Mollymook - a south coast gem

If the south coast beaches were a  necklace, the Shoalhaven and Clyde river mouths would be the clasps and Mollymook would be the diamond pendant.

Southern end of Mollymook beach - January 2021 -a hoard of hopeful surfers gather in the middle. No wonder sharks get confused and think they are seals - maybe wet suits should be made fluorescent yellow or blues as camouflage.

A week on the South Coast of N.S.W. is just what any well-being coach would prescribe. Especially when our October booking choices lucked the first clear weather week since Christmas! 

The drive down was easy breezy with a stop at a town with more home ware and doorknob shops than perhaps any other I've ever seen in my life. Berry is the place to go if you want a special something for your interiors. The doughnut van is legendary and there are many great places to eat on the way to the Treat Factory at the other end of town.

Lunch stop at Berry. Top left - M across the road from a famous doughnut van - safest place to be!
Bottom Left - founder of the tree lopping, dairy farm building colonialist settlement, Alexander Berry.
Right one of the many, many, many home ware stores in this official Historic Town.

 Driving into the Jervis Bay area we started to see the black trunks covered with fern like regrowth of the eucalyptus devastated by last year's fire storms. One valley after the Sussex Inlet is still grey and black. An engineer testing the remains of a burnt out home near B's family property said that the bricks had survived a 700 degree C roasting. How did any of the flora or fauna in the area survive? So many volunteers kept the flames at bay where they could. His Pop's place was surrounded by fire but his buildings survived. The clean up has only a few dangerous black, dead limbs on trees down in the paddocks left to go. Fabulous valley views, all green and sparkling with the summer rain. We had a wonderful evening, relaxing on their cool terrace with perfect weather and no insects, except the loudest cicadas ever heard, for a family BBQ and frisbee chasing Tilly, B's border collie.

Right - Recovery from the fire storms a year ago. 
Left - images from a film thanking volunteers for saving the town of Sussex Inlet and all the people who had evacuated there. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ncyye7sogPk 

Milton is another lovely wee town full of fashion and food. Check out Pilgrim's (A vegetarian cafe), Woodstock Chocolates - YUM and Coast, serving perfect Eggs Benedict. 

Behind the library is a collection of work from local artists, I loved Ann Rayment's pieces. (Go to https://bluethumb.com.au/ann-rayment to see and buy her work.) The road down between the IGA and the chocolate shop takes you to one of the most serene rooms on the South Coast. After getting caught on the beach for too long, do your skin a favour and book a facial in at the Beauty Indulgence Day Spa. They have a room with two treatment tables so take a buddy with you - bliss.

Even Petal got up for brekky when B picked it up from his sister's holiday job cafe - Flour, Water, Salt - and bought white peaches fresh off the tree at the orchard stall on Princes Highway. 

Top Left - An Ann Rayment for sale in the gallery behind Milton's Library.
Bottom Right - Beauty Indulgence Day Spa (PH. 4455 1192)

Rick Stein has his Bannisters restaurant in North Mollymook. His Weekends Abroad TV series (BBC) is keeping my desperation for European travel on a leash at the moment. If the purse doesn't stretch to his place, just below it is the Pool bar, it has really good pizza (Pat says 7/10, praise from a lad whose Dad built them a pizza oven in their backyard.) and party rooms that made sharing all the orders with B's Dad and family - delicious. The honey baked brie with bread made at the bar is just what you need after wallowing about in the sea all day. One of the home ware stores in Milton had copies of all of Rick Stein's recipe books for sale and was selling a Finnish game, similar to the French boules which kept the 'young ones' on their toes in the evenings.

Finska with M & B although Willow was the champion. Bought from 'Home at Last'on Wason St, Milton.

   R. Stein's Bannisters at Mollymook. This is the Roast Pumpkin and Feta pizza but my fav, the Capricciosa, introduced me to the delights of smoked mozzarella! Willow said that one time when they had been there in the evening, a guest from the attached hotel was doing laps in the infinity pool. Very relaxed!

Jay walking is a life threatening pastime in these towns on the Princes Highway, so we made sure we headed to the pedestrian crossings to make it across safely. The strangest little antiquities and odds and ends store around (Nikki B's) and the surf shops line the eastern side of the street of Milton. The community is to vote this Valentine's Day if and where the by-pass will be built to keep the southern through traffic away from the local roads. 

Ulladulla harbour (Go on say it fast lots of times!) - the clouds swished from inland to the Tasman with barely a sprinkle. 

Our destination, a holiday rental in Mollymook, had a couple of turn offs along the 15min drive between Milton and Ulladulla, this is where we had to go to pick up the keys from the real estate agent. It is a more industrial looking town, spread out and not as cutesy as Milton or Berry. It is home to a great second hand books store run by the Lions so you never need to worry about running out of books for those lazy beach days. The harbour is full of fishing boats and I have it from a local authority, that in high seas, teens have been known to even get a surf in there. At the southern end of the Ulladulla strip is Hayden's Pies with a most impressive menu,  fabulous sounding and tasting pastry with delicious fillings. Another take out to look for is the Schnitzel House and Oyster bar, huge choice of schnitzels and burgers - including vege, and the best chips and coleslaw. (Our takeout order above was way to much food - share one serve between two - unless you want a Caesar salad the next day of course.) The Berry farm, which we had planned to go picking at, was still closed due to fire damage but they were getting plenty of local support at their ice cream van. Cones piled high with good south coast dairy with whipped berries mixed through from the surviving bushes.

M took his drone and was rather nervous of flying it over the ocean! One morning was still enough for him to risk a fly over.

Collers beach, just a stair way down the bank, got full dawn sun -  so perfect for those morning swims.

The cliffs and bays are fringed by glorious golden sand beaches, clear waters and fascinating creatures in the air, pools and rocky ledges. The water was warm enough for bracing 9am daily swims to burn off the excesses of an array of great eateries and perfect for splashing about late mornings. Mollymook beach is long and swimmers are protected by lifeguards and flags at the south end and the north. A surf school runs up the northern end and in the middle is a reef where more experienced surfers can get some good breaks when the conditions are right. 

Morning, Noon and Night - Mucking about on the coast.  Plenty of Aloe Vera after sun spray in the afternoons.

Endlessly interesting shapes and life forms found when clambering around rock shelves.

Before it is sand - in a tiny corner of a tiny bay - far from the usual tracks.
Eventually will these shells and stones wash down to be the golden sand of the bays either side?

B showed us a couple of local spots where the swimming was good. Burrill Lake empties into the sea via a narrow channel. This forms a very quickly flowing stream that was more fun than the tube ride rivers at The Palm in Dubai or QE II pool in Christchurch. No having to drag out and carry your floaty ring - just sail down floating on your back or front, side stroke fast as you come around to miss the eddies by the rocks and out onto the sand bank to run back across to do it again. Doing things like that knocks a few years off you.

Lake to sea - Warm, fabulous water fun but without fun park rules and limitations.

Plenty of warnings. The only recorded drownings are out on the beach in sea rips - not in the flow from lake to sea, all international tourists. Heartbreaking. Talk to lifeguards on the big beaches about reading the sea for dangers.

The next afternoon B suggested politely that we all go in his 4WD Subaru to a beach on the edge of a National Park. M was pretty glad that his low hung saloon stayed in the driveway because the access road looked like a goat track off the Princes Highway, if those goats were elephants. The ruts in some places were so deep that other drivers had given up and left their cars on the side and had walked to the car park. One four wheel drive was 'testing his suspension' - seriously that was the observation made, by deliberately driving up a steep sand/bush bank across two 1/2 m deep ruts. What a joy though when we broke out onto the beach. Around 3kms of golden sand, clear sea with sandy bottom and no seaweed! Rock pools to the side for creature spotting and big swells past the breakers for the best float in the world. Plenty of little breaks up and down for hands on mums and dads teaching their kids to surf but no crowds. We could have done with a Coolcabana (https://coolcabanas.com.au/ - must have beach accessory 2021) to rest in shade before spending another couple of hours out. 

Wairo Beach via Potholes rd (seriously - the best reason for a council to never send the grader down).
This is just past Dolphin Point and as I floated out in the swell I was hoping to sea a few friendly fins. I saw them most mornings out from Coller bay, paying no attention to the jet skis getting in for a closer look, too far out to swim though. 

Holiday Blues - wonderful water and big skies. Far superior to the psychological ones when you're back at work.

North end of Mollymook beach. Top right - Australian Design winner - Coolcabanna - made a big splash on the beaches - they were out of stock so we had to rely on our big brimmed hats. B waited patiently for waves but they were very small this day. 

Surfing is a serious business down the coast! At the crack of dawn carloads of youths would circle past our place jumping out and excitedly sharing all the rumours and science of where to go for the best waves. They never bothered to get out their boards though because each morning the sea was flat and calm. Dolphins frolicked with the jet skis, fishermen pulled shiny red flappers out by the rocks and shags dove for their breakfast then dried themselves on a particular tree in front of us. Sometimes there were six of various types fanning their wings with their backs to the rising sun. I named it the shagging branch and was immediately told off by the daughters - hmmm.

Just before the surfers came by each morning, a rabbit hopped up onto the lawn and ate up all the dropped pink flowers from a butterfly bush in the front garden. It never ate them straight off the bush. A pond sported frogs and tadpoles and a waterlily opened every morning. A pair of black birds would peer in the open french doors hoping for a crust or two and a very cheeky Magpie-lark would squawk at us then Quardle oodle ardle wardle doodle a little under its breath before squawking again. One afternoon I sat reading outside, enjoying the breeze slipping up the bank to cool my sunburnt knees, when it hopped up onto the table, nestled itself down on the glass about 10cm away and turned its cocky little head as if it too was disgusted with the Lee Child novel I had open. Neither of us could believe that he had his victims - a potato farmer too stupid to make sure his car was in condition to make their Canada to New York drive without breaking down at a highly suspicious motel (Rocky Horror anyone?) and his female companion - kill off several heavily armed  ... whoops spoiler.  

Rosella image from Australian Geographic

Sadly, as we were locking up on our last morning, a glorious Crimson Rosella flew straight into the floor to ceiling french doors. It sat stunned for quite some time as we all froze still trying not to stress it anymore. Eventually it fell over - dead. Willow would not let me pull out its tail feathers to keep for Granny, Petal even said taking a photo was bad form (this one is from the Australian Geographic website). B lifted it gently in Costco handy towels and placed it in the bush close by as an offering to the circle of life. I wasn't allowed to sing that as a funeral offering either. When did the younger generation get so serious?

Every morning the galahs, lorikeets, minors and magpie larks hunted through the treetops and hopped around on the front lawn after I threw out the left over toast or croissants from breakfast.

The sun rises on our last morning.

Beautiful Breakfast at Coast before B heads off to fix his Pop's tractor, Willow goes to relieve Persephone's carer's, Petal drives back to Sydney to rescue K and Corn from Charlie's demands and M and I meander back the long way. Willow said that this cafe reminded her of New Zealand, an old colonial house converted to rooms full of tables for eating.

And so we had to leave this beautiful place but because it is only 3 hours from home we decided to dawdle, to put off that which must be done, to unpack and prepare for work again this week. Willow stayed another couple of days with B's family who had been cat sitting Percy - daily visits of course. Petal leapt into the Skoda - tore up through the scenic route to avoid tolls and picked up Chaz from K and Corn before we were even half way home. B had said the B73 through Kangaroo Valley was worth the twists and turns. He was right.

Great shopping and eating at Kangaroo Valley. Quite a few cutsy B&Bs that could do with Sydneysiders booking in for a lazy weekend. Lots of scenic bush walks to do, the pub has a movie sized screen outdoors and Nostalgia , a store of secondhand and new delights has a well stocked 2nd hand bookstore down the back.

As a staff member for Fitzroy House, I figured we had to stop in at the falls named after this N.S.W. governor. A ranger told me that his brother was the Captain of the Beagle - the ship that took Darwin to the Galapagos, good to learn something new.   

The Hampden bridge is a one way crossing of the Kangaroo river.
It was opened in 1898 and named after Governor Hampden (from 1885-1899) 

Temps just right for an open roof - the valley was green and most of the traffic was heading in the opposite direction.

Not drone footage - Phone footage. I wonder how much water there is normally in January - is there a normal to our weather patterns anymore?

Read no young adult fiction this week; none for school - all for me!

Factory 19 by Dennis Glover (Not the NZ poet of the same name who wrote 'The Magpies' whence the Quardle oodle ardle wardle doodle is quoted from.) Interesting premise that life was best in the 1940s with an insanely rich guy who wants to recreate it. 

The Last Days of the Romanov Dancers by Kerri Turner - well researched, not bad characterisation. Settings well described.

Eleanor Oliphant is completely Fine by Gail Honeyman - Brilliant. Into the heart of a real character as she pulls herself out of a past blocked from her every day existence. Hope! So well written. A debut novel.

Past Tense by Lee Child - Don't mind Jack Reacher in the films but will not waste another 3hours reading anymore.

Agent Running in the Feild by John LeCarre. He died Dec 2020 so Santa gave his last novel to M. Well written but not as complex or gripping as his earlier works.

Simon the Coldheart by Georgette Heyer - It was on the  shelf in the holiday house. She never wanted it re printed - her first novel - set in the 1400s - Knight rescues damsel from toad like  ... you get the drift. Apparently her husband's favourite so the daughter had it reprinted after her death. Love Georgette Heyer and will forgive the young authoress all. In a brilliant second hand bookstore in Kangaroo Valley village I found another early historical one - The Conqueror.

M added a Wilbur Smith and Alastair McLean from the house bookshelf to the thrillers I read after him. Funny that he didn't want to read my ones.

Petal is in a Heyer run.

Willow read Shuggie Bain by Douglas Stuart because it won the Man Booker last year. Not a light hearted read for a beach holiday though. 

Uluru, a weekend in the red centre.

It has been quite a while since I last shared a trip in C'Obs, we settled back in at home after our years in Cambridge and rediscovered that the distances in Australia make everything so much more expensive in time than our gadabouts in Europe.

Ulurcrew (- J and MotherM) made it to the Rock October 2019

When we heard the news that RevD and R were visiting family in NZ and that they were going to duck over to us all for the weekend, we decided to do something special. Visiting the red centre and the giant rock - Uluru – was chosen. Ticking off a bucket list destination together has created a mountain of memories for our family. Some wanted to drive for a real adventure (M and Petal) but as it was in term time, I voted against the extra week needed to do this at a civilised pace (2-3 days each way from Sydney) and luckily those wanting to fly were in the majority. Special thanks to G an M for booking everything and making it happen.

Apparently, the roads are very good and and a healthy vehicle would make it OK. I was talking to another tourist who had flown into Alice Springs and had driven from there (5 hours of stunning desert scenery) in a rental, they were then going to leave the car at the Ayers Rock Airport and fly back to Melbourne. It is good to know that this airport is also called Connellan Airport when you are looking for flights. There are free shuttle buses to the Ayers Rock resort built at the nearest town to the rock – Yulara. We queued for a long time to get our pre-booked and paid for hire car. Nana had to wait for two days before getting her suitcase, it had a holiday of its own, somehow getting loaded into a plane for Cairns instead.

Left: So many river gullies hopeful of rain in the vast plains of outback Australia. Rainbow serpent tracks?
Top Right: Kata-Tjuta from the airport.
Bottom Right: Some are lucky to see this on the approach to Ayers Rock Airport, aisle seaters really aren't.

For a short time in central Australia reckoning (1872-1995), Uluru was called Ayers Rock. Today it officially has a double title - Uluru/Ayers Rock. Explorer William Gosse named it Ayers rock after a South Australian politician whose daughter he had a fancy for. He thought this would impress Sir Henry Ayers and make him keen to bless the match. Poor old Will got back to Adelaide after his long adventure to find that his dreamed of bride had married someone else in the meantime. This is the story we were told at the rock but I can't find any mention of it, he married his second wife, Agnes Hay (W.G. named a mountain in honour of her dad) very soon after returning from Alice springs in 1874. Perhaps the naming of the rock was due to Sir Ayers' senior position in South Australian politics? 

At the lookout 20 kms away from the rock. First drive out - very excited.

The whole area is referred to as Uluru by the Yankunytjatjara and Pitjantjatjara (collectively referred to as the Anangu people) not just the monolith at the centre. Although there are many meaning names for the sacred sites on and around the rock, the name Uluru is just a place name. I had read that it meant crying or shadows but there seems to be a mix up with some of the small sites around the rock with ul sounds that mean shadows and the town name, Yulara which some have said means wailing. An anthropologist I was reading, Amanda Markham, said that Uluru definitely doesn’t mean giant pebble, earth mother or island mountain which are common myths. Kata-Tjuta (for a while called Mt Olga or The Olgas) means many heads. The geology of these two sites is amazing, read the basics here:   https://www.ayersrockresort.com.au/uluru-and-kata-tjuta/natural-environment/geology

Taking Australian geology souvenirs from a National park attracts an $8500 fine. My family have long been pickerupperers of pebbles, driftwood and shells but this information was new to me. We were also told a story by one of the guides that taking a bit of Uluru incited the fury of the ancestors and that bad luck would follow that person until it was returned to its people. Some have had such long series of bad luck events after taking a stone from the rock that they return it in person or in the post. Australian customs intercept and clean any natural materials entering the country (at the sender’s expense) and have dealt with rocks over 32Kg being returned to Uluru. Of course laughing in the face of such superstition, G thought to slip a pebble into one of the hired Kias!

This doesn't look like the tribe's natural environment. Great selfie stick implementation.

Uluru has been an object to conquer and an amazing viewing platform for the area so has been climbed as long as tourists have been able to get out there. In 1964 poles and chains were pierced into the most climbable slope to give stability after a few deaths due to slippage and heart failure. There is a men’s initiation site for the traditional owners at the top and although they signed a 99yr lease to the Federal government in 1985, they have always asked the uninitiated not to climb the rock. The Uluru Kata-Tjuta National Park management board voted unanimously to close the climb over a year ago but chose to respect the expectations of modern tourism and allowed a year long adjustment period. As the ease of touring the red centre improved the amount of people climbing Uluru increased so much that the chain line was lengthened in 1976. Unfortunately, there were no bathroom facilities built at the top and some felt the need to duck into crevasses – or not, to relieve themselves. All around Uluru are dark marks made by the water ways when it rains. Human waste is full of microbes that are washed down and poison the precious waterholes. These scientific observations also formed a large part of the argument for stopping the climb on October 26, 2019. The chains, poles and the octagonal cairn on top are being dismantled and should all be removed within the next year. A few in our group were keen to climb in one of the last weekends of it being open but were frustrated by the threat of thunderstorms, high temperatures, wind and rangers that supported the claims of the Anangu. However their perseverance paid off and they got to climb.

Left: On it, not steep enough to need the chains yet!     Right: In it. So many caves and over hangs have indigenous art.
Left: Caring daughter returning the pilfered pebble to ensure G didn't attract the fury of the ancestors.

Even without this activity there are many reasons why a trip out to Uluru is an amazing experience. The enormity of the desert with the silhouettes of Uluru and Kata-Tjuta is a sight that is a privilege to see. The light changes over the surface of Uluru during the day and this movement makes it easy to imagine that the rock is just resting and may animate itself at any moment.

Sunset with a storm on the horizon killing the colours.  Sunrise next day - this adventuring requires serious time commitment

There are walking tours, well signed cultural investigations and the one we enjoyed most – Segwaying around the base. We booked sunrise at the rock with Uluru Segway tours. They provided breakfast, but even at this early hour the flies were out and the trick of getting a bite of croissant or muffin under your netting veil (available to buy at many stores at the resort) without extra protein proved challenging. We were taken on a walk to the biggest water hole at the rock which would be amazing after a rain with a many layered waterfall. 

Left: Dry water fall and water hole                       Top Right: Zapped law breakers  Bottom Right: sunrise sky 1/2 hr earlier.

Then after a practice run on the machines we whirred off around the well-worn path at the base of the rock. The guide stopped us at certain points to tell the stories she had been initiated into by the indigenous population. When there was obviously more beyond our level of initiation, she would say that it wasn’t her story to tell. This became a bit of a catch cry when asked questions within the Ulucrew (yes we enjoy corny labels) for the rest of the trip; a good way to not have to admit that you went and had a nap instead of attending that interesting talk on indigenous hunting methods. Only one unintentional dismount occurred (best not to reverse into the wheel of another Segway) and no one was hurt.

Flies for breakfast lunch and tea

Getting the hang of the intuitive Segway motion - had to pass a driving test first

First stop and tell - everyone still on board - frog mouth behind us

Feeling confident - leader a bit nervous - goanna a bit hungry.
I think we really annoyed a couple of groups of walkers - we'd whiz past, whirring along then stop for a morsel of story allowed to be shared with the uninitiated - they'd tromp past us then we'd charge up and whirr off again passing them with enough silly banter and issued dares to wreck the atmosphere of the place.

Really good now - Segway selfies

To get into the National park each person must purchase a park pass, they are checked upon entry every repeat visit. Adults are considered 16yrs plus and we paid $25 each for a dated three-day pass. Tourists must have their passes on them and checked by tour operators before getting on the coach for any activity within the park. The tour shop in the resort is able to sell these or you can buy them online and keep a digital copy to show. If like us, you prefer to hire a car and get yourself to Kata-Tjuta or any of the closer attractions in the park make sure you have the passes before leaving the resort and remember to leave the park before the gates are locked just before dark – ie watch the sunset play on the rocks then drive to the exit with intent! There is an information centre in the park close to Uluru and shops selling locally produced art and another with a café.

Left: A study of a natural formation                        Top: Art laid out for sale          Bottom: Taking shelter in the midday sun

One of the artists with the piece RevD and R bought

The art of the region was a highlight for me. A few of the local indigenous people come and sit around the parks of the resort and paint their canvases telling stories from the rock traditions and of the resources provided by the land. I bought a medicine tree canvas and Petal chose one telling the story of the python who sought justice for the illegal death of her nephew. Moral and hunting laws were broken. RevD  and R bought one to take back to the UK with them too. The Wintjiti Arts and Museum gallery at the resort had some fine and pricey pieces by indigenous artists with international reputations.

Nellie's Bush Medicine tree. She signed the back of the canvas for me in a sharpie with no surname.
More info on the style here: https://www.kateowengallery.com/page/Bush-Medicine-Leaf-Paintings.aspx

I have always admired these feathery paintings. I was given permission to sit and watch a couple of painters in the shade at the edge of a park at the resort. They painted in their backgrounds then threw them out into the sun on the grass to dry. Nellie paints there everyday and began this painting as I watched. Although they aren't the colours I would normally choose I wasn't going to leave something I'd watched come into being because of that. I read in the book 'Song Spirals' (An insight into the Indigenous view by the Bry'wu group of women through historian Clare Wright.) according to this narrative the European way of asking questions to seem interested and polite smacks of disrespect in Indigenous ways where polite watching and waiting is the go. Time - you give the most precious commodity. However, I did risk a few questions and Nellie explained to me that this design represents the medicine tree that it is used to soothe coughs and colds and to prevent illnesses. The way she loaded her brushes and faultlessly painted out the branched leaves was poetry in motion. 

This photo by Babak Tafreshi of the Milkyway
over the rock shows what we missed.

A young, talented artist was painting one day in the Wintjiti gallery as well. Some of us were keen to participate in the Marku Arts Dot painting workshop, knowledge of the symbols and stories are shared by indigenous artists and then you have the opportunity to create a painting of your own. Times didn’t align so this $72 opportunity wasn’t booked. The Wintjiti gallery was also the site of a bush tucker lecture that was free to guests. There were other free educational activities taken by local indigenous people, times and venues all supplied at check in. I was really looking forward to big night skies and seeing the milky way without the glare of Sydney but cloudy skies prevented this every night. The clouds kept the temperatures down so I can’t complain. There are a variety of astronomy activities to do with local astronomers when the sky is right. 
Image left for sale at https://fineartamerica.com/featured/1-milky-way-over-uluru-babak-tafreshi.html

Waiting to board the Field of Lights tour. Look at all those white shoes! Red dust anyone?

G booked us all onto the Field of Light Star Pass tour. Up on a dune we watched as the sun went down, the changing colours of Uluru and 50 000 mushroom-like glass spheres lit with colour changing LEDs. As the light left we were served canapes and drinks. Looking down into the light with the black silhouette of Uluru behind was impressive but nothing compared to walking amongst them. Bruce Munro conceived the idea camping at Uluru in 1992, “I saw in my mind a landscape of illuminated stems that quietly wait until darkness falls then under a blazing blanket of southern stars, to bloom with gentle rhythms of light.” This UK artist created the prototypes in his tiny London backyard, thrilling his neighbours, and has built similar installations around the world. The Field of Lights will be in place at Uluru until the end of 2020.

Getting darker at the lights thanks to RevD's great new phone and its camera. The others are all lost out in the LED scifi world of tentacles and LEDs.

Top: 5 star breakfast.  Free water refills at the camels, 
World cup rugby at the pioneer bar,

Kulata Academy Cafe for a great iced coffee, 
IGA for everything and 
Geckos for garlic pizza and avocado loaded fries 
- a bit of crocodile from the north too if that takes your fancy.

Willow was keen to get a bit of sun beside a pool and although there was a pool at The Lost Camel, where we were staying, it only had decking around it so she talked Petal and B into walking across to Sails in the Desert; this five star hotel has a pool with grass around and an incredible buffet breakfast. There were dishes to please every nationality visiting the National Park, dumplings, pancakes, muesli, cheeses, pastries, fruit platters, cooked in front of you egg dishes and all the trimmings for a traditional English breakfast. Arguments ensued as to which was better the hash browns or the pancakes. We expected the food in this very isolated location to be expensive, and it was. The local IGA had an excellent selection of take away salads, sandwiches, wraps and other picnic style goodies, as long as you get in before they’re cleaned out! All the cafes and restaurants are owned and run by an indigenous conglomerate and the quality of the food and service was commendable.

A camel train through the sand dunes of Uluru

Camels were introduced by the European explorers and Australia now has the only population of wild dromedaries (one humped camels) in the world. Their wide soft hooves don’t damage the flora and they have become a welcome source of protein in the outback. There are around 10 million feral camels in Australia and the population is expected to double every 8 or so years, they are even being exported back to the Middle East. Petal was very keen to ride one of these amazing beasts. The camel tour at Uluru Camel Farm was a gentle roll through the red sand in sight of the rock. 

Uluru Camel tours - mounted and rolling

The big challenge was getting on and off, back legs straightened first as the camel rose making it feel as if you were going to be tipped off the front. This was especially thrilling for the person seated in front. The tour guides we had were informative about the native flora and fauna and obviously had positive relationships with their beasts. Each camel has a name and their different temperaments and sizes are matched with the tourists lining up for mounting. Every time we stopped for a chat the camel behind me nosed his head under my arm demanding a scratch; there was no way I could offer the same service to the one I was riding. The sport of Sultans (camel racing) is taken seriously and many cups and ribbons were displayed from the various competitions. The Uluru Camel Cup is raced in the last weekend of May.

Each camel had its own personality and name. The handlers knew them all well and told us interesting tales.
They got very huffy about getting up and down.

This is the camel that demanded a head scratch every time we stopped.
Willow bought new shoes so she didn't go home with red runners.

What a privilege it was to visit what has been dubbed the spiritual heartland of Australia. The stunted trees and red red dirt made the area feel otherworldly and the taste of the air was surprisingly salty for a place so far from the sea; perhaps this was just the occasional fly.

We flew through Melbourne to Sydney - for some reason this was cheaper, then of course we had three delays so didn't make it home until after 9pm. At least we had lots of stories to laugh about.

RevD and R were soon reunited with their Kiwi family before returning to life in the UK without a hitch. The rest of the family had to call G out of the Platinum lounge, as he waited for another flight to somewhere, to attend a flat battery in the Park’n’fly garage. Did that Uluru stone get kept after all? Well that just isn’t my story to tell.