Uluru I

After talking with some people I have worked with here about things in Australia I need to see, the real outback kept coming up.  Kara and I had originally planned to cut a swath across the bush of eastern Australia, which I thought would be a decent substitute, but our plans kind of changed a bit to a more coastal experience so we wouldn't spend long days in the car.  Because of this, I knew what I had to do, so I booked a flight on the budget domestic carrier (Jetstar...no frills but decent service, similar to Allegiant in the States, with limited destinations and charges for everything but the seat) for two nights to the heart of the outback to see Uluru (known to some as Ayers Rock, but more recently as the original ancestral name).  I grabbed a campsite at the Red Rock Resort campground, secured passage on sunset, sunrise, and hiking shuttle tours, packed the pack and headed off to warmer weather and a peaceful escape from the big city!

Map of Australia showing my flightpath from Melbourne to Uluru, deep in the center of the continent in the Northern Territory.

Overhead map of Uluru at the lower right and Kata Tjuta on the left, with the resort located at Yulara and the airport visible at the upper right....lots of red desert out there.

The flight was about 3 hours out there so I got a little work done, finished a book I was reading, and caught a nap.  They have shuttles from the airport to the resort as there is NOTHING else out there except the resort, so it was all pretty convenient.  I quickly set up camp on the fringe out there on my own for solitude, headed up one of the dunes in the campground to a viewing platform to take it all in, and then grabbed my first shuttle on the Uluru Express out to the National Park to take in the big red rock up close.

Campsite on the edge of the bush.

Signage in the campground warning you of dingoes.  I REALLY wanted to see some but never did.

Mohawked pigeon checking me at close distance. No food for you buddy, but I dig the 'do!

Uluru/Kata Tjuta National Park was originally run by the Australian government, but in the 70s the land was ceded back to the original ancestral descendants that lived here, the Anangu aboriginal people.  They then leased it back to the government as a National Park but established control over how it is operated.  Because of this, the prominence of the site as one of high cultural significance is very clear.  I found this refreshing considering some of the things I have learned about the treatment of native peoples here and I honestly see it as a really good thing because the stories were so much more rich than just a recount of which white men first found it, etc.  Every feature on Uluru has an accompanying story it seems as the Anangu developed much of their own mythology (sometimes referred to as "dreaming") from the shapes they saw in the rock.  These stories reflect the nature surrounding them and that they were a part of and it is really truly fascinating.  Seeing Uluru for the first time from a dune in the campground I was really struck by how, in the midst of a large desert stretching in all directions, everything things to both lead to and emanate from the big red rock.  It's easy to see how it is such a fixture for the people that have lived here for thousands of years.

First view of Uluru from a dune in the campground.  The rock as a focus of life really became immediately clear to me.

The Anangu people request, in various places throughout the park, that you not climb the rock because it holds such a sacred place for them and because they themselves never climbed it because of this.

Despite this cultural request, politicians in Parliament have refused to officially close the route to the top, and countless people still sadly ignore this request.

Views of the rock change with every turn and the hiking is really enjoyable, especially in warmer weather I have not felt in months!  It was highs in the upper 60s and lows around 40 while I was there.  Awesome and sunny.

Black algae indicates the course of water when it rains. This is the largest drop on the rock, 93 m (~ 300 ft) into a pool below that was used as a source of water by the people living here.

Caves around the rock provided shelter from the elements as well as gathering places.  Most were segregated between men, women, elders, and "bush boys", the male children, who were taught in classroom caves by elder men.

View of desert blooms and Uluru from a peaceful trail I found, away from the crowds.

I hopped on my first shuttle trip over to the park to walk around Uluru for a few hours and then head to the designated sunset viewing locations for the day's close.  I was a bit limited on time, but I managed to take in the Mala trail which highlighted several places the indigenous peoples used to use and gave me a good background on their way of life, stories, and why they hold this rock so highly.  I took a less popular trail back to the Cultural Center and enjoyed a really nice peaceful walk through outback desert scrub that was full of blooming wildflowers with new smells to me, as well as great views of Uluru from between the trees.  The Cultural Center was pretty great, with some awesome background displays and videos highlighting the Anangu experience both yesterday and today.  I hopped on the shuttle again at the prescribed time and we were taken to the sunset viewing area, which was thankfully huge, as there was about 300 other people there for the same, some with dinner spreads and wine, etc.  I found a quiet spot up a trail a ways and really dug the sunset as it came down to the west with far off views of Kata Tjuta, the other rock formations out there, and the changing colors of Uluru as the sun came down on a good day.

Formations on the walls of a cave that was used by the men of the Anangu.  There is a story that these are the ghosts of the men killed in an attack of a devil-dog that had been surmised from neighboring peoples after an invitation to party was declined because the Anangu had already started their own cermony and could not stop to go to that of their neighbors.

Drawings on the walls of a cave used by tribal elders.  "Listen to the silent trees..."

Looking out on the bush from the safety of a cave.

A succession of plunge pools where runoff falls down the rock face of Uluru.

Kata Tjuta, 30 km to the west, at sunset.  The tallest dome is actually considerably taller than Uluru (~ 650 ft taller).

Sunset really sets off the deep red colors of the Uluru sandstone.

The coming darkness just after sunset.

Yours truly, kind of excited by it all.

SO after sunset I headed back fro camp, stopping at the supermarket in Town Square for a few snacks, and making for camp where I laid back on the grass with my head on my pack and just stared at the awesome night sky that you get in the middle of nowhere.  The Milky Way was in full glow, shooting stars were popping off every few minutes, and I tracked satellites across the sky as well before hopping into the sleeping bag and nodding off before the cold desert night fully set in.