Uluru.What can you say.

I tried a few times to write the content for this post but am going to have to give up. What an amazing place.

Before walking the 11kms around the base of Uluru.

A couple of the faces of Uluru.

Standard view.

Rare view after rain.

Charlie tackles Kata-Tjuta

Taking a break on the Valley of the Winds walk at Kata-Tjuta

 Campsite in East Kimberley- Trephina Gorge

Sunrise Trephina Gorge

The Red Centre has been awesome and we will explore it a bit more when I return from Gerringong next week. Somehow I think returning this time will be more of a culture shock than previous excursions.

 

King's Canyon Rim Walk.

Uluru

Our first Uluru experience.

More than just Uluru

I know there is more than just the famous monolith in the middle of Australia but I am not sure what I was expecting. I think I was envisioning leaving the Atherton Tablelands and at some point soon after, passing the last tree and the last running water until we reappeared in Perth. Well maybe I wasn't that naive but I really did not expect to see the diverse and fascinating landscapes that we have come across since leaving the comfort of the coast.
In the last week or so we have travelled across the Gulf Savannah and into the Red Centre. We have given the van a pretty good shake up and if I had paid more attention to the signs that suggested I drive according to the conditions, we may have fared a little better. Slow down on the unsealed bits! We have discovered dust in places that I would not have dreamed possible and swam in rivers which seemed to appear out of nowhere. Watched the sunsets over the water in Karumba and canoed along the beautiful Lawn Hill Gorge. We have covered a lot of ground and arrived in Alice Springs yesterday feeling pretty tired. We spent the day today getting ourselves back in order and will head out to Uluru tomorrow, knowing that it is not the only amazing thing in this wonderful Australian Outback.

The Crew at Undara National Park

Heading out of one of the lava tubes

Karumba Sunset

Lunch stop on the way to Gregory Downs

Welcome Oasis of Gregory River after a long hot day on the road.

The next oasis at Lawn Hill NP

Follow the leader

Sunrise Lawn Hill

Teamwork

Devil's Marbles

Roadside entertainment on the way to Alice Springs

Wet Tropics

It might be considered to be the beginning of the dry season and it may have been one of the driest wet seasons in a while, but they don't call them the wet tropics for nothing. Like a lot of things, it's all relative.
Cairns was pretty low key as we composed ourselves before heading further north then into the middle of Australia. In fact I hardly have any photos to prove we were there. We travelled from Cairns to Port Douglas and found it to be very much to our liking. A really good vibe and we happened to be there for  their Festivale which added to the experience. A beautiful beach although once again, look but don't swim. A bit frustrating.

Charlie and I enjoyed our first crocodile in the wild experience whilst fishing from a bridge near our caravan park. We were pretty happy to be on the bridge and even though we did not come home with dinner, we were enthralled with the encounter.

We moved from Port Douglas up into the Daintree where we made it as far as Cape Tribulation. Now that is a wet place. We made contact with the Australian Rainforest Foundation while in the Daintree. This not for profit organisation aims to purchase land and return it to its original rain forested state. As an outsider seeing all the amazing rainforest which is intact, I came to naively wonder why it was necessary to bother. It is so lush and abundant up there. However, obviously the health of the Daintree is critical to our existence and it is has been significantly threatened over the years and continues to be challenged.

Looks like a nice spot for a crocodile

All covered up for the mozzies

We thought about heading through to Cooktown but have decided to give it a miss for now and have headed up to the Atherton Tablelands. It must be part of the wet tropics too as its pouring rain here. Our brief look around today made us feel like we were near home with some similarity to the Southern Highlands. Beautiful dairying country which we will explore more tomorrow. Then we will head off into the desert. Surely it won't be raining there.

Back in uniform

After a few days back in G'gong, back into the tropical action.

Great Spot

Visited a lovely spot this week . What do you think?

Who needs a beach

We had heard about the amazing swimming holes and waterfalls in Northern Queensland. After the threat of being killed by jelly fish and crocodiles as we headed north beyond the beef capital of Australia ( Rockhampton) , we were all pretty keen for a swim. The stretch between Townsville and Cairns has been a real highlight for us.

Murray Falls

Five Mile Swimming Hole near Cardwell

The Boulders near Babinda ( clearest water )

Josephine Falls

Despite swimming without the threat of imminent death from a deadly creature, Alison and Juliette discovered that when you are in Queensland, you need to be wary whether you are in or out of the water. They went close to treading on a brown coloured snake which thankfully thought as ill of them as they did of it and scurried off into the bush. No doubt it was one of those top ten in the world venomous snakes you see at Steve Irwin's place. You know the ones that have enough venom to kill a thousand strong young cane cutters. Why do they need so much venom? To make matters worse, a marsupial rat found its way into our portable BBQ. After her recent trauma, Alison was pretty sure that the tail poking out the end looked similar to what she had seen on the path. She has been a little jumpy since.

We dropped in at Paronella Park on the way to Cairns which was pretty amazing. An incredible vision by an inspirational Spanish fellow built back in the 1930's. Fascinating.

He used the force of this waterfall to create his own Hydroelectric plant which was  has been restored and provides all the park's power and feeds back into the grid. Pretty cool.

We are now in Cairns where we will be for a bit over a week as I return to G'gong for a few days and GaGa comes up to spend some time with the crew. Good times.