Uluru to Coober Pedy - the long, hot road!

We spent the 29th at the Heritage Caravan Park, Alice Springs.  I
knew they meant 'dog friendly' when I walked into the park office and there was a dog sitting on the chair and other on the floor. 
We hung out for the arvo and then went into town for the Desert Music Club jam night.  I put our name on the board first and we did 4 of our original songs.  A nice helpx lady host came up to us afterwards with some kind words, which was cool.

Next day, we left at 6am for The Big Rock.  We saw in the distance a big rock, but it was Mt Connell.  Lovely in it's own right.

And then I saw it...and it was big and majestic and more than I had hoped for.  We went to our campground at the Ayres Rock Resort and had a bit of a rest from the heat.  The park man mentioned a dog sitting service and so we rang them and dropped off the Girls for the arvo. 
We had a bit of a drive towards The Olgas / Katja Juta, but there was not enough time to explore...next time, in Winter! 


So we headed for Uluru.  I had waited for over 20 years to meet the big fella and I was not disappointed.
It was nearing sunset, so we did the small walk to the gorge and saws some caves and wall paintings. 
Then we parked Keith in the Sunset Viewing carpark and sat on the roof cage with a glass of wine and watched the sun depart.  It was a lovely finale to a long, hot day in the red center.
We collected Indigo and Fuggles who had been for a walk with their 2 young carers, made our dinner and went to bed. 

Oct  31st at 5am, we left for the 9 hr drive to Coober Pedy.  It started to heat up at about 9:30am and with no aircon in Keith, it got a bit nasty.  The opal mines lined the highway in with their mounds of dirt and trucks and make shift camp sites.  We stayed at a caravan park in town and had a look at the underground Catholic Church which was very peaceful ( I was sure there was an underground caravan park too, but it was not to be.... )

We had 2 great Sri Lankan curries at the pub and then chatted with an interesting fellow who was staying at our caravan park. He was from Melbourne and writes a column for the Sunday Age, but has been hitchhiking around, most recently to Darwin.  He sat in Keith and had a cup of tea and told some tales about lifts with mostly friendly, but some dubious strangers.  The kind he knew he shouldn't get in the car with! 
After a 40 degrees day, we went to sleep with the sound of the hot wind still blowing across the merciless desert. 

But we dreamed of tomorrow when, after 4 long, months...we would see the ocean again.