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Today we were up at 4 a.m. for the Uluru sunrise with tea and biscuits. Not a great location as we were a little late getting started, but the colors were very cool. It was spoiled somewhat by some stupid tourists that ignore bounding ropes and hop them to take pictures. I mean if there had been a difference between where they were seated and the area they crossed into I could maybe see a point, but all they had to do was move their picture-taker back a few steps and they would have had the same shot and not broken the rules. And they sound even more stupid when explaining to a ranger that they did it because "everyone else was doing it"... what a couple of morons!
However, after the sunrise excitement we move on to our Valley of the Winds walk. They close this hike at 11:00 a.m. because it gets too hot for people to hike and climb as there is no water and precious little shade along the way. It was a very rigorous hike, but more than worth it. The views were amazing. I got sun stroke or heat exhaustion (not sure of the difference) but I was out without a hat and thank goodness I had my bandana which I always travel with. I wrapped over my sun burnt scalp and poured water over my head to keep myself cool. Sharon had to contend with blisters. I think in the long run, she was worse off than I was. Some 3 hours later, we have a snack then back to the hotel. Needless to say we had to have a shower and lie down after this.
Then in the afternoon, we were back up again for the Uluru base tour of one of the water holes and a stop at the Cultural Center. I picked up some books on the Stories of Uluru that I hope to pass on to Phoebe and Selena as they are becoming avid readers. They seem to enjoy stories from other cultures. I had forgotten that our tour was a sunset tour as well as we found ourselves in a very nice viewing spot with noshes and beverages. I stuck to one glass of wine then lemonade as I was still not feeling completely right. The guide suggested taking a photo every 5 minutes to capture the changing colors. I can't wait to see how it comes out in sequence.
When we got back we were heading for the showers when Rhonda knocked on our door. We had planned to meet her and Lyndon for dinner. But as we were at the sunset viewing and missed them, they were worried about us. Bless her heart, Rhonda helped me cook the kangaroo kebob and lamb steak I had picked out from the BBQ menu. I was still suffering from the heat exhaustion and lack of sleep. I think I came off somewhat dim witted as I couldn't operate a grill, which most of my friends know I can BBQ with the best of them. Just not tonight. Sharon had a t-bone steak and managed to grill on her own. Wench. But I did manage to find packs of mustard in this yellow condiment challenged country. And we settled down to talk about our respective days.
The conversation led to discussions of our respective country's fast food restaurants. They have McDonald's here which is the same, but with Aussie Beef. Hungry Jacks is our Burger King, and Wendy's is totally different. In America, Wendy's is a burger joint, where in Australia, it is an ice cream shop.
Sharon and Lyndon were discussing the characters from the movie Flushed Away, but I think she was mistaking the slug for Mr. Hankey. I thought Lyndon was going to bust a gut he was laughing so hard. And Sharon kept egging him on.
We had a great time and promised to meet for breakfast as we are all flying out tomorrow. Us to Sydney and they back to Perth.
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