Another Christmas Party Photo

ACT Christmas Party '08

Daryl got to meet the ladies ...

Melbourne

This past weekend Daryl and I drove to Melbourne to visit family and friends. We didn’t take any photos until the way home! We drove past this GIANT Koala ... one of many GIANT icons .... scattered across Australia. So far I have seen a GIANT Koala, a GIANT rocking horse... one day we will set out to find them all!!!

Artwork

Daryl and I recently purchased our first piece of artwork. This photo does not do the painting justice. An art student was going door to door selling oil paintings for his fellow classmates. It was a hard decision but I think that we made the best one.

Duck

We saw this duck hanging out beside our fence at home. He was checking out our backyard as we drove by and then when we got into the house and went to sit outside he had flew over the fence. He must have been looking for new friends. See Bev – we have a Quaki too!!

I just called to say... I love you ...

Daryl's birthday came early this year.... I took him to Stevie Wonder!

The Red Centre.

Hello Family and Friends,

Tracy & Daryl here again after our long weekend turn around trip to Central Australia [also known as the RED CENTRE].

1564 km to go ...

We left Tracy’s work at approximately 15:15 ACST Friday 3rd October 2008 heading North to Uluru, NT; 1564 km away. Believing that we could get there by 15:00 the next afternoon [Google maps estimates that it should take 18 hrs 20 mins driving non-stop].

Passing through many country towns and losing phone reception for approximately 10 hours once we hit the desert and only getting limited service once we got to Coober Pedy [536 km from Port Augusta]. We drove straight through until 02:30 where we pulled into a rest stop off the side of the road to get some sleep in the car. We woke up at 06:15 just in time for a magnificent sunrise.

On the Stuart Highway:

At the border of SA and NT

After a brief stretch we started to drive again. After a few more hours we reached the South Australian / Northern Territory border. We took this opportunity to take some photos ...

Goofing around on the road:

Driving on the "right" side of the road

After turning left off of the Stuart Highway and onto the Lasseter Highway - the last leg of our journey..we were 237 km from our destination and a long way from the last rest stop. This sign was on the highway... if you made it this far....

Uluru or Mount Conner?

We had passed what we now call Mount Conner [as we drove by we said to ourselves that Uluru is quite big and odd shaped compared to photos that we had both seen, how would people climb it and why was it so grey when all the photos we have seen are of a red rock? And why are the road signs leading us further and further away from it?].

Uluru... we can see it

We made our last stop at Curtin Springs and then continued on to Uluru – a little disappointed that we were driving “away” from Uluru instead of towards it!! But we believed that the signs and our map would not lead us astray [Our map and the hotel had both indicated that Uluru was only 15 km from our hotel].

Our first glimpses of the “Rock” were absolutely AMAZING!! The colours, the size, the shape...it was spellbinding.

Uluru by helicopter

After checking into our hotel at 12:30 [took us 21 hours/including our 4.5 hour nap – NOT BAD!]

We booked a 30 min helicopter flight for that afternoon and a sunrise bus tour for the next morning. At 16:15 we were picked up by the Ayers Rock Helicopters company and we were transported to the airport.

Our pilot’s name was Emma. The flight was absolutely the coolest and most amazing part of the trip. It was the best and is the most recommended way to se Uluru. The flight took us past Uluru, the city of Uluru, and the Kata Tjuta [The Olgas]. Tracy was silent most of the flight as her microphone was not working properly. I did most of the talking while Tracy nodded and Emma asked if she was alright.

Sunset

After our helicopter flight we drove to Uluru again for sunset to capture the colour changes. This was an awe inspiring wonder of nature in itself. We highly recommend to everyone a visit to Uluru.