Out of Uluru

I just touched down into Melbourne. When the plane landed they started playing Rick Astley’s “Never Gonna Give You Up.” Classic. My first impression of Melbourne is that it might beat out Sydney. I was talking to this Canadian person from Vancouver, who said I would like it since I told her I liked Vancouver. I think she may be right. It seems a little sketch here though so I’m hesitant to take night time city shots – we’ll see.

I lost my small digital camera at Ayers Rock :(. It had all my random pictures – like hostels, supermarkets, road signs, etc. I’m not even sure when I lost it… my guess is it fell out of my bag when I was getting off the shuttle. I still have my DSLR since I keep that with me at all times. Instead here are some pictures from the last few days from the 40D. I also figured out to resize the images on these lamez computers!

Some pictures from the Daintree Rainforest. The rest don’t look that unique.

We went to some animal sanctuary which is cooler than a zoo since they built up the entire habitat for us to walk through. Oh yea, when I say we, I went with this family from Rhode Island.

I saw a lot of emo koalas there, so I didn’t want to take a picture with them. I think they’re sad enough. Poor guys.

The kangaroos were a little more playful. We got to feed them. You can even fake feed them and they’ll come up to you.

This saltwater crocodile was huge! The guide said they can grow up to 8 meters (about 25ft). His mouth is open to regulate its body temperature.

There were plenty of birds and ducks. I think you can find most of these at the zoos in California. Here’s a fruit bat. Eating fruit.

At the end there was a shop that sold frog skin wallets, out of frogs from the rainforest (or so they claim).

I went to the Great Barrier Reef but didn’t find Nemo. I also didn’t take many pictures since we were out in the ocean and it was very wet. But if you like swimming, this is a must do if you come to Australia. Aside from that, Cairns was an OK city. My next stop was Ayers Rock in the Central Australia.

On my first day there, I went for a camel ride during the sunset. It was pretty awesome. Camels make funny noises, and they whine a lot about giving rides. The cameleer said they have the intelligence of an 8 year old. The one behind me licked my leg a few times… My camel’s name was “Couscoh” (not sure how to spell it). He’s 6 years old. The oldest one in the pack was Sandy, who’s 32!!

The following morning I did a sunrise walk around the rock. It took us a little over 3 hours to walk the circumference, stopping at key locations learning about Aboriginal culture. It’s hard taking a picture of the rock. You need a really wide lens! It’s color changes with the rising and setting of the sun, but for the most part it’s red because of the iron oxide. You can see it from Google Maps!

You can tell who’s been to Ayers Rock by looking at their shoes. BTW, don’t bring your white Pumas to the desert.

The Aboriginal people don’t want you to climb the rock for religious regions. When I went the climb was closed due to strong winds at the summit. It can be closed due to a number of reasons, including: too hot, strong winds, a rescue search is in progress, an Aboriginal ceremony or holiday is occurring, or too slippery (after a rain). There have been 47 deaths so far and all their names are on a plaque at the base of the climb. Still, many people choose to climb the rock. There is a guiding rail for the first few meters, but after that you’re on your own. It was open a few hours later before sunset.

I also went to Kata Tjuta and walked through Wapa Gorge, but didn’t get to do Valley of the Winds (which I really wanted to!!!). It was booked for the day I was free. On my last day here, it was Territory Day (Northern Territory is one of the states in Australia, where Uluru is). So that basically meant hordes of Australian tourists coming to the rock.

I mentioned earlier how beautiful the stars are out here. Since I was in the middle of the desert where there is very little light pollution, the view was simply amazing. I tried to take pictures but I don’t have the gear to do star photography. It’s ranked up there as one of my top 5 photographic-mind-images in my life. And it was only one of the nights – the other nights it wasn’t as bright.

Anywho, here’s a desert sunset, or is it sunrise, can you tell?

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