Day 5: Thurs 17 Dec: Alice Springs to Uluru 497km

The Storm continued on and off through the night but by morning it had moved on. It was still very cool at 23 degrees which was quite bizarre considering the temp had been steadily rising closer to 40 degrees since we left Townsville. 

We packed up and left about 8.15am when it went down to 22 degrees!  We refueled back in Alice for $1.42 and noticed that the Todd river which was completely dry the day before was now actually flowing!

We treated ourselves to brekkie rolls from Subway and then headed out. However, somehow we missed the turn onto the Stuart Hwy and ended up at the airport!!  I bet there's not many people who can say they got lost between Alice Springs and Uluru!!!

As we drove out, we noticed how the landscape was so much greener and more undulating than we expected. Not like the red desert shots everyone has seen of Uluru. 

We drove past the Cannonball memorial which is dedicated to the Cannonball Run speed rallies that used to take place on the the NT roads with the open speed limit. Pretty sure that unofficially people still do their own private ones!

We spent about 100km behind a guy on a motorbike weaving all over the road in an unnerving manner before suddenly opening up and disappearing over the horizon. Other than that there was virtually no traffic which suited us just fine! We actually discussed how traveling out of season definitely has it's perks if you have a strong aversion to crowds of any kind, like we do!

About 30km north of Erldunda, the landscape suddenly changed into arid red desert, became completely flat and went up 10 degrees in under 5 minutes. Bizarre!

Incidentally, we had researched the phantom auto transmission light phenomenon and apparently it is common when the ambient air temp is over a certain level, when towing and driving long distances at high speed. Check to all the above. Treatment as decreed by the Triton manual; drop down from 115kph to 100kph for 10 mins; problem solved!!  We all agreed that the NT open speed limit definitely creeps up on you and before you know it, you're barreling along at 120kph without realizing it!

At the halfway mark, we pulled over at Erldunda Roadhouse for a break and a driver swap and introduced the pooches to their first emus! Spike was completely bemused; Sunshine didn't even give them a second glance!

As we drove out back onto the Lasseter Hwy towards Uluru, we noticed a road sign stating that there was no fuel until Uluru. However, about 80km along, we came across the delightful Mt Ebenezer Roadhouse, with ULP and Diesel for $1.80 with the added benefit of filling the tank first and paying second, rather than having to guess how much to put in. 

It also has a campground, a bar called the Bull Bar, an Aboriginal Art exhibition and a really pretty shaded garden. May just have to stop there for a cold beverage on the way back....! 

About 100km from Uluru the landscape changed again to become rockier and hotter.  We were chatting about a convoy of tour buses we had seen in Alice Springs at 5pm yesterday. We worked out that even if they left at Alice at 5am and arrived at the Rock at 10am, they would only have had a total of 2 hours at Uluru, to make it back by 5pm... It just didn't seem like it would be worth it...

This is the rubbish we end up talking about after driving for several hours LOL

About 70kms out we spotted Mt Connor 

which the teenager thought was Uluru but about 20km out the real Rock was spotted, rising in all its red beauty.

 We were all very excited to be nearly there, and to have two nights in one place for a change!

We loved the signage for foreigners... Surely if you haven't worked out which side of the road to drive on by now, it's too late!

We arrived at 1pm so only 4.5 hrs driving today!!

The Ayers Rock Campground was massive but there were only about 5 other campers there! Awesome. I would hate to see it full. It would be absolutely heaving!  We got a breezy, shady spot right by the dunes and Naninga lookout. And we had a little visitor too... Til he ran off on his back legs!

6.45pm and something very familiar starts rollin' in...

Still, we decided to brave it and head for sunset at the Rock. Utterly amazing and moving. 

We accidentally gate crashed a private party but managed to get some happy snaps before we were asked (very politely) to leave!

Feeling very pleased with ourselves, we were all giggling like 5 year olds. It was about then that we noticed a huge sandstorm moving in from the west, destined to meet up with the rainstorm coming in equally fast from the east!  We hightailed it back to the campground and battened down all the hatches in what was now a well oiled process!

We dived inside ready for whatever Mother Nature had in store for us, and then....

Nothing! A few drops of rain, a rumble of thunder and then the wind completely stopped!!  

Ah well, we were ready for anything but that!!  So we had BFD (brekkie for dinner, aka bacon eggs and hash browns and fell into bed!