Australia Overland—Day Three—Wednesday, February 29, 2012
Today our grandnephew, Niran, was born – a leap year baby!
Our day began with a 4AM alarm and checkout from the hotel. We hoped to see a beautiful sunrise light up the morning, displaying the many color’s of Uluru. Alas, this was not to be. The Rock was half covered with clouds and an overcast sky.
A guided walking tour around the base of Uluru showed us some of the many caves, water holes, gullies and Aboriginal carvings (some 10,000 years old), ancient cave paintings and we learned about their legends.
We learned much about the edible, drinkable desert. Available water sources are passed down from old to young. It is not only found in water holes but hidden in roots and upper branches of oak trees. Also, the water-holding frog, cyclorama, hides in the ground. The Aborigines can dig these frogs from their burrows and squeeze them for a drink.
Witchetty grubs live in the roots of certain acacia bushes. These grubs contain a large amount of protein and fat and can be eaten either raw or cooked.
There are many sources of honey in the bush. Insects that live on the branches of the mulga tree appear as red bumps, are sweet sticky honeydew and can be sucked directly from the branch. A different source comes from honey ants. Enough said!
Some free time was enjoyed after lunch and we headed for the airport to board our flight to Cairns and The Great Barrier Reef. Arriving at the small, 2 gate airport serving Uluru - Kata Tjupa National Park, it was announced that all flights were delayed due to what else, RAIN. But we discovered the whole of Australia was suffering from rain and flooding. The Uluru Airport had flooded and the security area was closed. After a 3 hour delay, we departed for Cairns. Our orientation tour of Cairns was cancelled due to our very late arrival and we headed straight for the hotel. We are excited about tomorrow and spending the day at the Great Barrier Reef.
