Our round the world trip (10): Ayers Rock
Having seen Uluru by sunset, naturally we had to observe it by sunrise too, so Day 11 (Friday) was our earliest start so far with an alarm call at 5 am. Three quarters of an hour later, we were off – to the music of Dido – to the observation area for the sunrise and Roger & Vee walked up to the highest vantage point. The sun actually rose at 5.47 am and the change of colour shadings of the Rock was subtle but nevertheless magical.
We were back at the hotel for an hour for an invigorating cooked breakfast and then at 8.30 am we were off again, this time to “rock about the Rock” and see the Rock up close and personal. First we visited the Mutijulu Waterhole at the southern base of the Rock where Manuela explained the dreamtime story tradition of the Aborigines and the sacred nature of Uluru. Then some of us – including Roger & Vee – joined Manuela in a short walk in the area known as Kuniya Piti on the eastern corner of the Rock. The colours and formations varied considerably, depending on the work of Mother Nature and presented marvellous photo opportunities .
Ever since we reached Ayers/Uluru, we had all been bothered by flies, but walking around the base of the Rock was something else. Swarms of the blighters zoomed all around each person and squadrons of them would make formation attacks on us poor tourists. The choice was to wear a face net, which made you look utterly bizarre, or to tough it out. Roger & Vee took the latter course and, while we could keep our mouths closed, incursions on the ears, nose and even eyes could not be avoided.
Our guide Manuela had been taking regular opportunities to provide us with sensitive explanations of Aborigine culture and some of the problems of attempted integration. At Kuniya, we came across an Aboriginal guide called Vincent whose grandfather was an enlightened white man: “He didn’t come with a gun; he came with a dick”. He was giving his young visitors a very different take on the indigenous situation: “Alcohol is genocidal in my community … I live under occupation … I live under martial law … There is no equal distribution of wealth … It’s called oppression”. He was particularly outraged by a police ‘attack’ on the local Aboriginal community in 2007, but he neglected to explain that sadly this was occasioned by proven claims of extensive child abuse in the community.
Finally we called into the Cultural Centre of Uluru for an hour where we looked at displays explaining the local community traditions and had a light lunch.
The afternoon was free to relax at the hotel. It was just too hot to go touring. The access to the top of Uluru was blocked today with a sign explaining: “Climb closed due to forecast 36C or above”. In fact, Roger & Vee would not have climbed anyway because the indigenous community view Uluru as a particularly sacred place and ask that tourists do not go on the Rock (or even photograph certain especially sacred locations).
Everyone has heard of Ayers Rock or Uluru but, until this holiday, Roger & Vee had never known about the Olgas (the name comes from a Russian aristocrat) or, as they are known to the indigenous community, Kata Tjuta (Many Heads). Located to the west of Uluru, there are 36 individual domes grouped in a semi-circle around a central valley, with the tallest Mount Olga rising 546 metres (1,066 feet) which is a good deal higher than Uluru. Again the structure is hundreds of millions of years old – as Manuela put it: “In the eyes of time, we are just a blink”.
After a few hours at our hotel to escape the worst of the heat and have a little rest, at 4 pm we set off for a visit to the Olgas. Before actually reaching the domes, we halted at a look out point for photographs. The weather was exceptionally clear with not a cloud in the sky, but it was still very hot and those pesky flies were still all over us.
Our real destination was Walpa Gorge on the western end of the Kata Tjuta which offers the opportunity of a walk to the head of an opening in the rocks. We had been warned by Manuela that we needed trainers for the terrain but, although only 2 km, it was in fact a much tougher walk than any of us had appreciated. Partly this was because of the very uneven rock surface, partly it was because of the strong heat – and then there were those damned flies. In the end, only three of the 13 in the group made it to the head of the gorge: Curtis (aged 50) representing the United States, Roger (64) flying the flag for Britain, and Vic (a spritely 75) on behalf of Canada.
After that, we drove round to a viewing area to observe the the effect of the sunset on the colours of the Olgas. It was a case of more champagne and nibbles and lots more photographs and another splendid experience. On the journey back, Manuela put on CDs of the hits of the Beatles and Abba and a sing-song ensued
Back at the resort complex after a trip of around four and a half hours, we all ate together again at “Gekos” again. Before retiring, Roger & Vee took the opportunity to do a little stargazing. At home in London, there is so much light pollution that one can only see a handful of stars. Out in “the red centre” of Australia, one can observe literally hundreds. However, since we were in the Southern Hemisphere, all the constellations were unfamiliar and, even with the aid of a locally purchased star map, it was difficult to identify particular groupings except Orion and the Southern Cross, although we could see the Milky Way as a hazy cloud which was awesome.