The whole trip will cost about 2 weeks' worth of Australia but will last just three nights. But in the end it was a no-brainer - and all the nicer that the poll results back us up (I should point out that things were neck-and-neck on Letizia's blog's poll, with the 'si' camp shading it). We both feel that if Uluru provides anything like the level of lasting impact that Fraser Island gave, then it will have been worth blowing the budget for (sorry, re-allocating funds - thanks Andrew).
Duncan, better start working on those blow-up matrasses.
4 comments:
Good man. As someone said , When faced with two evils, choose the one you haven't tried before.
Money isn't worth what it used to be anyway (especially USD).
Now there's a saying that could be put to exceptional use. There are a lot of evil things I haven't tried before ;-)
I found out the other day that a mere three years ago, the Australian dollar was worth half it's present value against the Euro. We could have done this for half the money!! Oh I need to lie down. Sudden jab of pain in the hip pocket.
So now I have two jobs :
1) Working on breathing exercises
2) Lowering your exepctations so that there'll be no let downs (otherwise I'll feel 1/7th guilty - yes, I voted twice).
Uluru really is special; obviously more than just a rock. I was actually going to to use your reactions to Fraser Island as further inducement; more than anything else, Uluru is something you won't see elsewhere and is amazing just for that.
I'm glad you're flying in to the Alice as well; it's much better to approach Uluru itself by road than air. Hopefully you'll have time for some side trips from the Alice first; around the MacDonnell ranges and the amazing metre long lizards (perentie) to add to Letizia's beastie catalogue.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perentie
The town itself is nothing special , although it's interesting to see just what the largest town in 1500km in any direction looks like. Spend only minimal time there (hour or two max) and get out into the country side. And don't miss the Telegraph station, admittedly more impressive for the story than the actual location.
It's always wise to be wary of anywhere that claims to be 'spritual' - although you may well understand why the aboriginals see it that way. And I'm sure 'to climb or not to climb' is worthy of its own post (I'm a yes but wavering).
On the downside, the flies there are the worst you'll ever come across. You can do the German tourist thing and buy hats with mesh masks - looking ridiculous but breathing freely, or let vanity rule and wear out your hand with the aussie salute (brushing away the flies) and understand why the cork hat is not a myth ! We chose the latter but regretted it. Sometimes looking like an idiot is not a bad option.
And remember that it gets very cold at night time no matter how hot during the day - and don't swim in the water holes, no matter ...
Ok enough crapping on from me.
Yahoo for Uluru you hoor you :-)
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