Wednesday, September 25, 2013

That is one big rock!!


A Selfie with the rock in the background

The weekend began on Friday when I played in the Ladies Breast Cancer golf day. It was the same team as last year minus a few key players that could not participate this year. Our team, Batman's Bitches wore pink capes, wigs, bat glasses and a fun black shirt that had a pink bat with boobs on the front.  The golf buggy was decked out and we were ready to have some fun.  Most of the day was spent drinking and hanging with the local firemen- we only actually teed off 4 times.  Our team won Best & Fairest this year, which means overall winner - obviously golf scores are not a consideration in this tournament.


We headed down to Ayers Rock (Uluru) on Saturday with our friends, the Gapinski's.  This was our first time to see the rock, plus we were excited to have a weekend away. Unfortunately JD was not feeling 100%, and by the second day he really felt bad.


Our first night was spent at the Sounds of Silence dinner, we hired a sitter for the kids and started getting ready. We were picked up by bus an hour before sunset and taken to look out on top of a sand dune. We were greeted with champagne and canapés, it was only after I ate a few that I was told it was kangaroo- yep, I ate my first roo!  I then decided a few more glasses of champagne might be in order to cleanse my pallet!  After watching the sunset and taking tons of pics, we walked down the dune to a beautiful table with a view of the Olgas.  We were very focused on who they would seat us with, so I promptly told the person assigning tables to seat us as far away from the children as possible so we would not offend anyone- worked like a charm because we were seated with a very fun group!




We were offered Kangaroo Tail soup (more wine, please) followed by a buffet of crocodile, kangaroo, lamb and thank God chicken!  The food was actually really good but Cheyenne and I were a little distracted by the termites hopping around our table (more wine, please).  I will have to say the dessert table was quite good, which made up for my lack of food so far.  The evenings entertainment was a man playing a didgeridoo, a group of men performing traditional Aboriginal dances and an astrologist explaining the beautiful night sky.  During the star talk, everyone was paying close attention- everyone but our table only because of the 2 very funny gentleman sitting across from us, making Cheyenne and I laugh at every comment- oops.  I was unaware that anyone was irritated until we boarded the bus to head back and were met with those looks of unapproval that my sisters and I know so well. We enjoyed our table mates so much that we actually scheduled a dinner party for when they continue to Alice as part of their vacation.
Ayers Rock with the Olgas to the left.
The next day we headed out to the rock, poor JD who had not been feeling great, now had a fever. He tried to hang tough but walking around the rock proved to be too much so the day was cut short. We were all impressed with the beauty of the rock, as well as with the scale of it.  We headed back to the hotel for a little pool time, the kids were loving it even though the water was quite chilly. We then went to one of the resorts aboriginal dance shows where the ladies got to dance along, by the way we were acting like emus- it was hilarious! 



Monday morning the Gapinski's went out for a sunrise camel ride and we headed back to the park to watch the sunrise. It was beautiful! JD then wanted to complete a mission, 27 years ago he brought a small rock home after he had climbed Ayer's rock- only later to find out that it is considered very bad luck to pick up the rocks, let alone take one (think Brady Bunch, the Hawaiian idol episode).  There is even a sorry book located at the cultural center where people have returned the rocks with letters detailing their bad luck. Mission accomplished, the rock is now back where it belongs- we will let you know when we win the lottery!
We made it to see the sunrise, 6:31 AM
Before we left the resort we attended 2 demonstrations this morning, the kids got to throw balls at a rolling tire and throw spears in a field but the big event was learning how to throw a boomerang. It was a great weekend and as usual I am impressed with the Australian landscape.