Back in Sydney after a week in Western Australia and 36 hours in the red center.

We went to see the Pinnacles, driving from Perth to Cervantes, enjoying sand dunes, endless beaches and bush-lands on the way. We also shared the road with the famous road-trains (55 meter long trucks), porcupines, emus and kangaroos.

For a change, after so many outdoors experiences, we visited the juvenile block of the Fremantle prison which was a rather creepy experience. Children from 8 to 17 were detained in those tiny cells (2.5m x 1.5m), until the 90’s.

Last Thursday flew out of Perth to Alice Springs. After a night there, we hit the road for a 5 hour trip into the red center. As it was 6 in the morning when we left, the children were fast asleep at the back of the car until we got to “Rainbow Valley” and enjoyed a camp-style breakfast. Another 3 hours and we were right in the middle of Australia, facing this famous, mysterious rock : Uluru.

Before heading out, we asked ourselves if it was worth two flights and a 6 hour drive to see, well, a big rock in the middle of nowhere. Seeing it from a distance and then, standing near the rock’s walls, we can say without a doubt that the trip is well worth it. There is definitely something special about this place, mysterious and powerful.

The rock is like a magnet in this empty space. Temperature rises above 35 degrees, even in late Autumn. The sun is hitting hard on you, so you just instinctively want to protect yourself in the rock’s shade. You want to go closer and touch its surface as this block of material looks surreal in the middle of this emptiness. And once close, you can almost fell it live.

The only sign of life was millions of flies (they were so many, in order to walk, we protected ourselves with Muji travel cases).

After a night at the Ayers Rock Resort, where we gazed at the most starry sky we ever saw, we were all a little relieved to fly away from this sandy, almost hostile, furnace.

Tomorrow, we are flying back in time. Leaving Sydney around 8pm on Sunday, we will reach Honolulu at 8am the same day. One more day of fun !