Brisbane and Ayers Rock, Australia

In Brisbane we visited the Lone Pine Koala sanctuary and also walked atop the Story Bridge.

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We took a train from the airport and pushed our luggage up several hills to the Punthill Apartments. With an overnight flight from Bali, we almost slept in the lobby chairs awaiting check-in. Fortunately we only had to wait about 4 hours.

What an exciting few days we experienced in Brisbane! We took in a jazz concert in a magnificent Cathedral from the late 1800’s along with some jazz bands in the city (all free) on behalf of it being their international jazz festival week. We timed it right!

In the Cathedral Jim perused through their coin collection on display. As an avid coin collector, the coin from 400 B.C. caught his attention.

With rental bikes we explored many trails along the river and across stunning bridges. Later in the week we actually did the Story Bridge Climb where Suzan overcame her fear of heights! Braced in harnesses and special suits (like astronauts), we climbed upper railings and looked down at the cars below. We had magnificent city views, even if a bit harrowing at times. We learned that the Story Bridge construction workers were lured in by the offer of 3 beers a day which they could consume at any time. It took 12 years to build it (no wonder). Constructing this bridge actually brought Australia out of the depression of the 1930’s. We fit in a ride on the free ferry during twilight to see buildings lit up with extraordinary colors after our bridge climb.

Another huge highlight was a visit to the wildlife refuge, the Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary, where we held Koalas only to learn they are not so soft and cuddly (a bit Brillo paddish with some sharp claws) yet they are still so adorable to look at! Suzan held a python to help ease her fear of snakes (especially in Australia with about 83 poisonous ones). This snake seemed to want the cuddle; she almost fell asleep and the handler didn’t want to move her. Go figure! We also fed Kangaroos and Wallabys who surrounded us at the sight of our small brown bags (filled with their food pellets).

Brisbane was also where we both visited a doctor (sort of a 2 for 1 type of visit). Turned out Jim had strep throat and needed antibiotics (good thing we learned this before his upcoming dives at the Great Barrier Reef)! Suzan was given a prescription to help with dizziness which she has experienced on and off during the trip. We were grateful that we could get appointments together with such short notice (same day).

Just before our flight from Cairns to Brisbane with an overnight to Fiji, we were finally able to access email and learned that our overnight Fiji flight had been rescheduled for the following day. We quickly found a hotel online to book so we ended up with one more night in our beloved Australia! In the end we were grateful. We had a great work out in the gym (which has been a rarity for us). Washed clothes (always a good thing) and at dinner had our final Kangaroo steaks (at least for awhile)…

 

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Walking at the topof the Story Bridge in Brisbane.
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We took advantage of the Brisbane public bike
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system and round up and down the Brisbane river path
The "Wheel of Brisbane" which we rode at sunset
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offering panoramic views of the Brisbane river area
Public rock climbing area on the north bank of the
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Brisbane river.
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Coming out of our emergency Doctor's appointments
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we ran into a Hare Krishna parade. We did not join in.
St John's Anglican Cathedral
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A coin from 460 BC that was in the St John's
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Anglican Cathedral

Uluru (Ayers Rock) is one of Australia's most recognisable natural landmarks. The sandstone formation stands 1,142 ft high, rising 2,831 ft above sea level with most of its bulk lying underground, and has a total circumference of 5.8 miles.

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We took two flights from Brisbane to arrive in Uluru. The first flight took us to Alice Springs and the plane ride felt like we were on a bucking bronco. The plane shook so much we thought we would not make it. We nearly kissed the ground when this flight landed!

 
In Uluru we stayed at the Emu Ridge Apartments part of the only resort in the area. Due to this they can charge whatever they want for the rooms and also the meals. There is nowhere else to go! Prices started at about $300.00 a night and main courses at $45.00 (a la carte). Even the one campground (on the resort) charged $50.00 per person and this is without any hookups or amenities. We found the resort (at least our apartment) to be quite run down (e.g. our curtains were so faded they had changed colors) yet with the price of the meals – we were so grateful to have a full kitchen. All of this so we could come see a big rock : )

In the village we saw some aboriginal dancing and in the grocery store we found kangaroo steaks. So we prepared them for dinner and discovered we really like this wild game. We also saw a brilliant sunset of pinks, purples and yellows before the sun faded into the night.

The next day we thought we could walk to Ayers Rock or at least take a hotel shuttle to get there. Turned out it was 32 kilometers, it just looked a lot closer. The front desk staff told us it would cost $75.00 EACH WAY for us to take the shuttle so we ended up renting a car (at about $130.00 and we had more flexibility). This area is definitely a racket!

We finally drove out to Ayers Rock (Uluru is the aboriginal name) to walk around its base (about 6 miles around). Fortunately we found this experience to be worth all of it, the flights and the resort expenses. We felt an energy surge upon approaching it and it seemed sacred like we were entering a temple and needed to bow and pray (at least this is how Suzan describes it). It was a place where we preferred to be in silence and each view as we circled it had a different look. Ayers Rock is the world’s largest monolithic rock and from afar it just seems like one big rock yet getting close to it – it is a marvel. It even changes colors throughout the day and evening.

There were many areas along Ayers Rock where it is forbidden to take photographs. The Aboriginal people have “stories”, customs, and rituals which they depend upon for the survival of their ancestors’ teachings. Their rituals continue (both the men and the women have areas on the rock where these take place thus they are considered sacred so cannot be filmed). There seemed to be more areas where the men hung out – talk about “man caves.”

What an experience to be with this powerful energy stream (even more so than our experience in Sedona, Arizona where there is allegedly a vortex where one can feel energy surges). Ayers Rock has been a notable part of the Aboriginal history (for at least about 20,000 years) and now they’re discovering older civilizations which may date back closer to 70,000 years.

An interesting “story” we heard included that punishment back in the day included hitting people on the head until they bled. Then others would help them to stop the bleeding. This literally contributed to their skulls being 2 centimeters thicker than the average human’s skull today. For more severe retribution men were shot in their thighs with spears. Whenever someone had scars in this area they were scorned.

Our final morning Jim bounded out of bed at 6:00 am to drive out to see the sunrise (and, of course, film it). Suzan stayed in bed. Even though the cloud coverage did not lend much support to Jim’s photography, we both enjoyed some alone time!

At the airport counter they were actually weighing carry-ons and everyone was only allowed 7 kilograms each.  This was the first time we encountered this during our entire trip. We each had backpacks plus bags with gifts we’ve been accumulating. Jim’s backpack alone weighed about 11 kilograms with all of the camera gear. Jim somehow chatted up the agent and distracted her enough that we weighed our gift bags, which were fine, and she didn’t seem to realize we had the backpacks on. We then carefully backed away from the counter before she would notice. Whew. A close one.


 


 

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Aboriginal cave drawings at Mutitjulu waterhole
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The "Kitchen Cave' where woman and girls would
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have camped.
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Jim at the site of this Aboriginal "Man Cave where
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senior Mala men camped & prepared for ceremony
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Jim rose before sunrise to capture the sun's first
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rays on Uluru. Thanks to clouds there were no rays.
Sacred sites around Uluru cannot be photographed
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If you do, "Mala Puta" (think Spanish) will happen to you.
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Native body painting of the ancestral Anangu
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aboriginal tribe in the Ulhuru area.
Cooking up some kangaroo meat. Very tasty and
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it does not taste like chicken. More like beef.

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