The Red Centre!!

Well, as many of you heard, I lost 2 days worth of photos. From the time we left Coober Pedy to the night after watching the sunset over Uluru, Plus the Sunset Dinner for our Anniversary all photos were accidentally deleted from my camera. One little slip of the button – delete instead of copy!! GONE!!!!

Sharna took it surprisingly well, saying oh well, at least I got a few on my Iphone, Me on the other hand was ropeable. I tried every avenue to get them back. 4 hours the night before we left Uluru trying everything to find a way to get them back. I searched the internet for programs that could undelete mishaps like this.

Finally after a few hours I came across a few free programs on the net and one found my photos. So I tried to restore them, and guess what popped up, please purchase the full version. Not so free after all. But either way I was not going to lose the pics so I purchased the program for $58!!!! Then, after all that, it still didn’t work….. AHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!

After a bit of internet and computer talk to friends and help desk on skype, finally got the program to work and restored the pictures!!!! WOO HOO!!!!

So here they are –

We left Coober Pedy and travelled another 5 or so hours north to a little place called Erldunda for one nights accommodation. Below is Sharna rounding up one of the many road trains. This one was small! Only 3 trailers!

This morning, Easter Sunday and our 1^st Wedding Anniversary, we left Erldunda mid morning and headed the 280kms west to Yulara resort where we would spend 2 nights in the lost camel wing of the resort. We checked in and chilled out all arvo around the pool drinking cocktails and beers waiting for our washing to wash and dry!

That night we headed out for our Anniversary dinner on the Sunset Dinner called the Sounds of Silence. MAGIC night!!! Welcomed to a remote platform overlooking  Uluru and The Olgas with a glass of Champagne and Canapés.

 After watching the sun set night moved on to dinner (buffet of Australian delicacies like Roo, Crocodile, Barra, and native berry and seed sauces) and drinks. The dinner was enjoyed with the sounds of a black fella playing didge! After dinner, an astronomer gave a talk about the night time stars overhead. Being a crystal clear night every star was seen, and was awesome. He explained the constellations and also some of the dream time stories from the natives. Over dessert we could have a look through telescopes set up to see the stars of Orion and the rings around Saturn which was really cool! The night was even wrapped up with a glass of port. LUSH. Then the bus picked us up and we headed back to the room for some……………………… sleep!

Next day was pretty cruisy, sitting around till 10 then headed to breaky. Then chilled till about 12 or so till we headed out to see the Olgas. The flies were brutal, but the scenery magic.

 

We were too lazy to do any of the walks in to the Olgas, so took some pics then headed back to Uluru for some close up pics.

 Here we found some pretty wild flowers for mum!

We drove around the back of the rock to the sunrise viewing platform, but it was deserted, obviously not as good during the day!

Headed home to get some fuel and top up the water tank on the camper for tomorrows trip, then back to the room to wait for sunset.

Headed out to sunset to watch the rock Change colour. Heaps of people were already there so I climbed my car and sat on the boat high above the trees and people. Awesome view, tho it was a little high and hard to get up, so Sharna decided to not risk a fall.

Awesome pics but somehow the colours can’t be captured. Still something that we will never forget, and luckily we now have the photos to remember it for years to come!

Now we are at kings canyon. No internet available, so sitting around typing this while Sharna reads. About to head out to the Canyon for a walk around the rim, a 3-4 hour strenuous walk with magnificent views of sheer canyon walls.

This is us after 5 minutes of the start of the walk. That sign is the start of it! Sucking them in already!

1st Panoramic half way up the cliff.

Finally made it to the top of the ridge!

These ghost gums are amazing. They are rooted to solid stone and the roots spread out above ground and absorb any nutrients they can get!

This is Sharna seriously contemplating the quick and easy way back to the car!

Us on the ridge.

2nd panoramic.

3rd panoramic

This is the Garden of Eden. An amazing amount of trees and shrubs all living off the flow and water pockets from Kings Creek.

This is a mad tourist looking over the edge of the sheer cliff face!

Same party of tourist, odd place for a picnic i thought! She is actually dangling her legs over the edge of 300 foot drop! no thanks!

Sharna, still contemplating!

4th Panoramic

We finally made it! Now where the bloody hell is the car!

The next day we headed out and left Kings Canyon. We travelled the back track to Alice along the Mereenie Loop. On the way we stopped for lunch at Redbank Gorge. Sharna really didn't like this walk as it was a 2 km return down a (scary) slippery and uneven dry river bank! She really hated me actually after this walk.

We left there and headed to Glen Helen Gorge to top up on fuel and decided to keep going 10 km down the road to Ormiston Gorge to set up camp at a National Park site. This is our site and our view. We also cracked the bottle of bubbly that the Lost Camel Resort gave us for our anniversary.

This is the next day at Ormiston Gorge

We left Ormiston and headed to the next spot for the morning tho we got sick of doing the walks and 1.5 hr return was too much, so got a pic at the car park anyway! BEEN THERE!

We continued on our way and stopped for lunch at Standley Chasm. It is best viewed at noon when the sun penetrated from the top all the way down. It was really cool.

We also seen this little moniter crossing our path on the way back to the car.

We are now set up in Alice Springs at the Wintersun Caravan park. Today we headed to the races but had as much luck as a bad mirror repair man....

So off to the East Macdonald Ranges tomorrow then headed back south down to Lake Ayre and the Flinders Ranges. Hope you are all well!