Bye-bye Sydney, hello Red Centre

Somehow this vacation is turning into an early morning number... the alarm clock rang shortly after 05:00 a.m., the taxi was supposedly ordered for 06:30 a.m. (supposedly because this morning, when the taxi didn't come, I realized that I had ordered it for 06:30 p.m., what a fool), so that we wouldn't have to catch our flights in a hurry...

So I canceled the wrong booking via the app and within 5 minutes we were in a newly ordered taxi - all good (phew!).

Since today, one third is traveling differently than the other two thirds. Don't worry, dear readers: we still get along well, but Matthes wanted to spend a few days in the rainforest with a treehouse and co., and Ursula and I wanted to see the old red rock.

Matthes is staying in Cairns tonight (creepy little town, he says), pretending to be a backpacker in a hostel (that's what he wanted - he could have also stayed in a very nice place) and tomorrow he will take the bus up to Cape Tribulation in the rainforest very early in the morning. Unfortunately, the weather seems to live up to its name: it's hot and it's raining...

Ursula and I flew directly to Ayers Rock and checked into the beautiful Sails in the Desert Hotel. We have a HUGE room with 2 queen size beds (who else should sleep like that than us?) and we love it. The only downside: it's hot as hell outside (38 degrees today, tomorrow and the day after tomorrow) - when I picked up our rental car, I almost died until the air conditioning was running - wow!

In the afternoon, while Matthes was watching pelicans at the water in Cairns, we visited the Cultural Center in the Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park and admired the Uluru rock (before and during the sunset (unfortunately completely hidden behind clouds)). Impressive rock, I must say!

By the way, the entrance fee to the park is $25 per person for a three-day pass. According to our calculations, that's for today, tomorrow, and the day after tomorrow. According to the lady at the park entrance, it's for today, tomorrow, the day after tomorrow, and the day after the day after tomorrow - I love it!!!

Tomorrow I hope that the sunrise at Uluru will be more exciting than today's sunset, and afterwards (after sunrise and a million photos) I will head directly to the Olgas (they close the hiking trails there at 09:00 a.m. if a temperature of 36 degrees or more is forecasted for the day.

So: the early bird catches the worm (and I'll have my breakfast to-go tomorrow at the reception).