Big Red Rock

And then the party was four. Ed met the ladies in Alice Spring's tiny little airport and we had our first experience of the Red Centre's famous flies on our way to the taxi. The taxi driver also gave us our first outback hicksville-racist style opinions. We realised we sure weren't in Sydney anymore!

Once we'd picked up our enormous campervan/mobile home/RV we were off, down the long straight road through the desert known as the Stuart Highway. Ed was in his element behind the wheel, waving at fellow travellers he passed along the dusty motorway, while the ladies gassed in the back and looked out over the vast horizon. Mom and Arlene were nonplussed by the scenery: "It's just like the Karoo," they sniffed derisively. "Only bigger," they admitted after a few hours of monotonous driving.

On postcards, it looks quite smooth, but up close you can see caves and crevices and holes honeycombed into the surface. It's pretty amazing.

Not exactly spoilt for choice when it came to places to stay, we decided that Jim's place, a few hundred k's south of Alice was as good as any. Besides, it boasted "Jim's BBQ" and a nightly performance of Dinky the Singing Dingo. Who could ask for more? The bar was literally straight out of a bad Western film, with aging Aussie outback types, in faded dungarees propping up the bar and cracking open their VB's with their teeth. Brilliant.

The next day, we set off down the straight road to the big rock. The first glimpse we got of it from the highway sent a quiver of excitement through the Maui van. Afterall, there hadn't been much to break the monotony for the last few hours, bar Mom's Priscilla Queen of the Desert soundtrack on repeat. With every bend in the road, the huge rock came closer and closer to view. It really is quite something to behold. The closer you get to it, the more detail you can see. On postcards, it looks quite smooth, but up close you can see caves and crevices and holes honeycombed into the surface. It's hard to describe but its pretty amazing. And its not a mountain, but rather the remains after erosion got rid of the rest of the land around it.

Once we'd booked into the exhorbitant campsite in Yulara (they have you over a barrel) we set off to the Sunset Viewing point, set out our chairs and sat back to enjoy the show. We had already been so impressed, but as the sun started to set, we all literally watched open-mouthed as the rock changed colour with it. As Mom pointed out, it looked like it was glowing from the inside. A really special moment, enjoyed with the help of a few tinnies. Ahhhh.

That night we cooked roo under the stars and Ed spoke to an Aussie guy who had climbed Uluru that day. Being polite, he didn't argue with the guy. But climbing the rock is generally frowned upon these days. The site is of huge spiritual significance to the local Aborigines. They have made an agreement with the government that they can use the rock as a tourist destination, but they ask all who come to see their sacred site to honour their traditions and not to climb the rock. The government should make it an outright ban as far as we can see, but they haven't yet, "phasing it out" as it were. Still, there are signs everywhere asking, no, begging people not to climb it, yet still they do. Appalling really.

The next morning we were up at sparrows, tearing around the weird tourist encampment that is Yulara trying to find the spot where Mom and Arlene needed to be collected to go camel riding. We eventually found it and the girls enjoyed a sunrise camel ride to the rock, followed by an Aboriginal Cultural tour, which by all accounts they found thoroughly informative. Mom has always dreamed of riding a camel, apparently. Weird to realise this dream here in Oz you might think, but actually camels were brought out to build the roads through the outback and now there are a million living wild in the desert. So much so that they are planning on culling them in September.

Meanwhile, Ed and Candice watched the sunrise over the rock with a cup of tea in hand and then got up close and personal with Australia's best known landmark by walking the circumference of it. We spent a reflective three hours watching the rock change shape and form as we stared up at it from various angles. At certain points, parts have been cordoned off by Aborigines as sacred sites, but elsewhere you could get right close to it. It was brilliant, though Candice proved once again that there were no flies on her... but plenty on Ed.

Once we'd met up with the others, we then drove over to Kata Tjuta, or The Olgas, another set of rocks about half an hour's drive from Uluru. These are just as spectacular if not quite as famous. Arlene has a worse back than Ed and actually limps quite badly so another hike was off the cards. Instead we did a short walk up a gorge and got to see the Olgas up close which was lovely. As with Uluru, an eerie silence seems to prevail, with only the sound of the wind whispering through the crevaces in the rocks breaking it. You can see why the rocks around this land have such spiritual significance.

Unfortunately we didn't have time to visit King's Canyon, Australia's answer to the Grand Canyon. So instead we took our time back up to Alice and spent an evening in Curtain Springs, a random campsite amongst the emus and the dirt with shower blocks titled Sheilas and Blokes. All of the campsites around here either had plug-in which you paid for, or were free, something Ed and Candice found quite surprising. This certainly wasn't the way in NZ - great idea!

Back in Alice the next day, we uhmed and ahed over a campsite for our last night in the Red Centre, finally favouring one that serves free pancakes on Sunday mornings! Priorities. That afternoon we walked around Alice Springs, a strange little town in the middle of nowhere, before calling it quits and heading to the famous Bojangles. What a bar! You take free peanuts from Ned Kelly's armour, hidden in a coffin and can watch live snakes slither through cow skulls. Arlene was in her element. We ate roo, emu and croc washed down with NT lager. Even the loos were entertaining, with barbed-wire loo seats and water coming out from different taps to the one you turned. Great fun.

The next day, we went up Anzac hill for one last look over Alice before dropping the Maui off and heading to the airport.

Back in Sydney, Arlene went to stay with her aunt in the northern suburb of Turramurra, ironically where Ed stayed in Sydney on his first trip out here when he was eight! This left Candice able to spend some quality time with Mom which was so lovely. We had one (slightly tipsy) memorable night watching Sydney's symphony play Belshazzar's feast at the Opera House, went for breakfast at Bill Granger's famous eatery in Darlinghurst, had a botched ferry ride out to Parramatta and a great day in Manly. On our last night, we had a cocktail overlooking the Sydney skyline at the famous Shangri-la Horizon bar, something we've wanted to do for ages, and then had a pub dinner in Paddo.

All too soon it was time to say a teary goodbye. It was so lovely to spend some time with Mom and to see Arlene. We hope to come out to SA soon to visit them all.

On a final note, Candice is now being sponsored by ACP and they're sponsoring Ed too as her de facto. This very exciting news means we'll be staying in Oz for a bit longer than planned, which means we'll be doing a lot more travelling as and when time allows. Yippeeee.