Oooh La Laluru

I flew into Uluru, or Ayers Rock, today, which is in Northern Territory, Australia, and is about a five hour drive from the nearest city, Alice Springs.  So it is literally, in the middle of nowhere.  I had come to terms with not coming out here because the flights are so expensive, but I am SOO glad I changed my mind.  It's amazing to just be.  There's so much going on in the city that you don't get a chance to just be.

I went on a tour called The Sounds of Silence tonight.  The resort area is obviously in the middle of nowhere since Uluru is smack dab in the middle of the bush, but our dinner destination was even further out.  We drove for about ten minutes straight out into the wilderness on a dirt road.  When we arrived, we climbed up the red dirt path (they call this place the "red centre" and it's rightfully named b/c the dirt isn't brown or even orange..it is RED) to a small plateau overlooking Ayers Rock on one side and Kata Tjuta (The Olgas) on the other.  There, they gave us all the champagne we could drink and delicious crocodile, kangaroo, and salmon hors d'oeuvres.  We had an Australian man playing the didjeridu, which he has done for this specific tour for 10 years.  He took the time to explain to us the way the instrument is made in nature (termites hollow out the tree trunks) and how to play it.  He was selling CD's, so I decided to get one (as I wanted one anyway, and figured it would be best to get one by an artist I had enjoyed live).  It cost $30 freaking  dollars though!!  But, we talked for quite a while, and he was a very nice man with interesting stories..so it made up for the astronomical cost of his CD.  Plus his grandparents were Aboriginal and Irish, so I related to that since I have Irish and Native American ancestors.

After watching the sunset, we walked down the other side of the hill to the "dining room" (although I feel weird about calling something with no walls a room).  They gave us more and more wine, and we had a HUGE buffet.  I got a crocodile caesar salad (AMAZING), some baby potatoes, kangaroo meat, lamb cutlet, and jasmine rice.  After dinner, they turned off the space heaters and blew out the candles on our tables (which was the only light there), and you would not believe the night sky.  I never realized how even when I go camping and think I'm seeing a beautiful sky how much light pollution is still present.  You can't go ANYWHERE in America and be as far out in the middle of nowhere as I just was...at least not that I know of.  Because like I said, there are about four resorts (one of which is a campgrounds and doesn't really count) in the area, and other than that the next nearest modern civilization is a five hour drive away.

I saw all these constellations that the Aboriginals formed their legends around, half the horoscope constellations (the other half aren't visible until later in the night, but I saw scorpio VERY WELL which was all that really mattered to me), and the milky way! The milky way was ACTUALLY visible...obviously visible..like a large creamy marble striped across the sky.

It was incredible.  No, that doesn't even begin to cover it.  Please, before you don't have the chance travel somewhere out of the norm..see something you never could have even imagined.  I know America is great and there is plenty of variety to see, but don't rest in your comfort zone.  Travel across the world to a place where you can't follow the north star home, where you can easily see Venus, Mars, and Saturn with your naked eye all lined up in a row, where you can be in touch with nature at all.  Use your privilege of being born American to do some good for yourself.  Test your limits. Go see something!  I promise you won't regret it.

I wined and dined with Americans, French, and Italians tonight listening to the oldest woodwind instrument in the world on land that has been lived on by Aboriginal peoples for tens of thousands of years...When you have experiences like this you can't help but feel completely connected to every living thing.  You just feel so alive, and like you're sharing it with every other living creature that has and will ever live.  It's beautiful.

So get off your ass and do something!  Don't use anything as an excuse.  I'm one of the busiest people I know and I'm broke as a joke, and I'm doing something!  So please, do something.  You won't regret it...I promise!

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Apologies if my passion came across a bit...er, strong..haha  Did I mention how much champagne and wine they gave us?? :P

Today I meandered around a small portion of the base of Ayers Rock for about 2 1/2 hours.  I got a bunch of cool pictures I can't wait to upload, but unfortunately all the coolest stuff was off-limits for photographing b/c they're extremely spiritual sites for the Aboriginals.

Tomorrow, I am doing a sunrise tour and a guided cultural tour/walk around Uluru and a sunset tour at Kata Tjuta!  FULL day!  The first tour is 6:15 AM-noon, and the second is like 2:30-7 or 8ish I'm assuming..And then I check out at ten the next day to leave for Auckland!  So, I might not have internet access til I get back to Sydney next week, but I hope to get bunches of comments, FB messages, and emails in the mean time! <3

Spontaneous Vacation!

My boss gave me next week off, so I leave tomorrow bright and shiny in the morning to Uluru til Tuesday, and then I carry on to Auckland, NZ til Sunday! :)