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.
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!!
