, managing to get us all up on the stage for a dance, and then to stay there! He pestered the audience for requests, and played encore after encore.
After a while things got a little out of hand!
Later we discovered that the entertainer that we had so thoroughly enjoyed all evening was none other than Adam Thompson, past lead singer of Aussie rock band Chocolate Starfish.
We didn't get around to serving dinner until 9.30pm tonight, and very soon after we were all sound asleep!
Vegemite tree... Love it, shame the tourists don't. No Aussie would leave it to waste!
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