it took ages sorting through all the pictures, because they were all decent, but many have been chosen to be featured on this blog. in order to ease navigation, 3 articles will cover this week-end.
first, the plane. small but full.
sydney's suburbs stretch for miles
and then the city fades to farmland
emptiness starts as we fly over the blue mountains national park
right after the blue mountains end, the desert starts.
we also flew over lake eyre, which was exceptionally filled with water because of the heavy rainfalls in the region. yes, this is still a desert, promise.
after miles of nothing/dunes/flatness, suddenly, a wild giant slab of rock appears!
this is the first encounter with uluru.
... as well as kata tjuta in the distance.
this is the usual landscape. i know it looks more green than red and there are definitely too many trees and weeds for a desert, but that's because of the numerous massive (and unusual) rainfalls that they've had at uluru.
arriving at ayers rock resort, this is what the general decor looks like. that's the little town center they have, which hosts a small supermarket, a couple of souvenir shops (aside from those you find in each hotel), a post office, gecko's cafe (the least expensive solution for an almost decent meal) and another coffee shop. it was a beautiful day, quite pleasant, but i can't even begin to imagine how hot it must be in the summer... (up to 50°c in the shade as i'm told).
this is what i paid 38AU$ per night to sleep in. it's a 20-beds female dormitory, it's fine if you're spending less than 3 nights in there. one word: EARPLUGS! also, bring an eye mask. it's clean and decent, but it gets cold as ever at night as the heating isn't really helping (wonder if there even was any heating anyway). the temperatures go as low as 0°c at night and damnit, you feel it. warm winter pyjamas and socks are very useful. also, tip: if the dorm isn't too full, try and steal 2-3 extra covers from some empty beds, because they're really thin and only start being sufficiently warm if you pile at least 3 of them up.
the rest of the dorm. this one is in block 1, right next to the bar (live music every night => earplugs) and the showers/toilets.
the outside of the dorm.
the walk from the dorm to the sanitary facilities is perhaps 20 meters long, but when it's 5AM, and you've just dug your way outta bed for the sunrise tour, it's 20 pretty hard meters. freezing. first time i ever did my morning toilette with a beanie and gloves on.
they could at least have hooks for the clothes in there... the only unplanned event for this week-end: i've had a shower with a big centipede, which, after asking the reception, turned out to be one of the venomous dirty little horrors that can kill you in a matter of minutes if it bites. oops.
the outback pioneer, within which was the yha backpackers, had its buildings scattered in a pleasant desert garden. very relaxing, very quiet.
they even have a lookout point on a dune where you can watch uluru at any time. great for the sunset!
on said dune, during the afternoon.
the kata tjuta conglomerate can also be seen in the distance.
swimming pool! cold...
souvenir shop! ripoff!
here comes the sunset...
kata tjuta is also experiencing some interesting colour changes, but you can mostly see the silhouette.
a detail of uluru's surface. the water created those holes by erosion and digs them when it runs down the rock during rainfalls.
"by golly, you're just as orange as the rock!" thanks japanese guy. we all know what you're trying to make up for with that big and long lens of yours. :D
does this even need comments...
actually the whole thing is quite quick, it only lasts a couple of minutes. the sky's colours are also quite a sight, and even though the photos seem quite redundant, you can spot some subtle changes.then night came and i had to go to bed early for the uluru sunrise tour :)
Aucun commentaire:
Enregistrer un commentaire