We stopped at Marla at 0930hrs. Half an hour for fuel, toilet, coffee, hot chocolate and hot chips for the littlies. Then heading along the Stuart Highway there were some lovely mesas and rocky hills, then small, dark red sand dunes that were covered with grass and shrubs as we crossed into the Northern Territory.
Lunch at Erldunda was just sandwiches in the carpark but we had fun visiting the emus, and Amara and Eliza were excited to hold a 'baby' emu egg. Then we were driving through green scenery and rain! It's not your typical desert these days. The red sand dunes get to a decent size past Mt. Connor, with desert oaks in the swales.
About 5 to 10km before Yulara we turned left, following a small sandy track through the sand dunes to our planned bush camp "Uluru By Sunrise" on Wikicamps. It was everything I had hoped for with beautiful red dunes and a view to both Uluru and Kata Tjuta. (This site has since been banned, so don't go here now). Leah's rain goddess title was in play again with us arriving there in the rain. Col and I chatted to some friendly Canadian campers Robert and Alison for a bit and Col set up the dunny with a view of the rock!
We had a bit of a fire that we occasionally stood by, but not wanting to sit in the drizzly rain. After tea the Parkes clan taught Siân how to play Euka in the kid's set up under the Foxwing Awning. I fell asleep to some didgeridoo music mixed with a synthesiser. There's a group having a loud concert across the dunes to the east.
