Best Hump at Ayers Rock

Kristy and I had a camel ride last night, courtesy of Uluru Camel Tours and it was FANTASTIC!!! (contrary to my previous camel ride that I had elsewhere). The Uluru camel farm has just been taken over by two great guys, Chris and Mark and they are making lots of positive changes to the place. For starters they have brought from Broome many of their own camels, who have been like pets and are loved and spoilt. These camels just luuuuved to be cuddled (after we finished the ride, Kristy couldn’t stop cuddling our camel).

We were on the sunset camel tour. It was only a small tour, there was 6 of us all up, and the cameleer, Chris (he had a very dry sense of humour, which made it all the more fun). Our camel was Ned Kelly (he is a famous camel, as he was in the movie ‘Australia’ – you know the one, with Nicole Kidman). The next camel in line was Lazy Daisy (who is a male camel, and who is one of the fastest camels in Australia (an example of Chris’s dry sense of humour). The third camel was Connor, and he was named as such because he was caught at the base of Mount Conner (remember Mount Connor? It is the mountain that Kristy and I first thought was Ayers Rock – refer an earlier blog). Anyway, Connor is the most handsome camel I have ever seen (I know that it not saying a lot, as I have not seen a whole lot of camels, but I believe I can confidently say that he is one good looking dude for a camel). Lastly, there was Raji Red, but I don’t really know much of his story.

It was so grounding (is the closest word I can think of to describe the experience) to be sitting astride a camel, in the middle of the desert, in front of Uluru, at sunset. The desert is so quiet (well it was after I shushed up Kristy). I don’t think I have experienced quietness like that – the quietness of nature. The camel ride is probably one of the most spiritual-like tours I have experienced here in the NT, it was so earthy and real (I can’t find the exact adjectives to describe the experience, but I hope you get the picture anyway).

Chris and Mark also have an ‘old man’ camel. He is little and white and about 40 years old, and they have had him and loved him as a pet for over 20 years. 40 is quite an age for a camel, because most wild camels do not live beyond 30 years old (strangely enough, wild desert camels eventually die of obesity because there is so much for them to eat in the desert!).

I highly recommend if you come up here to go and have a sunset (or sunrise) camel tour with Uluru Camel Tours. You can ring them directly on (08) 8956 2444 to book your tour.

We finished up the tour with wine and snacks and chatted to the owners for ages. By the way, one of the snacks provided was Beer Bread, and it was delicious... here is the recipe:

Beer Bread(makes 2 loaves)

3 cups of self raising flour
1 can of beer
Pinch salt and sugar
Quarter cup water
Mix ingredients in a bowl (don’t knead)

Grease loaf tins and pur dough (should be sloppy, not dry) into tins.
Sprinkle with grated cheese, bran or sesame seeds (all are optional).

Bake in hot oven 375 degrees for 45 minutes or until golden.

Let it cool a little before cutting.

This bread was so yum! It is a bit damper like, and seems so easy to make. I am going to try making it tomorrow night. I will let you know how it goes.

Yesterday I stood on grass. There is no grass at all where we live here in Yulara, but grass has been planted for the tourists at some of the hotels here. So yesterday, when no guests where around, I took off my shoes and stood in grass. Ahhhhh... it was so so lovely to wiggle my toes in the cool, spongey greenness. I never really appreciated grass before.

Kristy and I had our free dinner late last week – my prize for selling the most products at the Spa. It was YUM YUM YUM!!! We don’t go out for dinner very much (for 2 reasons: 1, I can usually cook better than we get when we eat out, and 2, we are trying to save as much money as we can). But this meal was really, really nice. For entree I had Duck Wontons and Kristy had a Sushi platter. For main I had Chicken green curry and K had honey chicken. For desert Kristy had a fruit platter and I had banana spring rolls (there was no pastry in this meal, but the banana rolls were coated in a type of sweet breadcrumb with chocolate dipping sauce). And we had cocktails! Instead of ordering a bottle of wine, or any beer, we had 3 cocktails each. My last cocktail was a Toblerone cocktail – and I put on 4 kilos just ordering it (the other 10 kilo’s came after I drank it!). Gotta say though, it was worth it! Thank you Tali Bar! Thank you Spa for the prize!

We have a new friend Darren, and he has taught us a new card game, called ‘Frustration’. We luv it! Has Kristy won a game yet? No... not yet. Kristy stayed up last Wednesday with Darren, drinking until 5am! There were not many beers left in the fridge after that drinking session. There were 2 very hung-over people in Yulara the next day.

Kristy, in her job as Shuttle Driver, is making many friends (she meets people on the bus, and then brings them home... and I am not kidding). One of her new friends, Gracie, gave Kristy some banana cake (which we know is totally the way to Kristy’s heart!) and Kristy loved it so much that 2 nights ago, Gracie brought over some carrot cake for Kristy to try. I have to say it was the bestest carrot cake I have ever tasted. It is so good that I have paid Gracie to make us another carrot cake.

I am still working on learning basic Japanese, and can now say about 8 words, plus I can count to 5 in Japanese (Icki, Ni, San, Yon, Go).

Thank you to those who have sent us things through the post, it makes us happy to receive mail. Dave and Sarah sent us a lovely ‘thank you’ card, Suzie and Theo sent us a Christmas card, Tracy, Ben and baby Alex sent us a Christmas card, and Kristy’s mother sent us a Christmas parcel – yay!!!!

Logan is here on Sunday!!! Woot!!!! Yay Logie Bear!!!

Oh, and really... Victoria!?! You are now a Liberal state??? We leave and that’s what you do?????

Sayonera! (not really, because I will see you all again).