BDU: Park Hyatt Melbourne

BDU: Birthday Down Under - Trip Planning
BDU: Flying to Sydney
BDU: Park Hyatt Sydney
BDU: Sydney Activities
BDU: Sydney Opera House
BDU: Flying to Uluru and Back
BDU: Uluru and Kata Tjuta
BDU: Park Hyatt Melbourne
BDU: Melbourne Activities
BDU: Flying to Fiji
BDU: Hilton Fiji
BDU: Snorkeling Trip
BDU: Flying to Los Angeles
BDU: Hyatt Regency DFW

Our flight from the Ayers Rock airport (by way of Alice Springs) landed in Melbourne mid-afternoon.  While we certainly expected the weather to be cooler than Uluru and the desert, I was a little surprised at how much cooler it was.  Knowing Melbourne was further south than Sydney I had expected to need a jacket but with the wind blowing, long sleeves felt good too after the sun went down.

We didn't have to wait long at all for our shuttle driver to arrive at baggage claim and after walking next door to the international terminal to collect more passengers we all hauled our luggage out to the curb for the trip to our various hotels.

It was on our drive from the airport that I saw the native wildlife for this trip (besides the ibises in Sydney). We were speeding along a multi-lane highway when I looked at a large grassy field on our left and first thought cows were grazing there.  But the ones atop the ridge looked odd for cows and when I looked closer I realized they were kangaroos (or maybe wallabies).  Unfortunately we zoomed by too quickly to get a snapshot.

We arrived at the Park Hyatt and were warmly greeted by the bellman who took charge of our large bags.  The front desk staff were uniformly young, attractive and quite helpful.  They confirmed we'd booked a club room and pointed out the restaurant to us where we were entitled to breakfast during our stay.

Entrance to the Park Hyatt Melbourne

BDU: Uluru and Kata Tjuta

BDU: Birthday Down Under - Trip Planning
BDU: Flying to Sydney
BDU: Park Hyatt Sydney
BDU: Sydney Activities
BDU: Sydney Opera House
BDU: Flying to Uluru and Back
BDU: Uluru and Kata Tjuta
BDU: Park Hyatt Melbourne
BDU: Melbourne Activities
BDU: Flying to Fiji
BDU: Hilton Fiji
BDU: Snorkeling Trip
BDU: Flying to Los Angeles
BDU: Hyatt Regency DFW

When planning this trip I knew I wanted to re-visit Sydney (not to mention staying at the Park Hyatt there!) and one of my traveling companions had never been there so I always knew that was going to be an item on the itinerary.  But I wanted to do some new things too.  I'd already seen the Great Barrier Reef on my last trip so I decided on Oz's other great natural wonder, Uluru (OO-LOO-ROO). It wasn't until I started researching further that I learned there's another rock formation nearby, Kata Tjuta (KHAT-ah JU-tah).

We'd had lovely spring weather in Sydney but when our plane landed at they Ayers Rock airport, the weather was HOT.  It's a tiny little airport with only one luggage belt and two gates.  We were amused by the sign in the bathroom that asked people not to wash their feet in the sink.  You just know there had to be a number of incidents leading up to that situation!

Since Uluru is a national park, all the lodging is run by one company, similar to the way national parks here in the US are run.  While I couldn't use traditional hotel points for our room here, by using the ArrivalPlus card from Barclays we were able to use their points to offset the hotel and rental car charges.  It ended up costing us each about $100, which was not a bad deal at all.

And speaking of rental cars, this was my first opportunity to drive on the "wrong" side of the road.  Let's just say I was glad we were in the Outback and there wasn't much in the way of traffic.

The whole Ayers Rock area is fairly compact and our apartment was only about a 10-15 minute drive from the airport.  We got our bags unloaded, changed into weather-appropriate gear and set out for the park - which itself is only about 10-15 minutes away from the resort area.

After obtaining our park passes at the main gate, we headed into the park.  We could catch glimpses of Uluru here and there but then finally we rounded a bend in the road and there it was.  I wanted to stop the car and take pictures but there were "No Stopping" signs all over the place - so apparently I was not alone with that idea!

Hello Uluru!