By the time we set out on day four, it was almost a practised routine of packing up, putting everything into the car and settling in for the drive.
Coming out of Coober Pedy, the landscape was scattered with piles of rubble from the opal mining. These formed little hills dotting the landscape, quite like the piles of salt I saw on the salt plains in Bolivia. I think tourists actually drive all the way up to Coober Pedy just to see these, and the fancy name for them is the "Moon Plain". I guess the moon probably does look a bit like the landscape of Coober Pedy, flat and rocky with a few random piles of stones.
The most pleasant part of the drive up from Coober Pedy was watching for animals, and we had a few (too) close encounters with wild cows and wild horses. We were sad to see bodies of animals in various stages of decomposition near the road, including one little kangaroo skeleton that was all too intact. Eventually we got bored and started taking photos of the road signs which included things like “Be aware of the cows” in German and Japanese.
Mother and baby by the roadside
Just before lunch, we passed into Northern Territory at a roadside rest area where we stopped for a peach. As we were stretching our legs, a Greyhound bus travelling south stopped and a group of tourists jumped out, complaining loudly about the heat and the flies while snapping photos of the border. One girl ran screaming out of the toilet because she saw some bugs, and another gestured to us while complaining to her boyfriend: was machen diese Leute hier? es gibt uberall nichts! (What are these people doing here? There's nothing here!) They were gone in a flash and after a while I began to wonder if I'd dreamt them because we encountered almost no-one else on this day's drive except at the roadhouses.
Outback prices!
As we drove closer to Uluru, we were filled with a strange adrenaline at the anticipation of the upcoming R&R. We passed by a lookout to Mt Connor, which is like a flat topped version of Uluru. I The sand there was immensely red, and so hot that it felt like sitting on a stove when I tried to sit down. The temperature was extreme in the midday heat, and climbing a small sand dune made me want to drink a litre of water.
Eventually we got to Yulara, the only resort complex next to Uluru national park. I'm a bit against giant corporations dominating a particular site just coz "they got there first", and usually when I travel alone avoid staying at those places altogether. On this trip though, I thought my dad and the car both needed some well earned rest, and with the alternative being bush camping 80km away at the nearest settlement, well.. there was no real alternative.
The accommodation here was pricey, close to $200 a night for a budget cabin room with shared bathroom, so we shelled out $300 for a self catered apartment. I was momentarily frustrated when we got there though - there were no marked directions to the apartments, and check in was at another branch of the resort. Then we found the front entrance locked, and I walked all the way around in the blazing heat only to find the actual entrance was concealed behind some trees, mere metres from where I started.
Those complaints aside, we had a nice stay in the apartments and had the opportunity to visit one of the most amazing places I've ever been...
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