Summer Trip to Uluru
20 January 2006
We had an eventful holiday season, not entirely for good reasons. Though work has been quite busy for me and increasingly for Jay as well with deadlines approaching on his project at Atari, we have still managed to spend sime time in the sun over the Summer so far.
At the end of November we visited my family's house at Sorrento for the weekend, going to the beach and tidying up the house a little as it has been unoccupied for most of the Winter. The weather was already warm enough for lying in the sun, but the water is very cold (this is the Southern Ocean) and we didn't swim.
Shortly thereafter I was talking to a friend at the gym about his car problems. He had the same model Freelander as I did and was facing a repair bill greater than the value of the car after the head gasket had failed and the engine had overheated and seized, destroying most of the electrical system at the same time. I did some reading online and discovered that this was a common problem, so I decided it was time to change car as a matter of urgency; it took three weeks. Looking at cars was more fun than I had expected, but certainly ate into Christmas shopping time.
We went to wish Ross and Belinda, friends who live by the beach at Ocean Grove, a Merry Christmas and renewed acquaintances with their twins, Tom and Jemima and also their daughter Sophie. I discovered it was quite an undertaking to get all the children to the beach for a walk. Tom and Jemima were only a few months old when we last saw them. They were much more interactive this time.
Christmas this year was quite subdued. The family Christmas lunch had always been a big event for my maternal grandmother who had died in August, so we had planned only a small Christmas lunch this year, expecting to see the extended family on the evening of the 24th and the afternoon of the 25th. Just before dinner on Christmas Eve, my father fell chasing his three-year-old great-nephew who was running into traffic and broke his upper arm at the shoulder joint.
This is a 3D reconstruction from a CT scan. I spent Christmas Eve at the Emergency Room with him, reminiscing about breaking my leg before Christmas 1999. It was repaired at operation two days later and he is making a good recovery.
This left only six of us (plus Saxon) for lunch on Christmas Day. Here are my mother, sister, Jay, my Uncle John and my grandfather. Saxon was busy eating the stuffed bear he received for Christmas when the picture was taken.
The following day Jay and I flew to Uluru (Ayres Rock). We stayed there for five days. The weather in central Australia is hot in the Summer. It was about 40C (105F) during the day and 20C (70F) at night with under 10% humidity.
The tourist resort at Ayres Rock is quite isolated, being 450km from the nearest town of any size (Alice Springs). The hotels are built quite low among the sand dunes. Here I am standing on a dune with the hotel behind me and in the haze you can see Kata Tjuta (the Olgas), a large rock formation which is just over 50km from the hotel.
We visited Kata Tjuta and I took the opportunity to be photographed in the same place as 12 years previously. The rocks hadn't changed much in 12 years which wasn't surprising as they're some hundreds of millions of years old, much older than that T-shirt.
We took an aboriginal-guided walk around the base of the rock which included a number of the sacred sites. Many tourists climb the rock. When we were at the base tour, the climb had already been closed for the day as the temperature was over 36C, but there were still people coming down from earlier in the day as you can see in the photo. The rock is about 340m (1100ft) high, which makes it a little taller than the Eiffel tower.
Many of the activities were either early or late in the day as it was so hot in the middle of the day. We went on a camel ride at sunrise which included views of the rock. Camels were introduced for transport by european settlers and now run wild in the desert. They are captured for use in tours and for racing. We also went to Kings Canyon for a day which is a spectacular gorge in the desert some 300km from Uluru.
We had dinner in the desert by the rock at sunset on the first night. On the last night we visited again at sunset and took some photos. There were clouds in the sky, but the sun came through just before sunset. There is a photo album with more pictures from the trip.
We had a quiet New Year's Eve at some house parties, but on New Year's Day went to an outdoor event. The weather changed from sunny and low 40s to pouring rain shortly before we arrived. Fortunately some of the dance floor was undercover and so we stayed to hear Fat Boy Slim, Bodyrockers and Roger Sanchez.
Also in the week after New Year's, Will Caldwell, a friend from LA, was visiting his family in Melbourne and came to dinner. He seemed to have had a relaxing Summer holiday at Pt Lonsdale and was looking tanned and well. We have no trips planned until Mardi Gras in Sydney in March where we hope to catch up with a few friends from the US.
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At the end of November we visited my family's house at Sorrento for the weekend, going to the beach and tidying up the house a little as it has been unoccupied for most of the Winter. The weather was already warm enough for lying in the sun, but the water is very cold (this is the Southern Ocean) and we didn't swim.
Shortly thereafter I was talking to a friend at the gym about his car problems. He had the same model Freelander as I did and was facing a repair bill greater than the value of the car after the head gasket had failed and the engine had overheated and seized, destroying most of the electrical system at the same time. I did some reading online and discovered that this was a common problem, so I decided it was time to change car as a matter of urgency; it took three weeks. Looking at cars was more fun than I had expected, but certainly ate into Christmas shopping time.
We went to wish Ross and Belinda, friends who live by the beach at Ocean Grove, a Merry Christmas and renewed acquaintances with their twins, Tom and Jemima and also their daughter Sophie. I discovered it was quite an undertaking to get all the children to the beach for a walk. Tom and Jemima were only a few months old when we last saw them. They were much more interactive this time.
Christmas this year was quite subdued. The family Christmas lunch had always been a big event for my maternal grandmother who had died in August, so we had planned only a small Christmas lunch this year, expecting to see the extended family on the evening of the 24th and the afternoon of the 25th. Just before dinner on Christmas Eve, my father fell chasing his three-year-old great-nephew who was running into traffic and broke his upper arm at the shoulder joint.
This is a 3D reconstruction from a CT scan. I spent Christmas Eve at the Emergency Room with him, reminiscing about breaking my leg before Christmas 1999. It was repaired at operation two days later and he is making a good recovery.
This left only six of us (plus Saxon) for lunch on Christmas Day. Here are my mother, sister, Jay, my Uncle John and my grandfather. Saxon was busy eating the stuffed bear he received for Christmas when the picture was taken.
The following day Jay and I flew to Uluru (Ayres Rock). We stayed there for five days. The weather in central Australia is hot in the Summer. It was about 40C (105F) during the day and 20C (70F) at night with under 10% humidity.
The tourist resort at Ayres Rock is quite isolated, being 450km from the nearest town of any size (Alice Springs). The hotels are built quite low among the sand dunes. Here I am standing on a dune with the hotel behind me and in the haze you can see Kata Tjuta (the Olgas), a large rock formation which is just over 50km from the hotel.
We visited Kata Tjuta and I took the opportunity to be photographed in the same place as 12 years previously. The rocks hadn't changed much in 12 years which wasn't surprising as they're some hundreds of millions of years old, much older than that T-shirt.
We took an aboriginal-guided walk around the base of the rock which included a number of the sacred sites. Many tourists climb the rock. When we were at the base tour, the climb had already been closed for the day as the temperature was over 36C, but there were still people coming down from earlier in the day as you can see in the photo. The rock is about 340m (1100ft) high, which makes it a little taller than the Eiffel tower.
Many of the activities were either early or late in the day as it was so hot in the middle of the day. We went on a camel ride at sunrise which included views of the rock. Camels were introduced for transport by european settlers and now run wild in the desert. They are captured for use in tours and for racing. We also went to Kings Canyon for a day which is a spectacular gorge in the desert some 300km from Uluru.
We had dinner in the desert by the rock at sunset on the first night. On the last night we visited again at sunset and took some photos. There were clouds in the sky, but the sun came through just before sunset. There is a photo album with more pictures from the trip.
We had a quiet New Year's Eve at some house parties, but on New Year's Day went to an outdoor event. The weather changed from sunny and low 40s to pouring rain shortly before we arrived. Fortunately some of the dance floor was undercover and so we stayed to hear Fat Boy Slim, Bodyrockers and Roger Sanchez.
Also in the week after New Year's, Will Caldwell, a friend from LA, was visiting his family in Melbourne and came to dinner. He seemed to have had a relaxing Summer holiday at Pt Lonsdale and was looking tanned and well. We have no trips planned until Mardi Gras in Sydney in March where we hope to catch up with a few friends from the US.
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