Monday, October 29, 2012

THE 'OUTBACK' ...ALICE SPRINGS AND ULURU



 Arvin and I flew out of Sydney on October 29th on Quantas.  We had to walk to our plane and we were way in the back!! It was a 2 and 1/2 hour flight with a time change of 1 hour and a half....weird. 
Off we go to Alice Springs almost smack dab in the center of Australia.  Arvin has always wanted to go to Alice Springs...fulfilling his dreams!!!!
 A view of Alice Springs and the gap leading out to the outback.  Alice Springs is nestled amongst the majestic MacDonnell Ranges.  

Monday afternoon at 5 P.M. we had arranged for me to ride a camel.  Marcus is the owner of Pyndan Camel Tracks!  Marcus has property about 20 minutes from Alice Springs where he lives with his family and his camel business.  He captured his 13 camels in the wild.  There is reported to be 1 and a half million wild camels in Australia!!




The Camel I am riding is named Doc.  It is pretty much like riding a horse except when he gets up and then gets down.  The camels lay down on their knees. Just Marcus and I went riding in the desert with 3 other camels hooked to us.     

 Tuesday we went on a tour with Alice Wanderer Emu Run bus to Uluru (Ayers Rock) and Kata Tjuta National Park.  We left at 6 A.M. and arrived home at 12 midnight...long bus ride!  It took 4 1/2 hours to get to the National Park.  We had a sack breakfast (juice, crackers and cheese, nut bar).  Along the way they passed out orange slices, apples, candies etc. so all was good.  We also had a sack lunch! Our evening meal was a barbeque. The desert looks just like Arizona especially Sedona with all the red rocks

Mt Conner is the name of this large mountain on the way to Ayers Rock. The road to Uluru was totally straight with no turns..amazing!
Kata Tjuta (the Olgas). Weathered rock domes which have aboriginal stories connected to all the markings on the rocks. We walked in and around the domes and up to the gap in the rocks.

The National Park represents the spiritual heart of Australia.  Uluru is one of the great natural wonders of the world!  This is a sunset picture of Uluru.
While we were in Alice Springs we met the Elders serving in the area and a cousin of one of our inactive families the Paulos. 
  Elder Morrissette from California and Elder Taukala from Sydney and the cousin Ezra .  We treated them to Hungry Jack (Burger King) as it is called in Australia because they did not have much business when it was Burger King!! Elder Taukala had turned down a  million dollar contract with a Rugby team to come on his mission.

A lot of Aboriginal people live in Alice Springs. We celebrated Halloween at the Branch building on Wednesday.  They had invited lots of people from town...was a fun event! We visited the Flying doctors museum, Anzac Hill and the Telegraph Station. 


 Before we left for the airport Ezra took us to Simpson's Gap.  Beautiful red rocks and trees.  We were told that people are not to swim in the water because of the snakes!!
           We had a great time on our 'Outback' trip and so glad we went!!
 

Monday, October 1, 2012

EXPLORING THE SOUTHERN PART OF NSW

Tulip Festival in Bowral with Arvin sitting among the tulips of all colors!! So amazing the many different varieties of tulips!  This was our first stop of the day.  We went on the trip with the Harpers and Bakers in the Bakers van. We are going to be gone for 4 days 3 nights visiting what we can down the southern part of Australia. We will end up at Narooma!





Some feathered friends we found along the way! Don't know what kind of fowl this one is but the Pelicans were very plentiful in this area of Shoalhaven and Shellharbor.
 



Elder Leon Baker found this marvelous eating place called the Stone Grill.  You cook your own meat on a hot stone brought out...soooo good! you can see the steam rising from food cooking. Ruth Ann and Carl Harper, Leon and Lorraine Baker

Our next adventure was seeing the whitest sand in the world (or so they say)!  This was at Jervis Bay.  The sand was so soft and fine not gritty. 


  Our great resort in Narooma!  The Branch President manages this resort so let us have a great price!  We enjoyed the beach just a short walk away. And explored the bush and cliffs nearby.  We had the Elders Tumarae and Bacosa over for dinner and Family Home Evening.


We had lunch at this fish and chip shop....grilled Salmon and fries!! The Chip Shop was at Jervis Bay where we got the Whale Watching.
  
 
 Lorranie, Joan and Ruth Ann enjoying the beach not far from the resort...love the ocean and the beach!!!  No swimming just pumicing our feet on our walk!
 

 Off to Jervis Bay and Whale watching!!

It is hard to see but this is a whale sailing through the air belly up!! Wow was this exciting...almost missed it!
 What a fun trip with four wonderful people..and us!!