My bucketlist trip No 2

[Justinf]

Okey dokey, so following on from my initial bucketlist trip report, which can be found here http://www.australianfrequentflyer....tos/my-first-class-bucketlist-trip-75766.html
I decided that I really wanted to see Uluru. It was one of those places that I have always wanted to go but never really had the chance. If you have read my Texas trip report, you will know that my Dad died 12 months ago after a battle with cancer and we took a trip together to Darwin, Kakadu and Katherine Gorge. He absolutely loved the Territory so I decided to take my nearly 16-year-old daughter along for the ride.
I booked in Y with Virgin Australia from MEL via SYD to AYQ. I submitted an upgrade request and bidded slightly above the minimum required and it was granted a few days before departure.
I didn't tell my daughter that we were in J and decied to surprise her. After a 3.30am wake up we drove to Tulla and checked in and had time for a coffee and a bite in the lounge beforehand. Before falling from Gold to Silver with VA, I decided to pay the $300 yearly fee for Lounge membership so even though we were flying Y to SYD, we could still access the lounge.


Keep in mind that this trip report will probably be a little boring compared my last one, but I did get some stunning pics once we got to Uluru. This trip was more about the destination that the actual journey.
Trip to SYD was uneventful. Basic snack and coffee on offer.

We had a quick 20 minutes in the SYD lounge and then onto the 738. My daughter wanted to carry her boarding pass onto the flight but I wouldn't let her as it would give our seats away. She was annoyed. I told we were in row 11 and when we got to seats 1A and 1B I sat down and said 'surprise'! She was thrilled.
Pre departure drink.

And decent legroom although I couldn't get row 2 unfortunately. The baulkhead gets in the way a bit, but for a three and a half hour flight, it would nicely. I'm 184cm.

Next up the journey out to AYQ and the meal and service. And then it' into the actual four days we spent in the red centre, which would totally blow my mind.

 

[VPS]

Subscribed

 

[drron]

Wont miss a bit of this one.Seat belt on.

 

[lakeman]

Thanks for the journey to come.
Great that you are sharing the love with your daughter!

 

[Hvr]

Am also looking forward to this trip report. Justinf you are certainly giving us some great writing and definitely enjoying life.

Thanks for your time and photos, I love your enthusiasm and positive contributions to AFF.

 

[Justinf]

cabin was 7/8 and Chris, our cabin manager, was looking after us today. My daughter, Olivia (who I will call Liv in this report) was given a Samsung Galaxy tablet while I already had my iPad with the entertainment app installed. Flight time was close to three and a half hours and we left SYD on time at 10.10am.
First up we had a drink and I had some olives and almonds and settled in to watch Jurassic World.

The 738 J experience doesn't compare with that of the A330 as most on here would know, but it was still a nice way to pass the time.
Lunch consisted of the choice of a zucchini soup or a chicken salad. We both opted for the salad and I guess the perk of row 1 was that was got served first.

And of course there was the obligatory bogan who used the baulkhead as a footrest. grrrrr

Flight went quite quickly and Chris was a terrific host. Kept my wine glass topped up and as we approached the red centre, the earth down below started to change.

 

[Major]

I enjoyed your last TR and looking forward to this one

 

[love_the_life]

A wonderful trip and looking forward to reading more. I visited the centre several times when I was working but never actually got to spend time at Uluru. It was always a quick overnight on the way to somewhere else until Mr LtL and I flew up for a long weekend a couple of years back.
There is something magical about the red centre's earth and that first sight of Uluru.

 

[Justinf]

Was mesmerised before we even touched down.



Flight was good. Was worth paying the extra for the upgrade.
Bags came out quickly at the small airport and onto the complimentary bus to the resort. We were staying at Desert Gardens with a rock view room. After a very early start we were both tired, but excitement was taking over and the adrenaline kicked in. I was very interested to see what the accommodation would be like. I'm a fusspot when it comes to hotel rooms.
Seats taken on the bus and we were excited. Be warned...plenty of 'goofy' selfies to follow.

 

[love_the_life]

I've stayed at Desert Gardens before. I thought it was fine though because of its age it was a hike upstairs with the luggage etc. We didn't eat at the hotel as we were leaving early to get to Warburton (turn left at Kata Tjuta or catching a plane out) and for dinner we went to the central market area. Have also stayed at Sails - really not much difference.
The hotel has the card in the slot for power in the room (like many other hotels) as I found out the hard way when I took the card out and went out to dinner when charging my phone!
Looking forward to more selfies!

 

[Justinf]

Check in at the Desert Gardens and was pleasantly surprised. Room was certainly not of a super-high standard, but it would do the job. Climate control was not able to be changed and it was hot. Called reception who sent a technician almost immediately. He said the temp was set to 26 degrees. Given that it was 32 degrees outside, he unscrewed the actual case away from the device and said he would leave it off so I could adjust the temp manually myself. This made me happy. Over the next few days the temperature would range from 33 degrees to 6 degress and being able to change the temp inside our room was pretty important. I can't imagine how this wasn't possible without unscrewing the wall-mounted device (tip for future travellers - take a very small screwdriver).



All was forgiven when I stepped out onto the balcony.

Well, the holiday had started. It was warm. So let's have a cold beer.

 

[kermatu]

I think goofy selfies are a must for any respectable trip report.

as an aside, olives and nuts are a big step up for post-takeoff drink accompaniment. That's what QF gives to F pax (admittedly pre takeoff). I will be travelling VA J a bit in coming months so looking forward to comparing.

 

[Justinf]

I think goofy selfies are a must for any respectable trip report.

as an aside, olives and nuts are a big step up for post-takeoff drink accompaniment. That's what QF gives to F pax (admittedly pre takeoff). I will be travelling VA J a bit in coming months so looking forward to comparing.

To be fair he asked if I wanted 'olives or nuts' and I said 'yes please' so he brought me both.

 

[Justinf]

After chillaxing a bit in our room or me having a few coldies on the balcony looking at the Rock, we decided to venture out into the resort itself.
With nothing planned for that night but a busy schedule for tomorrow, we headed to the Outback Pioneer Hotel, a place we would frequent a few times during our four days there.
They do a cook-it-yourself BBQ where you buy your meat (prawns, barra, steak, roo etc) and cook on the hotplates and then there's unlimited salad to go with it.
Most of the restaurants at the resort are upmarket or cafe fare, so we found this to be a perfect in between. At $23.75 for a piece of barra, it was reasonable value when you consider you'd pay that at any pub anywhere. $8 for a schooner was a bit steep. You must show your room key/card to purchase alcohol and this was the only place in the entire resort where you could buy takeaway alcohol. Fortunately I brought some with me in my luggage. $26 for a six-pack of xx_X Gold was expensive, but as they explained, it isn't a bottleshop, you are actually purchasing at bar prices to consume off premises.
Anyway, the weather was superb. It had cooled down to high 20s by the time we got there.

Embarrassingly, the concoction on the plate closest to camera (mine) was a bread and butter dessert pudding that I mistook for a pasta salad type of thing. I can't really recommend barramundi with bread and butter pudding. Maybe I'd had one beer too many.


An early night after dinner for us. We had a sunrise tour of Uluru in the morning and a 12km base walk right around the thing, which Liv was not looking forward to at all being a nonsporty type of girl.
Tomorrow the real fun would begin.

 

[kermatu]

To be fair he asked if I wanted 'olives or nuts' and I said 'yes please' so he brought me both.

Good answer! On my (very few) QF F flights I've always declined the olives before take-off (too messy when still settling in) but had them Post-takeoff.

 

[love_the_life]

That looks very like the room I had last time I was at the hotel, although I think I had a King bed (i.e. not a twin room). Same view though.

I have a feeling we ate dinners at Geckos which is a bistro in the marketplace. From memory the pizzas were quite good.
When I was there with MrLtL we had a couple of meals at Sails which were OK but nothing special. Breakfast was included which was good.
We found service levels at the hotels very hit and miss.

 

[Justinf]

Alarm went off at 5am for a 6am departure to the Rock viewing platform.
All tours and buses are coordinated very punctually. Things runs very smoothly, which is a credit to everyone involved.
Out hotel package included a buffet breakfast, but when you miss out on that due to a morning tour, you can pre-order a prepacked breakfast, which consists of:

The bag is pretty cool too:

The bus whisked us off to the viewing area. The sunrise was fantastic, but the jostling for position was off putting. I would learn throughout the next few days that this was the norm. People can be quite selfish. That's life I guess.

 

[Justinf]

As the sun rose, the light on the rock changed. It was breathtaking, but with the cacophony of noise from selfish people who had no regard for others but it a bit off putting. Still, it was an impressive sight and it had cooled down considerably. about 9 degrees.






Back on the bus where it took us to the start of the walk. We were about to walk around the entire perimeter of Uluru. Thankfully the sun was starting to work its magic and it was slowly warming up. We had 17 in our group and I reckon I was about the third-youngest there. Quite an older group, but keen and willing and able. Mark, a Kiwi, was our guide.

 

[Pointcollector]

Thanks for the culinary advice.... I'll keep the pud off the main plate

 

[Pushka]

I think goofy selfies are a must for any respectable trip report.

as an aside, olives and nuts are a big step up for post-takeoff drink accompaniment. That's what QF gives to F pax (admittedly pre takeoff). I will be travelling VA J a bit in coming months so looking forward to comparing.

Oh. I dont take selfies because they end up waaay more than goofy. Cant frighten the kiddies.