We are on holiday!

Wednesday 13th July

This is going to be a challenging day – 7 1/2 hours drive time to get to Uluru, plus who knows how many wee breaks. We get packed up and going by 9:45, which is a record for us, but still not a good start for a very long day!

We drove out of the pockmarked Coober Pedy region, enjoyed the tapestry of plants over the very flat landscape! We had several random roadside stops. We stopped for lunch at Marla, which had run out of diesel so there were loads of travelers stopped there waiting for a fuel truck. Thankfully we filled up in Coober Pedy, but a good reminder that these things can happen! We stopped briefly at Agnes Creek rest area, which looks a beautiful camping site, and someone has made a labyrinth there! Stopped at the NT/SA border, because you have to get a photo there, and wave at each other from different states! 😁 Stopped for fuel at Erlunda and said hello to the emus. Last time we stopped there, in 2014, we decided to buy nostalgic Chico rolls….. decided not to do that again….ever 😂.

We admired the setting sun over Kata Tjuta as we drove on to Uluru (except for that part just before sunset when we were driving straight into the sun 😵). Unfortunately this meant we were definitely arriving after dark 😩. Finally pulled into the Ayers Rock campground at 7pm, and set up camp on a patch of red sand and prickles, as Otis found out immediately 😢. The kids were amazing on the long drive, but were tired and hungry. We prepared a quick dinner then crawled into the tent – I had a nasty headache by then so couldn’t even find the energy to shower!