Day 5,6 & 7 - Ayers Rock

Day 5 started with a very early bus (6.32am) to Emu Plains to catch 2 trains to the domestic terminal at Sydney Airport.  We managed to check in ok.

As we went through security they chose Helen for an explosive test - she was made up - it was just like the telly program, unfortunately they let her go as the test was negative!

The flight to Ayres Rock was 3 hours and they are 1 and half hours behind Sydney which is weird! Same country differing time zones....

We arrived to 35 degree heat with no airport security or passport control and 1 baggage carousel - small was the order of the day.

The resort is run by one company - the hotels they have are differing in style and price.  There is a resort bus which takes you around the complex which takes all of 15 mins.

We stayed at the Desert Gardens Hotel which was very nice with lovely pool and bar restaurant. We hired a car for 24 hours so walked round to the resort centre to pick it up.  The resort centre has a couple of shops, cafes and supermarket as well as the tour operators. We ate at the Gecko Cafe for lunch before taking the car back to the hotel. 

It was so hot that a dip in the pool was beckoning before a wee nap.  Dinner was at the Outback Pioneer nothing that special but we did have a couple of beers.

They say the world is a small place. And it really is as Helen bumped into a work mate and husband who were touring Oz at the same time. (Tracey and Baz Kabi). We said an early goodnight as a 4 o'clock start was heading our way.



Day 6 - We were up and out at 4.30am driving to the national park. We were 2nd in the queue waiting for the gates to open for the short drive to Ayers Rock for the sunrise.


It was quite magical watching the sun come over the desert and the rock changing its colours to red and brown with the sunrise creating a blue hue around it. 

It was well worth getting up so early for the experience of the sunrise.  We continued over to the Olgas after Ayers Rock and then headed back to the resort for a hearty breakfast.

We had a massage and total experience booked at 4.30pm so spent time at the pool and had a snooze before heading to the spa for what was an amazing chill out session.

We headed back to the Gecko Cafe for a delicious dinner and had a most lovely passion fruit cheesecake for dessert.

Day 7 - Check out was at 10am today so  we were up handy and went off for breakfast.  The flight back was 12:50 pm and was on time.  The weird thing was Helen was able to go in an out of the security checks to go and have a smoke - which is odd!!

We got back to Sydney about 5pm had a bit e to eat at the airport, caught the train then a bus and arrived back at Leonay about 9pm.  We had bought a bottle of pink Tattinger Champagne at Singaport airport and have decided to drink it whilst blogging and doing the washing!!

There are currently rolls of thunder above so we will see what happens overnight with the weather to decide what we do tomorrow.