Where's the heater! OMG cold cold cold - and we won't mention how many times I had to try to drag the blankets back to my side of the bed last night. The wind had come up and it had a pretty chill attitude this morning. I was reluctant to move but no point spending the holiday inside the van. It was however a pretty slow start this morning but we headed out to take a few photos mid morning leaving Mrs Sleepyhead in the van again since she is not allowed in the National Park. She is more than happy just chilling in the caravan and given she'd be at home alone if we went shopping or had appointments, she is used to being by herself and is pretty quiet.
Having driven all around Uluru yesterday we decided to head out to Kata Tjuta (The Olgas) this morning. We decided not to go any further than the lookout point as the sun would have been directly in our eyes around the other side and we weren't planning on doing much walking there. The trek up the hill to the lookout was a bit of exercise for the day and we were given quite a show by a very cheeky little Willy Wagtail (aka Black & White Budgie) as he came within less than a metre of you and looked you in the eye as if making sure you were there for honourable reasons.
We wanted to make sure we spent a bit of time back at the van before tonight's dinner and tour which was about four and a half hours Miss K would be spending by herself.
The Field of Lights Dinner was something I have been looking forward to
since we booked it a few months ago. Not
only for the display of the lights, but also the promise of interesting food
claiming to showcase Indigenous flavours that have been used for thousands of
years. After being transferred by bus to
the location for dinner somewhere on a high sand dune between Uluru and Kata
Tjuta we watched the sun go down while being served glasses of champagne and
canapés.
As we arrived we moved to the edge of the viewing area to take some
photos and started chatting with a lovely couple of ladies (who turned out to
have our kind of sense of humour) from the USA who were on a tour around
Australia – Nicole & Bekkah – who apparently once worked together and now
live on opposite sides of the country but travel together overseas occasionally.
Between the “where are you from and where are you headed” conversation
canapés began rolling out and included:
- Smoked kangaroo with native pepperberry yoghurt
- Rosella, caramelised onion and feta tart
- Crocodile, carrot and saltbush flan
- Poached prawn, sea parsley and finger lime aioli bun
- Caramelised sweet potato and lemon myrtle filoette.
I had a few of the kangaroo, crocodile and prawn canapés which were
tasty.
As the sun set we were directed down a path to the main dining area
which included 12 beautifully set “candlelit” (albeit battery operated) tables
with white tablecloths, patio heaters, a fire pit and a comprehensive
bain-marie/chef station with 7 wait staff, chef and others ready to make our
night happen.
The entrée of roasted tomato and native thyme soup was served to the
table together with fresh bread rolls.
To be honest this was probably my least favourite dish mainly for the
uneven texture but was still quite tasty.
Once entrée dishes were collected, each table was invited to go to the
chef station to select their main courses.
Of course most people had something from each platter and what a
selection there was!
- Chilled prawns
- Native Chutneys and condiments
- Barramundi, lemon myrtle cream, caramelised lemon with glazed greens
- Native dukkah crusted kangaroo, organic quinoa, roasted capsicum salsa
- Seared chicken breast, coastal rosemary and garlic baked potatoes, leek veloute
- Lamb cutlet, blistered cherry tomatoes, crisp sea parsley, bush tomato jus
- Steamed season greens with lemon aspen vinaigrette
- Warrigal green and mushroom risoni, feta crumble, sundried tomatoes
- Kale, pickled Spanish onion, chickpea, roasted sesame dressing
- Garden salad
- Braised crocodile, shaved vegetable and fragrant herb salad
- Pepperberry roasted cauliflower, pickled muntries, spinach and mint yoghurt dressing
- Fusilli salad, roasted artichoke, saltbush, olives, salsa verde
And finally dessert!
- Desert lime cheesecake
- Warm chocolate and wattleseed slice
- Warm apple and quandong crumble tarts
- Pear and lemon myrtle tea cake
- Watermelon platters
- Vanilla anglaise
- Davidson plum and berry compote
- Your choice of Port – Coffee – Hot Chocolate
We were so fortunate to have such a lovely group of people at the table
whose conversation was interesting and having a sense of humour also
helped. Our lovely waiter David who at
the beginning of our meal lost his balance in a hole in the sand dune and broke
a glass and was gracious enough to put up with the ribbing he got from not only
our table but the rest of the wait staff.
During the meal we were entertained by a Didgeridoo player and had a
lady point out the various star constellations as best she could given the very
bright almost full moon on the night.
And finally once the food had been served and the drinks glasses
emptied, we farewelled our dinner partners and made our way along the path
through the field of lights back to the bus which ferried us back to our
respective accommodation.
It was very cold and while the heaters did help to take a bit of the
chill away, poor Shane’s back suffered from the cold despite us making every
effort to rug up for the night. Frankly
I was grateful for the 650m walk through the lights to warm up a bit. There had been a strong cold breeze blowing
through the entire evening – without that it would have been extremely
comfortable and of course that made photographing the lights up close a
challenge as they swayed in the breeze.
But what a remarkable night that I’m sure we will both remember for a
long time.
106 km
Total - 2,903 km
Top today 19°c - expecting overnight 2°c
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