Kata Tjuta - Valley of the Winds

We originally signed up to do the Kata Tjuta Valley of the Winds walk and sunset viewing.  Well, the walk is supposed to be 3 hours long and our tour guide decided to do a small detour before we started the walk, so, we only had 1 1/2 hours before we had to get to the sunset viewing point.  Because of the time constraint, they gave us the option to do the Valley of the Winds walk the rest of the way or to go do a shorter less strenuous walk. We took the second option.  About half of our group finished most of the Valley of the Winds walk and many regretted it.  Because they were so short on time, it was very rushed which made it even more strenuous.  I think even the most fit of those in the group really struggled because of the pace, climbs, etc... Since we had been up before 5 AM for our sunrise tour, I was glad we opted for the shorter walk as we were really dragging at this point.

They always tell you to take a liter or two of water with you because of the dry air.  We needed that again and more despite the fact that it was winter.  Again, I could not imagine doing this tour or any of the others in summer because of the flies.  I felt especially sorry for our tour guide that night when he said that they aren't allowed to wear the fly nets when they lead groups in the summer.

The sunset viewing here was nice.  It was very casual as they had little stools you could sit on if you wanted and put out a folding table with some snacks and champagne.  Since I hadn't had anything to eat since about 10 am, the two little glasses of champagne did me in.  I fell asleep on the bus ride back to the hotel and woke up as the people on the bus were doing funny hand motions.  I had no clue what was happening, but I later found out from my husband that the bus driver was teaching everyone the little "dance" to Home Among the Gumtrees by John Williamson.   Let me tell you, it was a site to behold especially since I didn't know what was going on or where I really was at first.  It will be a memory that will stick with me and was a good way to end our visit to Uluru.

The Colors of Uluru - Kata Tjuta at Sunset and Sunrise

Uluru Sunset

Uluru Desert Sky at Sunset

Uluru Desert Sky at Sunset

Uluru Desert Sky at Sunset

Uluru Desert Sky at Sunset

Uluru before Sunrise

Uluru Desert Sky at Sunrise

Uluru Desert Sky at Sunrise

Uluru Sky at Sunrise

Uluru Sunrise

Kata Tjuta at Sunrise

Uluru Sunrise

Uluru at Sunrise

Uluru at Sunrise

Sunrise at Uluru

Uluru-Kata Tjuta -Ayers Rock

Uluru-Kata Tjuta Airport Welcome Sign
Dingoes Anyone?

Sails in the Desert Patio

Sails in the Desert Pool Area

Byproduct of the rainy season the desert was experiencing.

Uluru at Sunset

A Desert Awakening

Upon arriving at the Uluru airport, we were greeted by the lovely sign pictured above warning us about the dingoes.  This would be the first of a few warnings we would receive on our first day.  The thing to know about the Uluru area is that there are very few hotels or places to stay.  There is a cluster of hotels all owned by the same company called Voyages.  We chose to stay at the nicest of the hotels they had to offer according to the website, Sails in the Desert. 

The reviews of Sails in the Desert are very mixed on places like TripAdvisor, but I have to say that we had a pretty good experience.  The lobby and outer areas were very nice and the spa room we had with the hot tub and extra large patio would have been appreciated if we were there to relax.  However, if we had been there in summer, I am not sure we would have even stepped outside because we heard the flies are really quite horrible.  The pool area was very clean and colorful with all the vegetation.  The desert was experiencing one of its wettest winters in years, so, there were flowers blooming everywhere, some that hadn't been seen ever before by the locals according to our guides.  

At the hotel, we received a warning letter in our welcome packet about rodents.  Thankfully, we saw none.  Then in the hotel room on the side table by the bed was a warning about centipedes and how to contact the front office if we saw one.  Again, we were lucky not to see any of these creatures as well.   However, the warnings were a bit unsettling.  One of the families we ate with at the Sounds of Silence dinner told us they hid the warnings from their children so they wouldn't panic. 

There were plenty of restaurants to choose from at the resort.  There is a small shopping area within the resort area with a few restaurants and shops including a grocery store.  We enjoyed a small cafe (Red Rock Deli) that had panini like sandwiches, pastries, ice cream, etc.. for a quick lunch.  This was the best value for food.  One day we tried Geckos's Cafe and that was not nearly as good.  The Tali Bar in the hotel had pretty decent food. We had to eat there one night as nothing else was open as we got back from another tour.

The Sounds of Silence dinner was very nice with plenty of wine, champagne, beer, and sodas to enjoy prior to getting to the actual dinner site.  Unfortunately, the night we had the dinner the sky wasn't as clear as usual, so, the star gazing was pretty limited.  Dinner was decent and my husband along with the little boy at our table really enjoyed the kangaroo.  This was an expensive option to add ($150 per person I think), but it was worth it.  The sunset spot was great and it was nice to meet travelers from other parts of the world.  

The next morning we were up very early to do a day tour including watching the sunrise over Uluru and Kata Tjuta.  Sunrise was more spectacular than the sunset because the monolith turned so many colors within such a short period of time.  Pictures coming soon..

In addition to the sunrise, we also toured around the base of Uluru a little bit and visited the cultural center.  This was a pretty long tour as we had another tour scheduled shortly after, so, there was little break time.  This was not a relaxing few days.  I am just so glad we were there in winter as I could not even begin to imagine being there while having to wear fly nets and it being extremely hot.  Our weather was comfortable, but we still needed so much water on our tours because of the desert.  I just can't imagine that a visit in summer would be remotely pleasant.  

A Day in Kuranda

Kuranda Scenic Railway

Barron Falls

Kuranda Koala Gardens - Baby Wallaby

Kuranda Koala Gardens - Notice the baby in the pouch

Kuranda Birdworld

Kuranda Butterfly Sanctuary- Ulysses Butterfly

Kuranda Heritage Markets

Kuranda Skyrail

Kuranda Skyrail in action

The view from the Skyrail as we approach the final stop.

A Day in Kuranda

There are a few options to get to Kuranda.  You can drive, take the Scenic Railway or the Skyrail.  If you are staying in Cairns and don't have access to a car, there are transfers available to both the Skyrail and Railway.  From our research, it seems most people take one means of transportation up and then the other back down into Cairns.   We chose to do the Railway in the morning and then the Skyrail back.  I loved the Skyrail!  My husband was a bit nervous which I found amusing because he is definitely the more adventurous of the two of us.  Perhaps it was the height of the Skyrail or the fact that it tends to slow down as it goes up and you kind of feel like you might get stuck, but we didn't.  If we go back, we will do the Skyrail both ways as it was faster than the train and now that we did the train once, we're pretty satisfied.

Kuranda was a great little town to explore.  There were so many shops and my favorite, Koala Gardens.  There are no pictures of koalas here because I just put the one up of Chibby a few days ago and I think there will be a whole post dedicated to these adorable marsupials shortly.  We did buy the ticket that got us into the Koala Gardens, Butterfly Sanctuary and Birdworld.  We spent the most time in Koala Gardens because of the koalas, wallabies and kangaroos.  I could have gone through the other two places really quickly, but my husband loves any kind of wildlife, so, we spent quite a bit of time in the others as well.  That left us little time to shop and/or eat.  We had to grab a sandwich to take to the Skyrail because we had a specific return time.  When we originally booked the trip, we were told we had two options for our return time, but when we checked in the morning of the trip for the train, we were told we had to return at a certain time.  We really would have enjoyed more time in Kuranda, so, this was disappointing to us.

The Skyrail is interesting in that you get off of it a few times at various stations to get on another leg of the trip.  You have the option to get right back on or to explore the rainforest a bit.  We chose to explore the little trails they had set up at each stop and there were some beautiful views from the trails as well as the Skyrail.

We really were generally surprised at the amount of activities available in this region of Australia and wish we had allotted more time for Queensland.  In fact, if we go back, which we hope we will, we would probably spend a week or more in this area.  There are so many more things we wanted to see and so many things we only learned about once we got to Cairns.

The only part of this visit that I didn't like is that the little teddy bear you see in my profile picture went missing.  He has traveled with me for the past seven years and has been all over the world.  Our dog at home has a matching bear, so, it was always my connection to her while we were away.  Well, I guess this was teddy's favorite spot because he chose to stay behind somewhere between the Railway (the last picture I have of him) and the Night Markets.  I've tried to find him and have sent emails to the tour operators and everything, but no luck.  So, Teddy, wherever you are, you are missed.

Day 2 on the Reef - Tusa

Pictures taken with Panasonic Lumix DMC-TS3 Waterproof Camera

Tusa 6 out of Cairns

For our second trip out, we took a recommendation from our hotel concierge and tried Tusa out of Cairns.  Tusa had just unveiled its latest, Tusa 6, boat the week prior.   As a diver (perhaps we needed to talk to a snorkeler), the concierge said this was the group she would suggest and helped us pick one day of the two we had left to try to make sure we had calmer seas. She also said by going out of Cairns we'd have less travel time.  Well, yes, there was less travel time to the dock because we could walk there in ten minutes, but the boat ride was quite lengthy to say the least.  I think it took us a good two and a half hours to get out to the Outer Reef despite the fact that the brochures said 90 minutes travel time.  Additionally, the seas were rough once again.  We managed fine, but there were quite a few paper bags being passed out by the crew.  This didn't make for a very pleasant ride especially since the boat was smaller than the Quicksilver one.  There was no escaping the paper bags, the sounds of the sick passengers, etc...


Tusa had also been recommended because it was a smaller boat with fewer people than our first trip with Quicksilver.  Although this boat had fewer people, I think we actually ended up with less time in the water.  Tusa was very much focused on the divers and those doing introductory dives that those of us who were just snorkeling lost a lot of time in the water.  We had to wait for some of the divers to go off before we were even allowed on the lower level to get off.  Then we were called back to the boat for lunch and to move to the next stop. However, we ended up waiting more than an hour before the boat moved on to the next location because some divers were just leaving as we were called back.  This was so disappointing because this first stop was a wonderful location to explore and we too would have liked more time. Considering the cost of this trip, I found this pretty unfair and it cost us precious time at our next stop.  


At the second site, a very brief ride away from our first site, we didn't even get 30 minutes in the water and we were quite a ways from the actual Reef, so, it took some time to make your way to where all the coral and sea life was easily seen.  Otherwise, the water was pretty dark.  This is where I had a glimpse of the Reef Shark (supposedly harmless I know) directly below me and called it a day.  My husband continued to explore, but was genuinely disappointed in this second location.  By the time he got to the Reef part, we were all being called back to head back to shore.  Then it was time for another long ride back to port with more sick passengers.  The return trip ended up taking longer because we were lucky enough to see some whales which was a highlight of the day.  


It is hard to really compare this day to our Quicksilver day because they both had pluses and minuses.  We really enjoyed being able to visit two sites with Tusa, but found the crew generally more friendly on Quicksilver.  The size of the boat made it easier to relax a little too because there was more room to spread out throughout the day.  I can't blame either for the rough seas, but Quicksilver did seem to handle it a bit better.  Perhaps that is because fewer people were sick because it was a bigger boat.  Either way, we created memories each day which is the most important thing.  We hope to go back to the Reef, but will probably pick a tour operator that is for snorkelers only or will do one of the overnight stays on the Reef, so, we can spend more time in the water than on a bus or a boat.