Guy guided us through this old mining community. It was quite beautiful. Guy drove us back to Melbourne (via many detours).
Sunday I got up and investigated the open market by the Arts Centre. This is where arts show their wares by the river. It had many of our typical craft fairs. I walked across the street to investigate the Royal Botanical Gardens. This is a park that opens at many gates but too huge to try and manage from one end to another. I then headed back to the hotel to pick up Dad and we returned to the gardens.
David and Dea Jae spent most of the day in the emergency room. Check with Dea Jae's blog for more details. He was on crutches. He was to stay off it for a couple of days. Luckily we were to fly the next day. We flew into Alice Springs on June 25 stayed over night. While we were there we went to the "Red Centre Dreaming Show" It was neat to have experienced two very different native groups. The group we saw did more of a regional demonstration of the music and dance. Much of the clans around Alice Springs are private and don't share with us tourists. Maori dances were very much the "Warrior" dance while the the Aborigine group danced about their environment.
Next morning we took a coach to Yulara. The drive had some stops along the way. Camel rides and tea shops. We got a good commentary about the desert as we drove. Let me tell you the changed about every five miles. We stopped at Outback Camel Farm and continued to Atila (Mt Conner). Atila looks like it could be bigger than Uluru (Ayres Rock)
Yulara is a resort town that caters to Uluru. Since the land was transferred back to aborigine hands all of the hotels and restaurants next to the rock have since closed down. Some of the areas are closed out to visitors. This resort was created to give tourists a way to get to the park. We arrived in Yulara long enough to wolf down a meal and hop on another coach trip.
We started at Kata Tjuta. This is a cluster of 36 giant rock domes. This was created from eroded sediment. We stopped at a spot that had a short walking path into the Walpa Gorge. 
We returned to the coach to head to the sunset viewing of Ulura. These coach tours have created this stop where we can have wine and canapes while we view the sun setting on this huge rock.
Truly a religious experience. The next morning we went to see the sunrise and visit around the base of the rock. It is cold in the desert.
To cap off our wonderful stay in Uluru was the "Sounds of Silence" dinner. It was cool to look at the skies at night. We had wine and canapes on top of a sand dune to the sounds of a didgeridoo, really called a Yirdaki. Yirdakis are not found in this area but tourist love the sound and so you find them everywhere. Sand here is so dark a red it is like walking in rust. These dunes don't move much and have a lot of vegetation on them. We walk down to eating area. We had a great speaker about the sky and had three telescopes.
June 28th we flew out of Ayers Rock Airport and flew into Cairns. Cairn is pronounced "Cans". June 29th we took a coach trip ride up to coast to Port Douglas to board Quicksilver Outer Barrier Reef boat tour. Part of me wished I had done some snorkeling but I feared I'd get too cold and not warm up later. But the day was beautiful. I couldn't get good pictures from the glass bottom boat.
Today June 30th is our free day. Tomorrow we head for Kuranda Rail, Skyrail, Tjapukai. I'm sure I'll have more to say.
I hear it has been raining in SA.
