32 not out !

As we planned this trip we became aware of a very happy coincidence. Today is the day we planned to arrive at the Rock, Uluru. It is also our 32^nd wedding anniversary. We sent an email to the hotel suggesting that, as it was our anniversary, they might like to upgrade our room to one with a Rock view. They gave us a bottle of Champagne…wasted on us…but sadly no upgrade.

We arrived mid afternoon and faced a dilemma. Did we go out to dinner for our anniversary or go to the Rock to see the sunset?  Should we combine both with a gourmet sunset dinner at the Rock? But no matter how romantic it looked, we balked at the $185 per person price tag. After 32 years together we have much to be thankful for, and we both agree that celebrating does not have to be done at great expense.

At about 4.30pm we decided to go travel the 20 kms from the resort to the Rock. We felt the need to see it up close. It did not disappoint.  It is amazing! And much bigger than we expected. Another dilemma… it was 6pm, should we duck back to the place we were staying – grab some food and head back to the Rock to be there in time for sunset at 7.40pm? No… on second thoughts we decided that food could wait and we set up our deck chairs in a prime position as the crowds began to stake out their own spots for sunset viewing.

Then an ingenious idea - our trusty rapid boil butane stove!  As we rifled through our emergency travelling rations we considered the combination of a half packet of macaroni and a couple of tins of flavoured tuna.  Our own DIY romantic meal right there at the sunset. Within 20 minutes we were sipping water out of plastic Champagne flutes from the picnic set, eating macaroni and tuna from our billy and completing the meal with French vanilla almonds (bought at Coles before we left home) for dessert…in the desert. Delicious!

We saved ourselves $370 and celebrated our anniversary in a memorable, authentic, fun, romantic and thrifty manner. Actually a rather fitting description of the last 32 years.