The Red Centre

Back when Rob and I were footloose and fancy free, we spent ten weeks traipsing through Europe. While in Paris, we debated whether or not we had to go see the Mona Lisa. After all, how could the painting possibly live up to all the hype? How wrong we were. Experiencing her alluring smile in person was utterly transporting.

And so it is with Uluru. It absolutely lives up to all the hype.

We first caught sight of the monolith as we were descending into Ayers Rock airport. All four of us were giggling and pointing – it was like spotting a rock star (tee hee – geddit?)

Once you are on the ground, you can see Uluru wherever you are. 

It is a Really. Big. Rock.

We learned just how big it is the next day as we did the 10.6k walk around its base.

After three days at Uluru, we had a 440k road trip up to Alice Springs. About an hour into the drive, just at the point where I was nodding off, Rob yelled "DINGO!!!" and performed an impressive 180 on the highway. This lovely critter was chowing down on a brumby sized piece of road kill but sauntered off when we came back to take pictures. Dingos are smaller than you would expect - about the same size as Georgie, our boxer.

Note the colour of the ground - the Red Centre is really red.

Just south of Alice Springs, we stopped for another essential outback experience. Camel rides. The girls, perhaps remembering our horseback riding exploits in WA, were happy to double up and remain tethered to the guide. 

 We loved Alice Springs. There are so many things to see and do there. Our favourite was the Desert Springs wildlife park where they give hourly talks on flora and fauna of the area. This joey had just come out of the pouch the previous week and mama wasn't very happy about all the people looking at him.

We also visited a reptile centre were we got to hold skinks and lizards and Sophie got a python wedgie.

Finally, we spent two nights at Kings Canyon which was absolutely breathtaking. We did the four hour hike around the rim and our cameraman got a real workout.

Garden of Eden - a tropical oasis in the middle of the outback

Isabelle wanted to crawl out onto a ledge to get a picture of her peering over the cliff edge but had to settle for this safer shot.

This is the cliff from the other side. That gorge is hundreds of feet deep.

This critter was basking on the rocks on our way back down the gorge. Thankfully, we didn't spot a single snake or spider in the wild during our whole 10 day visit.