We took the 10/10/10 10:10am flight from Sydney to Ayres Rock (Uluru) so it was already a very special start for the day. Usually when you travel with a friend, you two will probably sit together. However, our strategy changed this time. In order to make sure that we could take some pics of Ayres Rock up in the air, we decided that i would get a window seat on the left and Selina would get a window seat on the right and we’ll see whose side would have the first glimpse of the Ayres Rock up in the air. Guess who was the lucky winner of this competition between Selina and me? Of course, I am the lucky winner !!!
Over the years of global traveling, I have developed a habit of getting a window seat and taking pictures of the city or landmark up in the air...I will upload some of my collection of up in the air pictures later.
After checking into the Sail in Desert hotel, we met up with the tour group that took us to Kata Juta champagne sunset and BBQ dinner under the stars. Interesting setting of all these Ayres Rock tours that usually the coach driver will also provide commentary along the way and they have another guide following as well so that they can split into 2 groups: One for more extreme hyper-active participants like myself. The other for more leisurely and less physically demanding participants like S_l_na [which i shall remain nameless] :-) I took the harder way to climb up the valley between the rocks so i was rewarded with an awesome view and photoop. Later,i heard from S_l_na that the view she got wasn’t bad either.
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| Sail in the dessert hotel @ Ayres Rock |
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| Inside kata Juta |
When it was time to see the sunset, the two guides set up the champagne counter and each of us was given a stool to sit on to face the rock turning super red.....magical huh?
Dinner time! Sky was clear and we were far from civilization. We enjoyed a nice BBQ dinner with a special bonus of kangaroo kebob. It actually tastes like beef....After dinner, the guides told us all to close our eyes and only opened after the countdown of 3, 2, 1...when we opened our eyes, the lights surrounding us (so that we can eat our kangaroo meat) were all turned off. The only thing we saw was numerous stars shinning upon us. When i saw numerous, i meant countless no. of stars right there above us. Never seen anything like that before in my life. It is as equally spectacular as the Northern light i witnessed up in the artic circle during one of my adventure side-trip when i studied my MBA in Norway. Too bad that i cannot take a picture to capture the moment but that image i think will forever mark on my mind.
