Paj and Heather's Big Adventure 2008

Part Twelve - Uluru to Perth

You will all have seen Pictures of Uluru in magazines and books.  The photos don’t do it justice.  It is an awesome place.  Unfortunately we didn’t have good weather the few days we were there.  It was cloudy and sometimes drizzly so the sunsets and sunrises were not as spectacular as they could have been.  We spent quite a bit of time at different times of the days at the rock taking pictures and also at Kata Tjuta (The Olgas) doing the same.  We couldn’t believe all the different colours and formations.  We didn’t do the walk to the top of Uluru but we drove right round it so saw it from all sorts of different angles.  There is also a walkway round the base of the rock which you can do.  The Olgas were completely different, made up of several dome like formations again with strange colour combinations.  It was well worth the long drive to see the area. 

As we planned to go back to Perth via the great Central Road we had to spend some time organizing permits to travel.  Most of the road is through Aboriginal land and we needed to get a permit for the Northern Territory stretch and another for the Western Australia side.  You have to have the permits to show if you are stopped by the authorities or there are heavy fines. There are all sorts of restrictions when travelling through Aboriginal land eg no detouring off the main road(and on this road, no stopping except in designated places), no alcohol (you can transport unopened alcohol for personal use if you are passing through the land but it cannot be consumed on the land), no camping.  It is like being in another country!   

We set off from Uluru and it was 3 days of solid driving on dirt roads to get through to Kalgoolie.  We stopped at 2 road house campsites enroute but other than that all we did was drive.  It was a stretch of road that Paj has always wanted to do.  Well, he’s done it now and we are glad we did it but wouldn’t do it again.  The highlight was the many families of wild camels along the roadside.  They were everywhere.  We had a night in Kalgoolie then headed straight for home. 

We have had a great 4 months on the road and are now back in Perth.  The highlight of the trip for Paj was the Ivanhoe Crossing near Kununarra and for Heather it was watching the whales at Quondong Point near Broome, however we saw so many places and did so many things that it is really difficult to pick any one thing or place.  Australia is such a vast country, full of contrasts and there is so much to see, do and learn.  We are really looking forward to exploring more. 

We are now having a few modifications done on the car and caravan in preparation for our next trip.    Next year we plan to head to Tasmania then to the eastern states.  Anyone coming with us?