Two days running we've had to set the alarm for 5.45am! This is getting too reminiscent of work. Yesterday was just to ensure that we made the airport on time for our flight to Alice Springs. As always we were early but arrived safely and drove the 450+km in our camper van to Uluru (Ayres Rock) without incident. The Romans would have been proud of the highways up here. Pretty much dead straight and and mostly through flat desert like land, so not fantastically interesting as drives go.
However that was just preparation for the main event which was a major WOW! As the dawn broke we were on the viewing platform (with a few others!) to catch our first proper sight of the magnificent rock that is Uluru.
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| Sleepy heads watch sun rise at Uluru |
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| Sun rises over Uluru |
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| Sun fully up |
To understand Uluru's real significance you have to understand a bit about the basic geography of this area and something about Aboriginal thinking.
The rock is in the middle of desert. It towers above acres and acres of bright red sand (even redder than Herefordshire soil), a few bushes and some weedy trees. It does rain here but at the moment it's hot (about 36 degrees C) and very dry. Keep expecting to see Hugh Jackman or Nicole Kidman ride up on horseback at any minute, though here a more common mode of transport would be a camel.
This part of the outback of Central Australia is a sacred place for Aborigines. Aboriginal culture says that Uluru was formed by ancestral beings during Dreamtime. The rock’s many caves and fissures are thought to be evidence of this, and some of the forms around Uluru are said to represent ancestral spirits.
Of course having viewed the rock at dawn, we had to return to watch the sun set! The rock probably looks at its most beautiful at this time of day as it appears to glow red.
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| Uluru as sun sets |
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| Final view before the sun sets |
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| Cave like part of rock which used to act as a kitchen |
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| Kata Tjuta |
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| Close up of Uluru |
There is no doubt that Uluru and its near neighbour Kata Tjuta are magnificent sights in the midst of pretty arid desert. We walked around various parts of the base of both mountains (the locals ask you not to climb Uluru as it is sacred and it's too steep for amateurs like us). From the viewing points the rocks look smooth but closer inspection shows the many fissures and crevices that are a natural part of aging sandstone. They are both truly beautiful sights and you should visit if you possibly can.
This is the first time since arriving in Australia that we've seen much evidence of Aboriginal culture. What's striking here is the contrast between the effort that has undoubtedly been put into helping visitors understand how important Uluru is and something of the Aboriginal culture and the absolute rip off that coming here represents!
The problem with Ayres rock and largely with Alice Springs, is that the only reason 99.9% of visitors come to them is to visit Uluru. That creates a monopoly on everything a tourist needs to come here. Flights, accommodation, car hire, fuel, food and drink are all exorbitantly expensive. Such a shame as it means that we couldn't spend money on local art work which would have been much more satisfying. Anyway, rant over. Despite the expense, we wouldn't have missed the experience for the world.
One final moment of mirth! In our rather hazy state predawn this morning, we forgot to disconnect the power lead from the camper van. (Yes those that read the blog will know that this has happened before but we are out of practice!). Unfortunately the incident was witnessed by several fellow campers, including our Aussie neighbours who took a photo of the connection box which had half come out of the ground! They confessed later that the photo was to remind them not to do the same thing. Or that's what they said. Will probably end up on Utube as an example of Pom intelligence!
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