31st March – Coober Pedy to Uluru

Although we had a long drive ahead of us today to Uluru, 755km, we still wanted to have breakfast on the viewing deck to watch the sun rise.  Really glad we did this as it was a great start to the day.

Sunrise from our viewing deck in Coober Pedy SA
Sunrise from our viewing deck in Coober Pedy SA

After breakfast we packed up the car and began the drive.  I am happy to say that it didn’t feel as long as expected.  It definitely helps to have three drivers to rotate through and fun people with good taste in music too!  We had some of the Brainwaves quizes out of the Saturday Advertiser to keep us entertained as well (thanks to Jill Leonard and Erin for their quiz contributions).  Have you really driven to Darwin if you haven’t stopped to take cheesy roadside photos of signs???  1772km to Darwin, not long now!

Sam, Steff and Kris on our way to Darwin
Sam, Steff and Kris on our way to Darwin
Sam and Steff at the Northern Territory border
Sam and Steff at the Northern Territory border

We arrived at Yulara and checked into the Desert Gardens Hotel, part of the Ayers Rock Resort.  We were really happy with the accommodation.  You can go to any of the restaurants and use any of the facilities that are a part of the resort complex.  Apparently lunch is good at the Backpackers accommodation, but we didn’t make it there this trip.  We had booked into the Arnguli Grill & Restaurant for dinner but when we looked at the menu we decided it was more expensive than what we wanted to pay.  We had booked into the Sounds of Silence dinner the following evening, so we were happy for a cheap and cheerful meal tonight.  After exploring the resort we settled on Gecko’s Cafe for dinner which was quite good.

We then jumped onto a tour bus and headed over to check out the ‘Field of Light’ display.  It was really beautiful.  The exhibition is by artist Bruce Munro and is named ‘Tili Wiru Tjuta Nyakutjaku’ or ‘looking at lots of beautiful lights’ in the local Pitjantjatjara language.  It is a huge light display that spans the size of 7 football fields.  You walk along a path, winding your way through the field of lights while they slowly change colour.   There is also a beautiful sky full of stars sparkling overhead.  The exhibition is running until 31st December 2020.  I would not want to have to be a part of the pack up team!  I have put a link in to the ‘Field of Light’ as our photos do not really do it justice.  Sam was getting so angry at people using their flash lights to try to take photos of the light display, that was providing Steff and I with our own source of entertainment.

Field of Light exhibition, Uluru NT
Field of Light exhibition, Uluru NT

Field of Light

2 thoughts on “31st March – Coober Pedy to Uluru”

    1. It was really beautiful and I am glad we had the chance to see it. It was meant to stop end of 2018 and they deided to extend it for a couple more years, so very happy with that decision. x

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *