a few fun-filled days

wednesday 15/9/2010
Sunday:
We went to see the rockets at the Rocket Park in Woomera. I took lots of photos. Some of them were big and some were small. Some of the smaller ones were bombs! One of the big ones took the first Australian made satellite into space. It was freezing cold so we didn't stay for long.
We started our drive to Coober Pedy. When we got there it was already dark and we went straight to bed.
Monday:
When we woke up in the morning we saw that a lot of the businesses were in the side of cliffs. Coober Pedy is a mining town where they dig for opals to make into jewellery and souveniers to sell. The houses and businesses underground were old mines. There were lots of piles of dirt on top of the ground called "tailings." We saw a big winch on the top of a hill as we were leaving town. I thought it was pretty good because I'd never seen houses underground before.
We left for a very long drive to Uluru. Dad said it was 700kms but it took us 14 hours to get there and was dark. Dad and Mum decided on the way that we would stay there an extra night to look around.
Tuesday:
Erin and Claire woke up while I was still asleep and Mum took them to the toilet and then up to the lookout to see the "big rock" (as Claire says.) When we were all ready, we went to Uluru Kata Tjuta National Park. First we went to Uluru. When I saw it from a distance, it looked really big, but the when I got closer it looked ginormous! We went to the cultural centre where there was information about the Aboriginal people's stories about Uluru and Kata Tjuta and why they didn't want people to climb Uluru. Uluru is very sacred to the traditional owners of the land. We went to see the artwork for sale and each bought a pair of music sticks. Then we went to see Uluru. We took lots of pictures of us in front of the rock and we went for a bit of a walk around the base. It was very, very big! It was really cool!
Erin says: "I felt shocked because it was so big and i thought inside of me that it was going to break and fall on me. It made me feel happy that i was seeing a rock that my friends (at school) wanted me to take photos of and they wanted me to see it."
Then we drove to Kata Tjuta (the Olgas) to take some photos from a lookout. TThe lookout was on top of sand dunes and we had to walk on raised paths so that we weren't stepping on the sand dunes and the plants because the plants held the sand together. There were lots of plants - witchity bushes (called that because the seed pods looked like witchity grubs) a bush that had seed pods which rattled when they were dry; also some little plants with purple flowers. Some of the plants looked really dry. You could see both Kata Tjuta and Uluru from the lookout. We drove back to the campsite to have something to eat. Daddy made pancakes!
Mum took Molly to see the sunset at Uluru and while she was gone I took Erin and Calire to the toilet and Claire made a big mess which I hads to clean up. It took a long time. It was very gross! Dad made hamburgers for dinner and then we went to bed. Apart from the toilet incident it was an awesome day!
today:
We woke up to rain packed up the camper to drive to Alice Springs. It rained the whole way. We watched a dvd and slept for most of the trip. Mum was excited about coming to Alice Springs because her friend Catherine lives here. When we got here Mum and Dad set up the camper while Catherine stopped by for a quick visit and a cuppa before she had to go out. Catherine is a kindy teacher and knows a lot of the teachers from St Clare's. Mummy was glad to see her and maybe we'll see her on the way home.
Erin and I helped Mum cook dinner outside in the rain and the rice burnt a little but it still tasted nice. We spoke to Grandma on the phone to say "hi" and tell her where we were and what the weather was like. Raining and cold! Now I am going to bed. My bed is a bit wet because the canvas on the roof was wet and when you fold the camper down the canvas touches the beds and we had to put a plastic sheet over the bed so it wouldn't get wet, but it got a little bit wet anyway. Goodnight everyone.