A morning walk and off to Queensland

The pool at Thala Beach Reserve


                                      The view from the restaurant at Thala Beach Reserve

                                                    Lorikeets outside the restaurant


                                                               Lorikeets

                                                The lodge restaurant

                                                     Our lovely bungalow room
Describing our walk around Ayers Rock

                                                  Ayers Rock cave

                                              The "dolphin nose" end of Ayers Rock

                                                 Ayers Rock cave

                                                   Ayers Rock

                                                Cave etchings

                                             Our guide on our morning walk

Sunday, Oct. 22, 2017

We had an early breakfast this morning and left at 7:30 for a walk around Ayers Rock. Our guide, Leroy, was hilarious and so entertaining! He explained the Aboriginese culture and pointed out drawings on the rock that described their way of life. The Aborigenese have been in Australia for 68,000 years and it is believed they migrated from Indonesia. It was so special to see the rock up close. It is over 2 miles wide and was once under the ocean but the water receded and the rock was exposed. Contrary to what has been written, the rock itself is not sacred but there are a few areas that are considered sacred by the Aborigenese.

The Pitjantjatjara and Yankunytjatjara people have lived in this region for nearly 30,000 years. Anangu, which means "we people", refers to both of these language groups. Reports from the first European explorers show that Aboriginal people regularly visited Uluru and that it was an important base camp for the Pitjantjatjara and Yankunytjatjara people. We were able to see actual drawings on some of the walls and the remnants of a cooking area.

European presence dates back to the 1870's. In 1873, an Englishman, William Christie Gosse, became the first non-Aboriginal person to climb Uluru.  Gosse named Uluru "Ayers Rock" after Sir Henry Ayers, the then Secretary-General of the Colony of South Australia, which had as part of its territorial jurisdiction, what is now the Northern Territory.

After our walk we boarded our private plane and headed for Cairns (pronounced “cans”) in Queensland. Once in Cairns we took a bus tour of the city and then we were on our own for an hour to browse and shop.  Cairns is very humid and tropical and reminded me of Florida.
Our stay for the next 3 nights is at the Thala Beach Reserve in Pt. Douglas. It is a lovely, secluded hotel with individual bungalows for the guests and is situated above a beautiful beach. We dined that night in the hotel restaurant and had a delicious meal of barramundi, a popular fish.


                                         Kata Tjuta, an additional rock formation in the park

                                            Uluru/Ayers Rock in the morning

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