Our early morning phone call and my mobile phone alarm went off at precisely the same time – 4.15 a.m.!! Horrors! Managed to drag ourselves out of bed, make our way out to the car, drive to the airport and drop the car off by around 5 a.m. Not bad going for us.

Both of us were sweating a bit on the weights of our suitcases and backpacks, but the check-in for the leg from Hobart Airport to Sydney was straightforward. This was QantasLink, the domestic arm of the well-known airline. I\’d booked extra legroom seats ages ago, so comfortable and uneventful, apart from a pretty ghastly airline breakfast. Flight was only about an hour and three quarters.

Our bags weren\’t checked through to Ayers Rock, so we had to collect them (no problem) and lug them to Terminal 2 for the JetStar flight to Ayers Rock. Check-in was much busier, but both got through Security in good time. Apart from a gate change at Sydney, all going well so far.

The plane eventually took off three-quarters of an hour late, due to a \”minor technical problem\” (?) Even though we had front row seats, so plenty of legroom (again booked ages ago) I was dismayed to note that a particularly noisy youngster was in the row behind and discipline was lax, to say the least. I know I\’m an old fart, but I really cannot stand the shrieks that young kids can produce. Coupled with the fact that it was swinging off the back of my seat, stress levels were beginning to rise. Thank God for noise-cancelling headphones…….

Arrived at Ayers Rock Airport after a three-hour flight to temperatures of 31 degrees and were transported by shuttle bus to our hotel in the Ayers Rock resort – the Sails in the Desert. All very modern and extensive. Found our well appointed room and went for a wander to get our bearings. There are at least four hotels here, plus a \”town square\” – the centre of the action, I suppose (it has a supermarket……)  There is a free shuttle bus which runs round the resort – it really does cover quite a large area.

The information post there yielded some details about the tours we are booked on, and mercifully the first one doesn\’t start until 2.30 tomorrow afternoon. However, there are two very early starts on Thursday and Friday (4 a.m. and 4.30 a.m.), so we\’ll see how those go. We do get some rest time on Saturday morning, as our flight to Cairns isn\’t until the afternoon.