sounds of silence

based on a friend's advice, we'd managed to move our Sounds of Silence dinner to the 31st, and it was magical. the dinner itself wasn't that amazing but having dinner in the desert, at equal distance between Uluru and Kata Tjuta, from sunset to star-rise and then fully under the stars, was truly an experience. there was some aboriginal dancing and didgeridoo playing, and the local astronomer came by to show us some of the visible stars. while the planets were mostly invisible, as was the moon and the Southern Cross at that time, the sky was clear enough that we could see not only the Milky Way but also the Magellan Clouds! there were also shooting stars (i saw 4) and just the general feeling that we were nothing, when faced with the immensity of space. absolutely an amazing New Year's eve.