Magical Uluru

As previously mentioned, Uluru is approx 450kms away from Alice but fortunately only about 60km from a free camping area known at Curtin Springs, one of many roadhouses along the way that provide fuel and basic supplies. It was from here where our adventure into Uluru & Kata Tjuta National Park would commence wrapped in extra layers, trousers and fleeces! 

 

The enormity of "The Rock" cannot really be described. It's simply enormous and you can see it looming in the distance for probably 10kms before you enter the park. Many mistake the equally impressive but far more remote Mt Connor as Uluru on the way in and its not really suprising! (Mt Connor is actually 3x the size of Uluru!)

There's a $25ea fee to enter the Park that causes many to view the access to Uluru as a purely commercial arrangement that supposedly generates massive annual profits for the Traditional Owners. This gives 3 days unlimited access and cannot be bypassed as a great big checkpoint stops each vehicle in turn. For those in Poole, think the Sandbanks Ferry checkpoint but several times larger!!!

A cultural centre sits in the shadow of Uluru that provides the visitor with the background into its creation, its position in today's culture, the wider landscapes and how the local Aboriginal people still use the land to forage, collect and harvest 'bushtucker'. Videos, factsheets, testimonials and photos provide an interactive interpretative display that itself can take a few hours to see. Amber, however, found the gift shop first and came back $30 lighter but with a locally made beanie hat to protect from the cold!!

 

One of the lures to Uluru is the ability to "climb the rock". Many see this as a given right due to the $25 entrance fee and seem to treat the place like a theme park. It's a very steep climb that can take over 2hrs to reach the 300m + summit that can provide the climber with panoramic views of the area and supposedly the curvature of the Earth!

The TOs do request that people don't climb it due to cultural, safety and conservation concerns. The climb is not only very steep where people have been killed, but also marks the route of an Aboriginal creation story so is held in very high regard. The climb's path is also being eroded away faster than anywhere else at Uluru that is adding to the safety concerns.

Over the last 10 years the number of people choosing to climb has dropped from 100% to only 30% - whether this is due to the TO's requests, public awareness of the dangers or regard for the environment it's not been said. Neither of us did; instead deciding to have a cuppa and watch many others do it!!! Only very recently a French tourist stripped on top of the Rock to create some publicity for herself in the hope of luring a modelling contract. Needless to say it, the publicity was huge but didn’t go down terribly well with the Australian public.

Our focus for Uluru was the 9.7km Base Walk estimated to take 4 hours. Suckers for punishment I reckon...but it did change our understanding and knowledge of the place. Why? It allowed literally another side of the "Rock" to be discovered.

The smooth, flat, curved perception that everyone sees on the brochure was swapped with a rough, rusty, flaky, fissured view that housed waterholes, arches, caves and many sacred sites. The jagged rocks provided some areas with enough shade they never receive direct sunlight!

It was a surreal experience to be walking around Uluru's base knowing the distance and remoteness from home to the point where we had to pinch ourselves just to make sure.  WE WERE WALKING AROUND ULURU!

 
It was a dusty and stoney environment that drained our water supply and was the first time the importance of carrying and drinking water came to our immediate thoughts. It was a good job half way round they have a tap! Talking of water, someone somewhere has obviously had a rather pesimistic day!!!

 

The extent of the rain around the Red Centre recently highlighted the black stains all over the rockface where runoff water makes it way to the ground. It's a rare spectacle to see waterfalls on Uluru and we were a few days too late.

It was a lovely flat walk, obviously, that was a little strange in itself because you were just walking around a big lump of rock in the desert and not to any other destination. This was the scale and size that we've talked about earlier. A couple of runners had chosen to run around it due to its good match to 10km distance running!?!?!? Strange people...

The far side of Uluru was like nothing either of us had seen before. Silver wispy trees dotted amongst the skeletons of old trees and lush greenery fell in and out of shadow throughout the day. Due to the permanent fixed point and the time it takes to walk around it was very obvious the movement of the sun over the landscape. The massive cracks and chunks missing have been caused by the constant battering of strong desert winds and extreme temperature or if you’re Aboriginal, tell the story behind Uluru’s creation. Many areas on the Rock are classified as sacred sites where photography is prohibited.

 

Each turn or corner in the path presented another angle on this incredible natural feature. It was a long walk taking over 4hours but every few moments something different came into view. It’s a very captivating feature considering its a rock in the middle of the desert!

The main reason we were here was to commemorate what would have been Amber's Mum's 70th birthday - 2 July. It was a special occasion to be here, in what could be argued is one of the most reverred and spiritual places in Australia, to remember such a significant event.

 

The sunset with the changing colours was a poignant moment that neither of us will forget. The atmosphere was tense as though everyone was there for a special moment watching as something that's not able to change quickly (being rock!!) did in the most visual way it can as day turned into dusk.

We miss you Brenda xxx

Wicked Red Centre

The middle. The middle is sometimes forgotten as a worthy place to visit in its own right.

We visit service stations en route to places but for some reason always have a funny feeling of excitement when we arrive but never talk about it or in fact make specific arrangements to visit one.  Someone might sit on a fence and be non-committal about a decision but its much more helpful than not saying anything. Why do things always happen in the middle of the night?!



The only exception to the rule is the middle of a jam doughnut (we all love that!) and the middle of Australia. Whilst this trip focussed on visiting places 'down under' and not a culinary adventure, this post is all about Uluru, Kata Tjuta and Kings Canyon, or to some Ayers Rock, The Olgas and Kings Canyon!


The place is associated with many superlatives that even those who haven't been, can relate to. It creates an eerie and strange feeling of deja vu as you begin to talk about the trip that only increases as you get nearer and nearer to being there. You know what you're going to see, just as you know what the film ending for Titantic is going to be, but its scale is beyond belief.

 

 

It's also not until you get there that you're able to comprehend the cultural importance of the land to the Pitjantjatjara and Yankunytjatjara people and how they're connected to it; the creation stories that determine how 'The Rock' and The Olgas came to being from their ancestors. Balanced with this ancient belief system are the modern day sciences of geology and capitalism that throws up a lot of issues both for the Aboriginal Traditional Land Owners, visitors and Park Rangers to manage.

To give the Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park some perspective, its located approx 500km from Alice Springs and not just down the road, as many predict. This equates to 4-5 hrs continuous drive! It's also accessible by sealed tarmac roads and not bumpy, gravel tracks as many others predict. This give the NP a massive advantage as visitors can choose it as an 'easy' option en route between Adelaide in the South and either Cairns or Darwin in the North.

You can see the distance apart here:

View Larger Map

To make it even easier the town of Yulara (also known as Ayers Rock resort) is right on the doorstop providing all manner of accomodation choices, good toilet and shower facilities, restaurants, bar, supermarket, etc

         
Our mini-adventure around the Red Centre was in a Mitsubishi camper van rented from Wicked Campervans. Wicked are one of a couple of cheap and cheerful backpacker campervan companies that decorate their vans with stylish, garish, rude and funny designs accompanied by either a witty, offensive, rude, funny slogan on the back. Ours wasn't too bad, "3 words a woman wants to hear - I was wrong!"

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There are literally thousands of Wicked Vans dotted around Australia with many more in New Zealand, USA, South Africa (since the WC), Europe and now the UK. There's a good banter amongst drivers with waves and acknowledgements when vans pass each other on the road and also at each location.

 

The internal layout of the van is pretty basic and standard with the rear seats being removed and replaced with 2 compartments for storage, one at each end. The middle section turns upside down and creates an area to have a table. The 'kitchen' area is a basic worktop with 2 open storage cupboards to store a gas bottle & stove and food. An 'esky, or coolbox fits next to that and a water container provides resource for the little sink. Curtains line the inside for additional privacy.



She was a good little runner and we had no problems at all with her. Being slightly higher than a car but just as powerful, the long sealed roads didn't cause any problems and fortunately we didn't need to do any 4WD roads. Petrol prices varied to $1.90 in the most remote areas that works out only just higher than what is being paid in the UK.

The van was ours for 8 days so an itinerary was created to take in the big sights of Ulura, Kata Tjuta and Kings Canyon as per the standard adventure tour groups schedule albeit at our own pace. It cost us approx $1,000 for the week including hire, accomodation, food and fuel which although seems expensive is comparable to the regular tour of $325each not including food and 5 less days!

 

Driving in the Outback was stunning. The pastel and vivid colours, tones and shadows of the landscape were beautiful that added to the surreal composition of man-made sealed roads, roadhouses and roadtrains. Deep orange and red sand, greens of the shrubs and plants (it was apparently the greenest the Outback has been for 50+ years!!!) and the skies that weren't always uninterrupted blue coupled with the never ending grey roads that looped over each crest over and over again, demonstrated the scale of the environment.



It was one thing that we couldn't have expected, well, based on our past history should have done, but it was grey and cold for the majority of the trip. The fleeces, jeans, extra layers, hats and gloves all made an appearance and pretty much remained on for 5 days. A big thank you to everyone at the RNLI who contributed towards a brilliant sleeping bag - its been a real lifesaver!

The next posts will focus on each location and provide some photos...