Review: Films Set In Japan – Enter The Void (2009)

Posted on May 1, 2012 by tokyofox

Starting off with a hard techno beat and flashing credits this arty-farty French directed film comes across as tediously excruciating with any real story replaced by indulgence for the sake of art.

We see all the action through the eyes of the main character Oscar in ‘Peep Show‘ style and I’d also compare it to watching ‘Big Brother‘ Live as there are times when the characters are just chatting or not doing much in a film which certainly doesn’t rush in its pacing. At 154 minutes in length (it was originally 10 minutes longer than that!) it is unnecessarily long and could surely have been edited down to a more respectable time. Whereas ‘Peep Show‘ has two main characters and a strong support cast this film only has one main (weak) character who we see very little of meaning that the film has very little to focus on in terms of characters and instead we have to suffer constant dreamy, hallucinogenic scenes for a frustrating amount of time. Don’t expect to see any recognisable places in Tokyo whatsoever either. As for character development, don’t make me laugh! There really is no one to care about in this film…or a story for that matter!

Still reading? If so then the movie centres around Oscar; a drug dealer living in Tokyo who goes to a bar called ‘The Void’ to deliver some drugs to a guy who has grassed him up (the probable reason why is explained later) as the police raid within seconds of his arrival. Locking himself in the toilet Oscar is unable to flush the drugs away and tells the police he has a gun in the hope he’ll get more time but instead he gets shot through the door and then the film becomes weirder and weirder.

On the way to the bar that fateful night Oscar’s mate Alex had been talking a lot about ‘The Tibetan Book of the Dead’ which is a Buddhist book about the afterlife and he refers particularly to how the spirit of a dead person sometimes stays among the living until it begins to experience nightmares, after which it attempts to reincarnate. After being shot Oscar’s body (who we had only ever really seen from his view-point) rises from him and he floats his way through his life in chronological order. This includes the backstory of his family particularly his sister and how they both ended up in Tokyo. What follows includes some pretty f*cked up sh*t such as travelling inside his sisters vagina to witness his mate Alex thrusting and then ejaculating and we lucky viewers get to follow the semen into the fertilisation of his sister’s ovum.

If you are disturbed by strobe effects, shaky hand-held cameras, psychedelic images, abortion, breast-feeeding, drug use, graphic sex, blood and so on over the course of two and a half hours then this is definitely not the film for you. If you do like any of that stuff then there are way better films out there catering for such topics. Avoid the void.

 

Tokyo Fox Rating 4/10

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Australia 2012 Pt VIII: Friends Reunited in Sydney

Posted on April 28, 2012 by tokyofox

The main reason for my trip ‘Down Under’ was to see my family but no way was it going to be exclusively about them due in part to not wanting to outstay my welcome at my sisters house. As there are no direct flights between Tokyo and Melbourne I had to transit in Sydney so I decided to catch up with a few British friends from my past now living in the New South Wales state.

On my first night I met up with Andy who I travelled with for a bit in Oz 11 years ago. Our conversation was pretty much identical to the last time I saw him which was in Stockport back in 2003! We had dinner and a few schooners of beer at a bar somewhere in The Rocks. It was a great laugh and I could so easily have stayed chatting to him all night but sadly we only had a few hours of talking b*llocks!

It was the turn of Bev the following night at Bondi Junction where another pub meal and beers were consumed. I hadn’t seen her since I moved away from Humberside in January 2001 to go travelling for a year ‘Down Under’. I worked with her at Butler Group in Hull as part of the I.T. company’s telesales team for the two years I was there and it was great (as well as a bit strange!) to catch up on the company gossip from yesteryear including stuff which I was unaware of when I was working there!

On my third day in Sydney I met up with Aaron who I also met in Hull as we were both successful graduates from the same Economics & Business course. We even lived together for a few months in late 1998 and like Bev I hadn’t seen him since my farewell weekend in Hull in January 2001. Having done the bridge climb in the morning I met him in the CBD early-afternoon where we went to a couple of bars (including one on a skyscraper roof with a pool) before taking a taxi back to his place by the beach in Tamarama late afternoon. I had wanted to do the Coogee to Bondi coastal walk whilst I was in Sydney on this trip but had no time to fit it in but Aaron and I did do a small section of it when we walked to Bondi Beach but just to go to another bar albeit one with a very fine view. I have never actually stepped onto the beach at Bondi during two visits now!

     

Last but certainly not least is Ruth (not to be confused with my sister Ruth) who was so kind to me as always and let me stay with her, her husband Damian and their housemate Claire for my three nights in the city. I met her in Brisbane around August 2001 and then again up in Cairns and I think we even met up in Perth at the end of that year for a brief day on the beach in Cottesloe. I really can’t thank her enough for her hospitality (an air bed, towel, house key, food, drinks etc) on both this trip and back in London in 2005 when I was doing my FELT course before returning to Japan to start working for the company I am still with today. I had already arranged to meet Andy, Bev and Aaron on my first three nights before Ruth offered to accommodate me but fortunately we were able to spend some time together in and around everything else going on and a bloody good laugh it was too.

     

I brought the curtain down on this trip by taking the short walk to Coogee Beach from Ruth’s house where it all began for me back in February 2001 BUT amazingly I had no recollection or affinity to the place. I think that must be because I was with a big group of people back then and basically just followed others. It was only after leaving Coogee that I had to really make my own decisions and for that reason I have a good memory of everything I did after Coogee. Leaving that all aside, it was still a very nice area and though we didn’t have too long there it was nice to chill on the beach for a bit.

  

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Australia Filming Locations #2: The Matrix (1999)

Posted on April 25, 2012 by tokyofox

Can’t say I ever cared too much for this 1999 film but it does have some great action scenes which in some ways compensate for the “as if!” moments. Even though it doesn’t reference Sydney that is where most of it was filmed as the city’s Central Business District portrayed a generic metropolis better than most of its world city counterparts due to the lack of highly recognisable skyscrapers.

Keanu Reeves plays Neo; the computer programmer who leads a double life and is chased down by Matrix agents on 12 minutes at the Westpac Plaza (below) on 273 George Street where he works. He does try to escape from them by climbing out on to the window ledge on 16 mins before admitting defeat and giving himself up for capture.

The combat training featuring the distracting woman in the red dress takes place at Martin Place (below) on 57 minutes where the street meets Pitt Street. This circular fountain is where Morpheus tries to explain something or another about the Matrix and six years later the very same fountain appeared in ‘Superman Returns‘. A screenshot and different photo from that film can be seen here.

 

Chifley Plaza at 2 Chifley Square is the tower (below) holding the restaurant which comes on screen after 64 minutes where Cypher switches sides over a juicy and delicious steak with Agent Smith whilst uttering some b*llocks about his steak not really existing.

  

The Westin Hotel at 1 Martin Place (above) was used for interior shots involving the chase scenes and the ‘deja vu’ cat around the 78 minute mark on the hotels grand staircase below.

 

Below is the Colonial State Bank Centre which can be found at 52 Martin Place. Agent Smith holds Morpheus captive here on 91 minutes after their slowly choreographed fight 27 minutes earlier.

 

 

On 106 minutes the Aon Tower (above) at 201 Kent Street can be seen behind the building rooftop where Neo and Trinity take part in one of the most ridiculous slow-mo shooting scenes in cinema history before they take a helicopter on 107 minutes and fly in front of the aforementioned Bank Centre where they fire at the evil Smith and his fellow kidnapping pals. Morpheus leaps for freedom and is miraculously caught by Neo as tends to happen in films.

The helicopter then flies over Sydney’s relatively anonymous skyscrapers with them dangling down from it. Having dropped off Morpheus, Neo lands safely on the Allianz Centre on 110 minutes but the helicopter crashes into the British Telecom Tower opposite it. These two buildings (below) are located at 2 Market Street and 1 Market Street respectively.

 

Much of the film was of course made in the studio with Fox Studios Australia (below) in Moore Park being the ones used. ‘Star Wars Episode III‘ and ‘Moulin Rouge‘ among others were also shot here.

 

The corner of Pitt Street and Hunter Street (above) was the location for the fake phone box where Neo makes a final phone call to the machines on 128 minutes.

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Australia 2012 Pt VII: Sydney Harbour Bridge Climb

Posted on April 22, 2012 by tokyofox

Even though I spent a whole year in Australia 11 years ago there were still many things that I didn’t do for various reasons usually related to money and this trip was intended to bring almost complete closure to what I wanted to do Down Under. Having been to Alice Springs and Ayers Rock for the first time my mind turned to doing something in Sydney for the first time. I set my mind on climbing Sydney Harbour Bridge and thanks to the better half of my mate Andy I even got a 25% discount which made the final price (about A$150 instead of A$200) a lot easier to swallow.

Not wanting to waste time in my day I decided to do the 9am climb which involved introductions, a video, getting breathalysed, signing disclaimer forms, changing into the suits provided and being equipped with all kinds of things which might be needed. Of course they attached everything in some way and we even had a scan and walked through a detector thing like you do at airports to make sure we had no loose coins or were trying to sneak our own camera on to the bridge with us. We did an indoor practice run of climbing up and down the ladders to prepare us for the ones we’d have to do on the real thing. There’s more to this climbing lark than meets the eye……or so they say anyway!

So after about an hour of all the pre-climb stuff we finally got outside with me leading from the front apart from our female leader Ed (as in Edwina) who was followed by our all-male group. We all had earphones and a kind of walkie-talkie pack so that we could hear her instructions and information about the bridge, harbour and so on. For once I actually took in most of what a guide said which is very rare where I’m concerned.

As for the actual climb it was fairly easy starting off with a few ladders and then a gradual incline of steps leading up the to the top where we then crossed over the bridge before descending on that side of the bridge. I thought it was great but it didn’t exactly quite give me the adrenalin rush I hoped it would other than a slightly nervous shaking leg at the times when I really did stare down on to the road and water below. The highest point of the bridge is 134 metres which is exactly the same height as my biggest bungy jump but as I looked down into the harbour I was sure that I couldn’t do such a thing again!

 

Of course the “free photo” in the climb package was always going to be the group one  which no one really wants. I think we all had three individual or small group photos taken at different points of the climb but the only one that I really wanted was the one above and it didn’t come cheaply at A$26 but it’s not as if I am going to ever do such a climb again is it?!

Part of the Bridge Climb ticket also included entrance to one of the towers which we learned on the climb do not support the bridge structure in any way but are just there for design and to give ease of mind to many people. As we had finished our ascend of ‘The coathanger’ it started raining and quite hard too which was fortunate for our group but it did mean that I got quite wet making my way to the tower where I could actually take my own photos of the Opera House and the rest of the Harbour from up high.

     

There was a little museum up there with the construction photos and the simple Question & Answer cards being of most interest to me.

 

Bonus: I’ve still never been inside Sydney Opera House and to be honest I don’t really have any interest in doing so. On another day I was more than happy to spend a lovely sunny afternoon walking from Circular Quay to Mrs Macquaries Point and back via the Royal Botanic Gardens.

     

Unlike Melbourne I really don’t know my way around Sydney so well despite spending two weeks there at the start and two weeks at the end of my years working holiday in 2001. Obviously its a more beautiful looking city than its rival due to its harbour setting and famous landmarks but I can’t say I’m too keen on its Central Business District (CBD).

Two of the most notable films to have been made in Sydney are ‘The Matrix‘ and ‘M:I-2‘ (a.k.a. ‘Mission Impossible 2‘) and they will have their own separate entries soon. One other movie to have been made in part in Sydney is ‘Superman Returns‘ (2005) and its just ahead of the hour mark (58 mins to be a bit more precise) that Superman is ‘distracted’ by an out-of-control car which was all part of the diversion plan from his nemesis Lex Luthor.

 

Superman saves Luthor’s henchwoman Kitty Kowalski by the circular fountain (below) on Martin Place in the middle of the CBD.

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Australia Filming Locations #1 – Mission: Impossible 2 (2000)

Posted on April 19, 2012 by tokyofox

‘M:I-2‘ as it was officially titled is probably the worst of the ‘Mission: Impossible’ films but that’s not to say that it’s bad. It’s just that John Woo’s direction of the sequel grates with me a bit because of all the ridiculous acrobatics, somersaults and slo-mo action scenes.

A lot of the movie was filmed in New South Wales (NSW), particularly in Sydney and it starts straight away with the camera panning over the Opera House (below). 

  

Next is Biocyte Pharmaceuticals which in reality is Governor Phillip Tower (below). It can be found in the north-east area of the Central Business District (CBD) at 29/1 Farrer Place, Sydney NSW 2000.

 

Argyll Street in The Rocks (below) doubles up as Seville in Spain and is where Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise) meets Nyah (Thandie Newton). During filming the street was totally transformed with dust added to the streets and passionate music playing whilst a religious procession took place.

 

The Spanish driveway scene in “Seville” on 17 minutes was shot at Boomerang Mansion (below) at 42 Billyard Avenue in Elizabeth Bay. This three storey mansion has been described as the oldest and finest example of Spanish architecture in Australia and is private property so the only view I could really get of it was from Beare Park.

 

On 34 minutes the beautiful Nyah is driven under Sydney Harbour Bridge on the boat which takes her to villain Sean Ambrose’s apartment which was located at Bradley Head on Mosman and can be seen again on 36 and 42 minutes. The apartment was just a set prop so I didn’t feel it too necessary to take a boat over to Mosman instead settling for a long distance view of it taken from one of the towers on the bridge.

     

Broken Hill in the far west outback of NSW appears on 35 minutes as the remote sheep station where Hunt meets up with his team; the Aussie pilot and the computer expert.

 

46 minutes in and we see Royal Randwick Racecourse. This is the type of place I wouldn’t bother with usually when hunting down filming locations but as I was staying five minutes walk away at my friends house I jumped at the chance of seeing it. The course is undergoing a bit of reconstruction at the moment which probably worked in my favour as it meant it was open and I could just walk in and take the photos below.

 

The screenshots (below) are of Darling Harbour; the location featured on 86 minutes where Ambrose parks up and shows the virus in the test-tube to Nyah leading her to slap him and is then left to wander the streets of Sydney in a daze having previously injected herself with the virus to stop him killing her to get it. I had planned to go here but ultimately ran out of time and considered it low priority as it was a little out of the way from all the other areas of Sydney I was concentrating on on this trip.

 

The most interesting filming location from ‘M:I-2‘ has to be Bare Island in La Peruse down in Bottany Bay which makes its big screen debut at the 87 minute mark. The place where Cruise climbs up the cliff face is on the left side near to the back and is usually just a place for fishermen to dip their tackle in and see what bites. The tower with all the satellite dishes on it was a prop added to the island by the producers.

              

This island fortress is Ambrose’s bunker headquarters where his transition with Biocyte’s CEO takes place. Cruise rides his motorcycle through balls of fire in what is perhaps the most iconic scene from the whole movie. Its certainly the one which is seen on most posters or pictures relating to the film. The little castle looking building (above) can be seen 104 minutes in as a fairly lengthy motorcycle chase seemingly goes round in circles and doesn’t actually go as far as it would appear on screen. It can be seen in the top of one of the pictures below which shows how close it is to the point where Hunt escapes from the fort.

       

The film ends in the Royal Botanic Gardens (below) by the Opera House on 117 minutes with the two heroes kissing and walking off arm in arm through the place as we get a final aerial view of Sydney’s two most famous landmarks.

  

Click here to read ‘London Filming Locations: ‘Mission: Impossible’ (1996)’ 

Click here to read ‘Prague Filming Locations: ‘Mission: Impossible’ (1996)’

Click here to read ‘Shanghai 2013: Mission Impossible III Filming Locations’

Click here to read ‘Italia 2009: Mission Impossible III Filming Locations’

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Australia Filming Locations #4 – Muriel’s Wedding (1994)

Posted on April 16, 2012 by tokyofox

One of the places I was most interested in seeing in Sydney was not the Opera House, nor the Harbour Bridge. Instead I really wanted to see the church where Muriel Heslop (Toni Collette) got married in ‘Muriels Wedding‘ (1994) which admittedly is a bit sa-a-a-a-a-a-d but that is what I do. Following google’s directions on my iPad, I walked there in about an hour from my base in Randwick on the final day of my three weeks in Australia.

 

Luckily it was nice weather although the glaring sunshine did ruin my shot of the church a bit.

             

Its located on 53 Darling Point Road and is known as the not-so-snappy St. Mark’s Anglican Church Darling Point.

Click here to read ‘Australia Filming Locations #1 -Mission: Impossible 2 (2000)

Click here to read ‘Australia Filming Locations #2 – The Matrix (1999)

Click here to read ‘Australia Filming Locations #3 – Melbourne Special 

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Australia Filming Locations #3: Melbourne Special

Posted on April 13, 2012 by tokyofox

It may not have been featured as much in international movies as much as its rival Sydney but Melbourne has had its moments on the big screen albeit in lesser known productions.

It was way back in 1959 that ‘On The Beach‘ was filmed in parts of Frankston including the beach seen below. Needless to say that the place looks very different but I guess I have just said that! Its first screen appearance is on 16 mins.

     

A much more famous landmark used was Melbourne’s iconic central railway station, Flinders Street Station (below) which serves over 100,000 commuters every day. It also appears to be very busy when its seen after 57 mins.

 

Russell Crowe is a famous actor now but when he filmed ‘Romper Stomper‘ in 1992 around Footscray Station (below) he was just starting out in the acting world. This film is quite a hard watch due to its strong violent and racial content. You have been warned! Following the movies opening title credits we see the station appear with skateboarders going along its platform.  However, I have since read that it was actually Richmond station filling in for Footscray but given that its 20 years on now and the screenshots are very dark I really can’t tell if theres any validity in that statement.

     

Singer Alliyah was tragically killed in a plane crash in 2002 shortly after filming ‘Queen of the Damned’. It was released six months later and just as tragic is how awful the film is! Small things like that don’t deter me from hunting down some of its locations but I sure wasn’t gonna bust a gut to do so. Below is RMIT University on Swanston Street which doubled up as a Warner Brothers Records HQ in London.

The bar below is on 95 Flinders Lane and it became the vampire nightclub.

Just round the corner from that is Duckboard Place (below) where Jesse can be seen walking around the streets of “London”.

 

‘Mad Max‘ is one of Australia’s most famous exports and this 1979 film which brought Mel Gibson to fame was filmed around Melbourne and Victoria. My primary goal was to locate the car park within Melbourne University but I left empty handed on that one due to the sheer size of the place and possibly the fact that it was a Sunday when I was on site and a lot of it was closed. However, on the way home I did get off at South Yarra station where I walked round the corner to Claremont Street which was the car park setting (below) where Goose burns rubber on his exit. Thanks to this Mad Max site for the info.

      

My favourite Bollywood film has to be 2005’s ‘Salaam Namaste‘. Oh Ok its the only one I’ve ever seen but I found it enjoyable enough, even the parts where they break into typical Indian song and dance. As well as Bourke Street Mall there were three other such scenes taking place at the following:

* Yarra Bridge (below) – The screenshot on 66 mins with Nick in it features Flinders Street Station in the background whereas my shot was taken from the other side of the river.

 

* Federation Square – I couldn’t find a clip from the film featuring this place but I did come across the behind-the-scenes shot below.

  

* St Kilda Beach – I didn’t actually go to St Kilda on this trip (apart from the F1 Grand Prix) but I used to live there and returned five years ago to take a trip down memory lane. The beach you see in the ‘Salaam Namaste‘ theme title song after 28 mins is St Kilda (below) though it looks far more impressive on screen than in reality. I can only presume it was filmed over the other side of the pier but I’m really not sure.

      

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Australia 2012 Pt VI: Neighbours Filming Locations

Posted on April 10, 2012 by tokyofox

For a lot of British people their images of suburban Australia life are based solely on how the residents of Ramsay Street spend their lives in ‘Neighbours‘. This soap opera has been on the air since 1986 and I saw almost all of the episodes from the first nine years before taking a five year hiatus. I haven’t seen a moment of the show since 2005 but it will always have a place in my heart.

For those wanting to know what my first ever filming locations were then Ramsay Street in fictional Erinsbrough is the answer not that my obsession with locations started till many years later. In reality the street is known as Pin Oak Court in Vermont South (Melbourne) and I first went there in March 2001 with Chris and Dave who I was travelling with at the time. I then returned to the street with Richard Richard in January 2002 as he wanted to go with someone and may have even offered to pay for my train ticket in return for accompanying him. Mind you, he did only buy me a children’s train ticket!

Just days after my nephew Eifion was born my sister Ruth and I went with him to the street for my third visit. I wasn’t really planning to go there this time but when we didn’t bother to go to the ‘Meet the Neighbours’ night as we had planned I thought I should get my ‘Neighbours’ fix by going to the street yet again.

There are only six houses in the street which are used for filming outside from time to time even though in the show the house numbers are known as 22, 24, 26, 28, 30 and 32. These are real houses and people do live there and have to put up with people like me taking pictures and hanging around the street all the time. I lived in a similar style cul-de-sac when I was younger which was great as we could play in the street without trouble but that probably wouldn’t be possible or certainly not advisable here with all the visitors to the street. The pictures of the houses below are in the order you find them on the street going from left to right. The interiors you see on screen are not the same as in these houses and are of course all set in the Global Television studios.

         

The photos below show how the street looks from the bottom and the top.

     

Bonus: Three of the above photos were taken back in 2001 and 2002. The above one is the ‘Neighbours‘ kitchen from 26 Ramsay Street which is in the Melbourne Museum. The two pictures below were shot at the ‘Meet the Neighbours Night’ in St Kilda in January 2002 featuring actresses Dee Bliss (Madeleine West) and Steph Scully (Carla Bonner).

 

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Australia 2012 Pt V: Kings Canyon

Posted on April 7, 2012 by tokyofox

“I have always wanted to travel to the center of Australia, climb Kings Canyon as a queen, in a full-length Gaultier sequin, heels and a tiara.”

No, they’re not my words but the ones uttered in the 1994 comedy ‘The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert‘ which brought this canyon to my attention many many years after its release. I had to get up super-early to be ready for a 4 am departure so that we would be at the canyon early morning to do the walk. There were two walk options which were basically down below (canyon creek walk) or up top (rim walk) of which I chose the latter.

I did have my reservations though as foot blisters were making it quite painful to walk in my sandals and apart from one other woman in our group I was the only one wearing such footwear. On top of that I was also the only one carrying my 1.5l water bottle and my backpack was also bigger and almost definitely heavier than everyone else’s. Anyway, you can’t go all that way and not do it so I went for it and I’m glad I did as it was fairly easy starting with 500 steps up of which I led the way.

                 

The walk took about three hours and was done by a guide who was a nice chap with a clear accent and who kept to the point in an informative and interesting way unlike the previous days drivers/guides who felt the need to talk the whole time even if it was about nothing much. We were told that due to recent rainfall in the area it was as green as it had ever been which I guess none of us tourists were expecting to see.

We walked down to the Garden of Eden and marvelled at the shear north and south walls (according to their pamphlet!) which was a nice break in the shade from the heat on top which in itself was cooler than normal. As a survivor of Tokyo’s hot and humid Summer conditions it was fairly easy for me to deal with.

      

After 88 mins of ‘The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert‘ the three drag queens begin their ascend of Kings Canyon starting off on the same steps and going on through some fairly nondescript parts before they reach the area below where there is a gap between the two rocks.

 

We then see the strange dome shaped rocks below for a brief second or two.

  

After that we see some helicopter shots looking down at the three characters from above so I wasn’t quite able to replicate that so you’ll have to settle for the one above!

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Australia 2012 Pt IV: Ayers Rock (Uluru) & Kata Tjuta (Olgas)

Posted on April 4, 2012 by tokyofox

“It’s just a f***ing rock” are the words I have been quoted as saying in the past regarding this amazing specimen in Australia’s red centre. Of course that was when I was young, stupid and immature but now I’m slightly older and wiser (but still stupid and immature!) I have seen the error of my ways and thought I should visit one of the worlds wonders in the heart of Australia.

My bus departed Alice at 6am and the first stop was for a quick photo opportunity of Mount Conner which from afar could easily be mistaken (as it is indeed by many) as Uluru itself. Kata Tjuta (below) was on the agenda after that and this really was an amazing sight, one which at the time felt more impressive than my pre-conceived impressions of its much more famous red brother. Everyone has seen pictures of Uluru but far less know about Kata Tjuta (or the Olgas as they’re more commonly known as) and its large domed rock formations which I considered to be really impressive.

     

As Ayers Rock came into view more and more it soon became apparent that my words from 11 years ago were perhaps said in vain. From afar that view could be understandable but as you get nearer and see the rock up close it soon becomes apparent that it is far more than just a rock what with all its holes, markings and erm, bird poop!

Wind conditions on the day meant I didn’t have to make a difficult decision on whether to climb or not though I’m sure I still would have climbed it. Luckily I didn’t have my heart set on climbing it as I wasn’t even aware that you still could but it seems like they can’t just stop people climbing it without having some alternative activity to replace it. We took one of the walks around the base which was very interesting and where the phrase “you have to see it to believe it” became more true than usual as there are parts of the rock which you’re prohibited from photographing as the aborigines strongly believe that you should only see it with your own eyes and not in photographic form.

              

Sunset was great as the tour company cooked up a fantastic BBQ dinner with white wine whilst we watched the changing colours of the rock amongst the many other tours companies who all congregate in the same area. Some of the photos below do actually look a bit fake but I can assure you they are all real and that I was there. For the record I put on my Leicester shirt just for the photo below. Within five minutes of sunset happening we were on our way but thankfully I was staying at a nearby resort ready for the following days trip to Kings Canyon whereas the rest of the bus had a five hour plus drive back to Alice Springs.

             

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