A very long way home

Up to this time we had self-catered with basic breakfasts in the hotel room, but the King's Canyon Resort accommodation included a buffet breakfast - and we made the most of it. Despite the place being in the middle of nowhere the buffet was huge both in quantity and variety. Brian likes to judge any breakfast by the quality of its croissants and its coffee, and this place certainly earned a big tick. The bar and restaurant area can cater for multiple busloads of tourists at the one time, so is huge.

The weather was still freezing cold, but the sky was completely clear. We were surprised though to find a thin layer of ice on the car roof. We packed then left about 10am for the 320km drive back to Uluru airport for what was to be a very long day. Again the road was largely deserted, so driving was easy. The main hazard is wandering cattle, camels and wild horses but thank goodness they didn't prove to be a hazard. However at one point we drove through a group of a dozen or so grazing brumbies which fortunately had the good sense to remain on the two sides of the road.

We made it to Uluru in good time and were at the airport suitably early for our late afternoon flight. While the terminal appears to be fresh and modern it is nowhere big enough to cater for the tourist numbers. As well as our Brisbane flight there was another flight which had been delayed and was due to depart for Sydney at about the same time as ours. This caused the place to be jam-packed with people, and nowhere near enough seats for everyone. The queue to get through security was very long and slow.

So far so good. The flight left on time and due to a strong tail wind the flight time was only 2.5 hours compared with 3.5 hours in the other direction. Arrival in Brisbane went well aside from Brian having to have harsh words with a rude fellow passenger alongside us in the window seat who tried to clamber over us the moment that the seat belt sign was switched off. After an amazing glitch-free holiday it seemed that a whole lot of small things seemed to go wrong. The open-air carpark at the airport is massive, seemingly about the size of a small nation-state, and Brian hadn't taken sufficient notice of where we'd left the car. (Yes, he should have taken photos of the immediate area). When every second vehicle there is a small white SUV it's a bit like the proverbial needle in a haystack, but we found it eventually. But our troubles didn't end there. Some sort of electronic glitch prevented the starter motor from kicking over, even though the car itself seemed to 'think' that the engine was running. After some 20 minutes of trial and error it eventually sprang into life and we were able to head home. A long day indeed.

Looking back, it was a really good trip. Uluru had been on both of our wish lists and it most certainly lived up to our expectations. We'd achieved everything that we'd set out to do. Spending five days travelling together we found too that we work harmoniously together as travel companions, so here's to the next trip.Read more