Aussie road trip Part 2: September 2015

Road trip

We were up and on the road by 7am. We had a very long driving day ahead of us, and wouldn’t be making any unnecessary stops for the 10-plus hour drive. Javier hadn’t slept well the night before. He was so congested and sick. I therefore, didn’t get much sleep either, but was in much better condition than him. I started us out and drove us until lunch. The drive was beautiful. The sun was coming up, and between the colors of the sky and the vast nothingness that is “The Great Southern Road,” it was such a treat. Part of this drive included the longest straight road in Australia at 90miles long. I drove straight…no turns, no nothing…just straight for over an hour. I missed the photo op at the beginning, but told Javier that I wanted to catch the sign on the other end, so he kept an eye out, and we jumped out and snapped some photos 90 miles later.

Read the sign.

At Cocklebiddy (yes, that is the name of a city) we had lunch and Megumi took over the drive. Again, she had to deal with rain, and also one of the most populated kangaroo areas, but thankfully we didn’t meet any on the road, only passed by a bunch of dead ones moved off to the side. 🙁 We switched again a couple of hours later while driving through the Nullarbor region. 

We finally arrived at Ceduna for the night. We had officially exited Western Australia and entered Southern Australia. There were signs for a fruit-fly check before entering. I kept seeing signs that said “Eat your fruit. Fruit fly inspection ahead.” I told Javier and Megumi to start eating our fruit-we had about 5 mandarines, 5 small apples, and 2 bananas. We ate a few, but Javier was convinced that they would just inspect the fruit and let us move on. To me, a sign that says, “Eat your fruit” means, you’d better eat it, or it’s going to get confiscated.

Eat your fruit!!!

Sure enough, the boarder guard asked, we were truthful and he said we needed to throw it all away. We asked if we could eat it then and there. He said we weren’t supposed to, but he let us. So there we sat, eating all of our fruits. I asked him if we bought more fruit in SA if we’d have to throw them away when we entered the Northern Territory. He assured me that it wouldn’t be a problem. 

We stopped at the first gas station/motel we saw. They didn’t have any availability. Thankfully, Ceduna is a much bigger town than Balladonia, with a population in the triple digits instead of single. We went to the next hotel/motel. It was on the water, and looked quite nice. They were fully booked as well, but we stopped for a moment to enjoy the sunset.

Sea front sunset

We finally found a place that offered bungalows, walked back to the seafront hotel for dinner, and went to bed early to try and get an even earlier start on our day. It was another rough night of sleep, and after driving most of the day before, I was thinking I was headed toward sickville with Javier. He was actually doing much better and was able to drive, which he did for most of the day. We were looking at another 10-hour day of driving, so we started at 6am. We grabbed a to-go breakfast while we filled our gas tank and were on the road again. We made a few stops along the way. Once, to take a picture of a giant Gulah, which looks like a parrot with a grey body and pink-red head. 

Road trip

We stopped in Port Augusta for lunch and to buy more fruit. We wanted to eat at Ian’s Chicken Hut, not only because the rotisserie chicken looked amazing, but because we really wanted to eat at a place called a “chicken hut.” Unfortunately, we can’t say we ate at the chicken hut, because Ian doesn’t provide tables, and after being stuck in the car for three days, we didn’t feel like eating in there as well. After lunch, we started our journey up through the middle of Australia. About 30 minutes into our drive, Javier says, “We forgot to get gas.” We had decided to try and keep the tank half-full as much as possible. When you sometimes have to drive a couple of hours from one gas station to another, with absolutely nothing in between, you want to keep your tank as full as possible. We were currently at a quarter tank and had about 150km until the next gas station. We did several calculations, some more scientific than others, read the manual to find out just how many liters were in a full tank, and also how many liters we had once the gas light came on. After much back and fourth, we decided to go ahead, slow down, and hope for the best. Megumi just sat back and periodically asked, “Are we gonna make it?” At one point, we started to relax a bit. We saw a sign for 10km until the town. We figured if we died there, one of us could go for a little jog, which after being cooped up for days, sounded kinda nice. 🙂 No one exercised that day. We made it to the gas station with no problems, although that gas light had been on for quite a while. Never again!

Emus!

We made the rest of the drive without incident and even stopped to snap some pictures of emus! We stayed in Coober Pedy for the night, surrounded by opals. We learned that 85% of the world’s opals come from Coober Pedy. Accommodation was significantly more expensive in Coober Pedy than anywhere else. After going to several places, most of them underground (it’s a thing here) we opted for an “apartment.” We thought it was going to be like the bungalow we slept in the night before. When we walked in, we were so pleasantly surprised. The place was so incredibly nice. Clean, modern, and felt like a nice hotel rather than the roadhouses we had stayed previously. After walking through, Javier comes running into the living room. “Quick! Grab your clothes. There’s a washing machine!” The things that get us excited these days. We were able to wash all of our dirty clothes, ordered a pizza to share, and had a lovely evening in or little apartment. We all slept like rocks. The bed was big and comfortable. So comfortable in fact, that we didn’t wake up. Instead, we woke to Megumi knocking on our door, “Ohaiyo! It’s almost 8 o’clock!” We quickly readied ourselves, heated up left-over pizza and instant coffee for breakfast, and were on our way. I could have slept in that bed all day long. 

Aussie road trip

Our drive was shorter than the other days. Only about 8 hours. Megumi was leaving the next day, so she really wanted to catch the sunset at Uluru (Ayers Rock). We started later than planned, but made it there with plenty of time to spare. We stopped at the first hotel and they had one room available for $415 for the night, and nothing available for the following night. No thank you. The closest town to Uluru is Yulara. The only area for hotels and restaurants is all under the “Ayer’s Rock Resort” conglomerate. So, while we were at the first place, they were able to easily find out who had availability for two nights. Turned out there was only two out of 5 hotels with availability for two nights and one was the 5-star resort with rooms starting in the $500 range for a night. No thank you, again. We went to our only option and booked a room for the three of us. The only room available was bunk beds with shared, camping-style bathroom facilities. There was a chance that we could have another roommate, so we opted to leave our luggage in the car and headed over to Uluru for the sunset. 

Magical

The sunset was gorgeous. The sun was setting behind us as we faced the rock. Just standing there staring at it was enough. The colors, the clouds, and the fact that there’s nothing else around it, was just magical. We took many, many pictures, and just as the sun disappeared, the entire face of the rock shone bright red. It was amazing. 

We went arrived back at our home and had dinner. The place was very festive. They have barbecues where you can buy your meat and marinade there, and cook it up yourself. There is a restaurant, a couple of takeaway options, and an outdoor bar. All of the seating areas are together, so you sit at long tables with other people and eat together.

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Really red

There were TVs showing news, since there were no footy games on that night. A little later, there was live music. It was a great vibe, and we had fun. We decided to go to be early so we could wake up and catch the sunrise at Uluru. Before going to bed, we connected to internet to try and take care of something. While connected, I picked up a message from my mom. My dog, McKenzie had died. I was so sad. I just sat there crying with Javier holding me. Megumi sat close by quietly. McKenzie wasn’t in the best of health when I left for this trip, and I didn’t think she would live long enough to see my return, but I was hopeful, and very sad nonetheless.

Mckenzie RIP

We were a little late on our start for the sunrise. By the time we arrived, The sky was already bright, but the sun hadn’t peeked out yet.

Sunrise. Megumi and Jackie

After pictures and enjoying a different view of the rock, we made our way back to town for breakfast. We found a little cafe and had our most relaxing breakfast all week. The little shops around started to open and we had a look. There was a free walking tour of Uluru that we wanted to catch. Megumi was going to take a free shuttle to the airport, so we dropped her back at the hotel, said our goodbyes and took off toward the rock.

Our tour was very informative and we learned about the Mala people, what Uluru meant to them, and a little about what happened to them, since they are no longer inhabitants of Uluru. We also learned that you’re not supposed to climb Uluru.

Uluru tour.

The aboriginal people who inhabit the land hold Uluru in highest regard. The rock is sacred, and in their culture, only the elder men climb it during certain ceremonies. In 1985 the Australian government agreed to hand back the deed to the land, but it came with many conditions, one being to allow tourists to climb. The natives didn’t like it, but if they didn’t accept the terms, they couldn’t have Uluru back. We actually watched a video in the cultural center where the current elders describe how they feel about it. They said blatantly, they don’t like it, but what could they do? “The white man is very strong.” We had actually came thinking we would climb, in the end, we did not. 

Look at all the flies. ew.

After our tour we decided to walk around Uluru. There’s no shade cover, and the sun was intense, although not too hot. It was a long journey- over 7 miles around. It took us almost 2 hours. We were able to see the rock up close from every angle. It was beautiful. The only negative…the flies. There are flies everywhere and these guys are nasty. They go straight for your face. They especially like going up your nose, in your mouth, and eyes. It is so bad that they actually sell face nets to wear over your head. At one point, Javier had at least 50 on his backpack, hat, and shirt. It was disgusting. Note to self, on the next trip to Uluru…bring a face net. 

On our way out of the park, we stopped by the cultural center. We were both pretty tired and hungry, but I really wanted to check it out, and knew that if it didn’t happen then, it wasn’t going to happen at all. My favorite part was all of the aboriginal paintings. I wanted to buy all of them, but of course, bought none. Maybe on my next visit. 🙂

Uluru

We had a quick lunch and I could barely keep my eyes open. We booked another room at the same place since vacancy was even worse everywhere than the previous day, and I took a long nap. We woke in time to catch one last sunset. The area was much more crowded than the previous night. There were no clouds in the sky, but it was still just as beautiful. Javier took some more pictures, and started talking to me. As he was talking, I realized what was going to happen. I looked at him with pleading eyes and said, “There’s so many people around!” He smiled and said, okay. He knows I don’t like being the center of attention. We watched the sunset and as the people were leaving we moved to an area that was a bit more private. He told me that he had prepared a speech, which he then recited. Those were the sweetest, most heart-felt words I have heard. He was nervous. So was I. He teared up, I flat out cried. It’s funny. We both knew it was coming, and we’ve spent every waking moment together for the last 14 months. We are so used to each other, sometimes it feels like there can’t really be any more surprises or surprise emotions, but there were. We were happy.

We got engaged!!!

We asked a couple next to us if they could take our picture. Javier told the guy, “We just got engaged.” With a big smile he said, “Ah! Good on ya, mate!” 🙂

When we returned, we had dinner with the rest of our hotel inhabitants. That night before going to bed, Javier could tell something was bothering me. We had a long talk. I knew I wanted to spend the rest of my life with Javier, but like so many people, I have insecurities, and they were creeping up and trying to strangle my happiness. I shared my feelings with him. He was very understanding, we lightened the mood and went to sleep happy and content. 

I woke up feeling like a new woman. Through the night, I had somehow ditched that evil little monkey that had silently and invisibly clung to me all these years. I felt light and free. My good mood was contagious. We were happy-truly happy. I’m a lucky girl. I have an understanding and compassionate partner. WE’RE ENGAGED!!!

Bye ULURU.

To see more pictures of Australia, click HERE.