{"id":14511,"date":"2018-11-05T02:17:09","date_gmt":"2018-11-05T07:17:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/gallivantinggrandma.com\/?p=14511"},"modified":"2018-11-15T01:09:30","modified_gmt":"2018-11-15T06:09:30","slug":"sydney-harbour-to-ayres-rock","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gallivantinggrandma.com\/?p=14511","title":{"rendered":"Sydney Harbour to Ayres Rock"},"content":{"rendered":"

Monday – November 5, 2018<\/p>\n

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We spent one full day at sea on the Majestic Princess to cruise from Melbourne to Sydney. \u00a0This morning we awoke to the alarm at 4:30 this morning and watched the ship come into Sydney Harbor in the early morning light. \u00a0It was a spectacular entrance! \u00a0Then we had to muster in the Vista Lounge at 6:00 o\u2019clock so we could take a tour bus to the Sydney airport to begin a land tour of Australia. \u00a0I took a picture of the sign below in the airport because I thought it was perfect:<\/p>\n

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We met our Australian tour guide, Juliete, and twenty-seven other intrepid American travelers. \u00a0Together we boarded a Jet Star flight to take us from Sydney to the middle of Australia, to a place called Ayres Rock. \u00a0The rock is a sacred place to the local aboriginal people who call it Uluru. \u00a0It was a bumpy three hour flight but we finally arrived in \u201cthe outback.”<\/p>\n

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This was truly the red desert center of Australia. \u00a0When someone in the group called it \u2018the middle of nowhere,\u2019 he was corrected by our bus driver who said, \u201cwe were in the middle of everywhere!\u201d \u00a0It was 36 degrees Celsius and one of the most barren places on earth. \u00a0The only facility for hundreds of miles is the Red Rock Resort which has several levels of accommodations and is located just outside Uluru National Park. We all checked in and were taken into the park to see \u201cThe Rock.”<\/p>\n

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Ayres Rock is a huge ancient red sand monolith sitting alone in the vast Australian outback. \u00a0Formed millions of years ago, it currently is over one thousand feet high and six miles around the base. Our bus driver served as a local guide and provided information about the geology, flora, fauna, history, myths, and people of the region. \u00a0Uluru is a UNESCO World Heritage & Cultural Site and is protected by the Australian government. \u00a0We drove up close to see a variety of features.<\/p>\n

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We saw ancient \u201ccave art\u201d drawings and several other natural features of Uluru. \u00a0The guide led us to one section where we were allowed to touch the rock. I could understand why Uluru is sacred to the local Aboriginal people. \u00a0We also walked to a pool of water which forms during rare rainfalls.<\/p>\n

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Later we went to the Cultural Center and met Alice and Sarah who are members of the local Aboriginal community. \u00a0They work at the center to educate tourists about their culture and outback lifestyle. \u00a0Both women were very shy and soft-spoken and they communicated with us through an Australian parks ranger.<\/p>\n

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Afterwards, we drove to the \u201cSunset Viewing Area\u201d to watch the colors change on Uluru as the sun disappeared behind the Australian Outback.<\/p>\n

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Tables had been set up for us with cold drinks and cheese snacks so we could nibble while watching the colors on the rock. The viewing area was crowded with tourists and there was a party atmosphere as the shadows lengthened and Uluru became darker and more purple.<\/p>\n

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It was an amazing sight and an unforgettable experience. \u00a0I have wanted to visit Australia and specifically see Uluru (aka Ayres Rock) ever since I first learned about it in the mid-1970s. \u00a0It was so exciting to be so close to The Rock. Who else would travel 10,643 miles to see a rock?!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Monday – November 5, 2018 We spent one full day at sea on the Majestic Princess to cruise from Melbourne to Sydney. \u00a0This morning we awoke to the alarm at 4:30 this morning and watched the ship come into Sydney Harbor in the early morning light. \u00a0It was a spectacular entrance! \u00a0Then we had to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[63],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-14511","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-australia"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gallivantinggrandma.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14511","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gallivantinggrandma.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gallivantinggrandma.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gallivantinggrandma.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gallivantinggrandma.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=14511"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/gallivantinggrandma.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14511\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":14513,"href":"https:\/\/gallivantinggrandma.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14511\/revisions\/14513"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gallivantinggrandma.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=14511"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gallivantinggrandma.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=14511"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gallivantinggrandma.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=14511"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}