Now, where were we?

Yesterday, we picked up a hire car from the nice man at AVIS in Perth, and drove around 350 km northwards to Cervantes. It's a cray-fishing settlement that has a very good hostel (we've now discovered), wonderful beaches, very few people and the Pinnacles Desert! In the evening we wandered among the scattered limestone pillars as the sun sank into the Indian Ocean. We saw kangaroo and emu tracks in the sand and a celebrity chef being filmed cooking a meal on location(a dessert I presume, sa Molesworth, hem, hem!). We ate in the local tavern, discussed religion with a local and walked back along the beach in the dark. We saw the Magellanic clouds VERY CLEARLY, and the best shooting star I've ever seen - visible for at least 5 seconds, falling from NW to SE. Today we've swum, (almost, with a wild sea-lion - it appeared in the water where we'd been just a moment before; I don't know who was more surprised, it or us), explored a huge sand dune complex, seen two blue-tongues and visited Lake Thetis with its STROMATOLITES. What a day. We're staying here for another two nights, and we're off to look for stingrays in the light of the jetty tonight.

But what's happening as you drive to Uluru, I hear you cry. Fear not, the story unfolds ....
It's truewhat they say about driving in the desert, all the drivers wave to one another - well you never know when you might need to be remembered! We rattled along to Erldunda at a great turn of speed and managed to pick up petrol and beer there (both essential over the next few days). We also wondered at the Giant Echidna that was safely caged up outside. The, a right turn, and on to Curtin Springs! The road is edged by red, red desert and plants that are either irridescently green or luminously glaucous. It's a ravishing combination with the blue sky above. We weren't taken in by Mount Connor, which many mistake for Uluru as they approach, but it did signal that we were close to our overnight camping place. There's motel-style accommodation at Curtin Springs, and a restaurant, too, but we chose to use their free camping space (2$ for a hot shower, placed in an honesty box). So we pulled in among the few 4WDs, the caravans and the tents and slept soundly till morning.....