I have finally reached that point where I am starting to miss American food a lot. I first realized it when we stopped at McDonalds, I got a 10 piece nugget and ate the whole thing. I think the last time I had a McDonalds nugget was when I was 5. McDonalds is now my comfort food here in Australia...good thing I only have 3 days left of you might not recognize me when I got home. Mostly I miss Dr. Pepper, and I have heard rumors that you can find it in Sydney, but I'm still looking....
Sunday morning (your Saturday) we flew to Ayer's Rock which is considered the Australian Outback. We landed in the middle of the desert, literally. Grisha, who is 5, looked out the window as we were landing and asked where all the buildings, roads, and cars were. This town is literally just a resort in the middle of the desert....and no, not even close to Palm Springs if that's what you are picturing. There are these two huge rock formations that are in the desert and that is all. By the time we left, I had seen the rocks from every angle, with every type of sunlight, and have any picture of them you could ever imagine. It's also an area where a lot of the aboriginal people live. The rocks are sacred to them and a big part of their culture.
The first night we were there, we went out to have dinner in the desert. We watched the sunset over the rock and got served champagne and appetizers. Of course since its the Australian outback you shouldn't expect just any appetizers, they serve crocodile and kangaroo. Peter, you would be proud to know that I tried both (now you all know why I love McDonalds so much here). They actually were not bad, I didn't go back for seconds or anything, but not bad. After sunset we had dinner under the stars. It was the most beautiful view of the stars I have ever seen. Since there are no buildings (besides the resort) out there you could see every star. They also had a telescope to look through and I saw saturn and it's rings. It was one of the coolest things I have ever seen in my life. The next morning we woke up to see the sunrise over the rock, went back for a nap and slept a few hours, saw the sunset over the rock, slept a few hours, and woke up this morning to again see the sunrise over the rock...now you know what I mean when I say I have seen it at every angle and every type of sunlight. Only this morning was a little different, because we went on a camel ride as the sun was rising. Yes, that's right a camel. My explanation won't do justice you will just have to see the pictures. The rock really was so beautiful, and the outback is was my favorite part of Australia so far. I think mostly because it is so unique and you really feel like you're not in America when you're out there. Oh, other than the flies. They had horrible, horrible flies out there. I don't know what it was but they were constantly on your face, flying in your ears. I think the saying we came up with for it was "a slow form of torture".
Oh I almost forgot about the part where I held a snake. On one of our tours around the desert and rock we had a tour guide who was really great and gave us a short lesson on all these different animal critters that live in the outback (kangaroos don't live in the outback...I was disappointed). She had blue tongued lizards, and some dragon lizard, and pythons. I never thought I would touch a snake in my life and by the end had a python wrapped around my neck. It was one of the scariest but coolest things I've ever done. (Disclaimer: the second the snake looked at me and started slithering up my arm I screamed and made her take it back...I can't give myself more credit than I deserve) I mostly did it for your picture viewing purposes, so enjoy and you're welcome!
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