Outback - Uluru - Ayers Rock (Day 7-8)

The Outback - Uluru

(Ayers Rock)

Uluru - Ayers Rock from a distance

It is hard to appreciate it's mass until you get right up next to it.

Sunset camel ride with the kids

Will rode on Nullibar.

A portion of Ayers Rock.

Kunya - the snake that protects Uluru.

Cave drawings - Tales of puberty, the "boogie man," and travel depicted on these walls. 

 

Kata Tjuta

(looks like Homer Simpson laying down :)

 

This is an amazing landscape and the region has an amazing history.  In approximately 1985, the Australian government gave the land back to the original Aboriginal tribe.  They pass their history on through stories and art.  We stayed at The Sands - a resort in the region.  As the land is owned by the Aborigines, we had to purchase day passes to visit their land.  We had 2 full days in this region.  We attended an aboriginal painting class, we took a sunset camel ride, we had a sunset dinner, and a sunrise tour - all worth the time and expenditure.  Again, no rest for the weary :) but this trip is about exploring and learning, not for rest and relaxation!

 Follow me on Twitter.

Planning a trip to Australia - 2 weeks in Australia for a family of 4

  2 week trip to Australia. 

When I first heard we were getting the opportunity to go to Australia, two things immediately popped into mind : great white sharks (Shark Week happened to be airing at the time on the Discovery Channel) and Crocodile Dundee (showing my age :)  I have to admit, this was about the extent of my knowledge of the Australian continent.  Regardless, these two things led to planning the foundation of our trip - wanting to see the Great Barrier Reef and the Australian Outback. 

• As we started to do some research, key topics came to light :
• - We wanted to learn about the history of the nation, history of the aboriginal culture and how it is similar / different from our own based on our common British roots, the condition of the Great Barrier Reef and about the animals that live there and the Australian rainforest (Daintree)
• We wanted to experience geographic and cultural highlights : 
• - to see the Great Barrier Reef, to see the outback - to see Darwin (crocodiles and rainforests) - to see New Zealand (Lord of the Rings filming grounds :)

The most challenging part was realizing that we would not be able to see and do everything in the time allotted or on our budget, so we had to create a priority list.  I was able to do this by answering the following questions:

1. Why did we want to go to Australia?
2. What was the one sight that we were not willing to miss / what was on our must-see list?
3. What did we want to learn / experience?
4. What was our maximum time limit and budget?  (I wish we all could do without this one, but it is a "necessary evil.")

For us, the following trip materialized:  Home (United States) - Cairns/PalmCove - Outback - Sydney - Home.

We flew out on a Friday evening and arrived in Cairns late morning on Sunday :) - Wow - I stressed about that before we left - how was I going to make it on a plane with my kiddos for 17 straight hours - the length of the flight from the continental USA to Brisbane - but ironically, the hype was far worse than the actual event.  We actually had fun - great movies, great service, and fun to be a plane large enough to cross the Pacific without stopping.

Just a few helpful hints when traveling with children on long flight (our longest flight was 17 hours).

• Individual backpacks : headphones that are comfortable, mini-pillow, favorite snacks, wet wipes, books/paper/markers/etc. depending on child's interests, blanket, and eye mask - it helps them fall and stay asleep (we were only able to grab about 6 hours of sleep, but 6 hours was better than none ;).

A trick for staying on top of jetlag heading West to Australia that worked well for me:

1. we immediately started thinking, acting, eating, etc. in accordance with the local timezone - we arrived in the morning, so we went for breakfast
2. we stayed awake and active all day - just like it was normal even though we were exhausted :)
3. we went to bed really early - the kids were in bed by 5:30 PM and the adults by 6:30 PM - we slept for over 12 straight hours - we awoke early the next morning ready to tackle the Great Barrier Reef and fairly acclimated to local time.

Follow on Twitter