Uluru

  Yulara, Northern Territory, Australia
Wednesday, August 27, 2008

Hopefully you will forgive a slightly longer entry, but this is more or less the end of the road and this blog will soon be closed.

Today we sat and watched the sunset and saw for ourselves the famous colour changes that Ayers Rock (Uluru) goes through as the earth spins away from its light source. It felt like a fitting finale to our Australian tour. And helped us decide that for sure it was the right decision to abandon the charms of the beach and go for some more adventure. If I mention that we have been chilled to the bone every night, that we are back to chivvying and coaxing squabbling children along slightly over ambitious walks, and that a dingo stole our weetabix you might wonder why we feel this way. But the scenery is probably the best we have seen on this trip and despite a few squabbles we are actually very much enjoying getting back into our regular walking and exploring routines.

After stocking up in Alice Springs we headed due West through more gorge territory called the West McDonald ranges. Unlike the Kimberley though we found this to be more varied and interesting country and the distances much smaller from point to point. We struggled a little to get back into the walking routine. Indeed on our first walk of significance, we had left ourselves less time than we should have done before dark and after a tough rocky scramble over the first section were starting to get worried. We also lost the trail for a bit and had got to that point where we weren't quite half way and still had the option of turning back rather than completing the loop, not to mention that the kids were fighting and complaining and just at that moment the reason why we had left the charms of beach life for this escaped us entirely. Denise I remember put it slightly more colourfully when the kids were out of earshot. But then the path improved and the parents found the energy to distract and entertain and we completed the remaining 4kms in record time with no need to carry Lily despite severe fears to the contrary and it was a beautiful walk, perhaps our best.

The secret to walking with our children appears to be to allow their extraordinary imaginations to roam free. Maia is quite capable of taking an entire kilometer designing a single dress (not including the accessories). Another favourite that's good for many hours is the families they might have in future. On this particular walk Maia had conjured up 14 children by the time we reached the carpark, and designed a house with individual ensuite rooms with unique decorations for all. Lily's family creations are more amorphous, typically changing in both population and age profile from the beginning of one sentence to the end (though admittedly Lily's sentences end only about once a km). The parents need to participate only infrequently - enough to keep the imaginations in train and distracting from tired feet but we can otherwise enjoy our own pleasures of day dreaming and admiring the landscape. Though it must be said that Denise could impressively name all 14 of Maia's children on the drive back to the campsite including correctly grouping all twin and triplet combinations.

It has continued to be bitterly cold at night. Fellow campers we met at one spot have insisted their themometer has regularly gone below zero, though the official weather reports indicate something slightly above the freezing mark. Whatever the precise measure it is very cold, but we are managing. And there still is nothing like setting up camp in the bush with no one else around in beautiful spot, cooking a fine meal over a fire that you enjoy so much more than any expensive restaurant option and generally savouring the outdoors. We have even started to cook the famous Australian camp fire bread called damper. You essentially mix flour and water in whatever quantities feel right, plus a bit of this and a bit of that. Wrap in foil (if like us you don't have a camp oven) and throw in the fire. Delicious.

We have now reached more mainstream tourist country having seen the King's Canyon National Park, and now of course Uluru. At King's Canyon we enjoyed a spectacular and beautiful walk around the rim of the canyon and got back to the campsite to find no further thefts by our neighbourhood dingos. Arriving the day before, although we had been warned several times of these marauding beasts, we got distracted setting up camp and Neil temporarily left a bag of food on the ground at the back of the car while walking round to the front to help Denise with a tent blowing away in a sudden gust. In an instant the female dingo seized her moment and in a flash was heading off to the bush with our box of weetabix. This made Neil seem even more foolish than normal as he had earlier stated with typical Salmon dogmatism that a Dingo would only be around at night. This particular animal has made several passing patrols since (none of them at night), but we are on our guard now. Apparently shoes, towels, even laptops have been taken, including from the inside of tents. I'm glad to say we were sufficiently alert to avoid further loss from wild dogs, but that didn't prevent crested pigeon's, miner birds, and magpie larks descending on us as we ate our breakfast, requiring vigorous whipping of a dish cloth before even deigning to flutter off our table. But then Denise does insist on buying bird food for cereal!!!

We are not finished with the area around Uluru yet, but it has been spectacular so far. Many campers we have met along the way have expressed a slight disappointment on finally seeing the great Australian landmark, but have raved about the collection of other massive red monuments in the area known as the Olga's We would rave about the Olga's too which we walked amongst today, but we also found Uluru fabulous.

Finally a comment on our various hairstyles. As the trip has gone on it has become increasingly difficult to persuade either of the more self conscious Salmons to put pictures of themselves on this blog. But finally we have reached a compromise. A close up of Neil's now departed beard, plus - and this was cruel - a family shot showing the mustache which was exhibited for all of 24 hours, earns enough credit to include also in the family photo a slightly more prominent viewing of Denise's very elegant mop - which we still hope will grow out to something like her former tresses one day in the next decade.