Ayers Rock
A 2.5 hour flight takes us from Cairns on the north east
coast to Ayers Rock in the middle of Australia. It is considered the Outback. It is 38 C (96 F) when we land at about 10 am.
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| The desert lands from the air |
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| Ayers rock from the air |
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| Kata Tjuta from the air |
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| Landing strip at the airport |
Ayers Rock is now known by its native name “Uluru”.
The Australian government gave the land
back to the Aborigines in the 1980s and now leases it back from them.
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| Ayers Rock |
We were reading our travel books on Scott's Kindle during the
flight and decided that to avoid bus tours we should rent our own car. At the airport Scott checked all four
rental companies and they were sold out so he went back to Avis and told them
to hold a car for us when they received returns. In the meantime they had a RAV 4 that had just come back but
was not clean. We told them we
would take it. The agent was real nice and reduced the price by 2/3 and we were
soon loaded and off in our dusty Toyota RAV 4.
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| Our dusty RAV 4 |
All lodging at Uluru is owned by one company.
We are staying at Sails in the Desert
Hotel.
It is not the most expensive, but it is still expensive. Everything is overpriced
which is what happens when one company has a monopoly.
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| Lobby of the Sails Hotel |
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| Exterior and pool area |
We filled our pack with water and sun screen and we made a
beeline for the Uluru Rock State Park.
At the entrance we ask if the Rock is open for climbing.
The attendant told us it would be
closed all day because of high temperatures.
She tells us that it is rarely open because it closes for
high temperatures or high winds or expected high temperatures or winds.
The Aborigine people now have a voice
in the administration of the Uluru Rock and surrounding areas.
They have lobbied to ban climbing on the
Rock because they believe it is sacred.
The Australian government recently took the matter to a vote and voted
to keep the Rock open to climbing.
The end result is that climbing is open but last year there were only 55
days that it was open and any excuse is used to close it.
The Aborigines can close the climb for
any reason including spiritual reasons or special celebration days or ancestor
anniversary days.
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| The red rock reminds us of Southern Utah |
Oh well, it is only a one hour hike to the top and we feel
better respecting the Aborigine’s wishes that we not climb. (We would have climbed had it been open
anytime during our stay.) In these
photos you can see the chain and stays bolted to the rock on the steep ascent
up the southeast face of the Rock.
Once you are on the ridge it is an easy traverse to the high point.
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| Scott checking out the climb. He is pointing to the chains where the climb begins. |
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| Route up the rock |
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| Chains close up |
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| Once you are at the top of the chains, it is a traverse across the top |
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| If you climb without permission there is a big fee. |
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| Penalty is $5,500.00 Australian dollars |
We visited the Aborigine Culture Center and learned about
their customs and way of life. There is an explanation of “sensitive sites”
where the Aborigines believe that the rock details and features are the
equivalent to sacred scripture.
They ask that you not take photos in these areas, which are sometimes
big sections of the Rock, because these areas describe culturally important
information and must be viewed in the original location and not in a
photograph. They believe it is
inappropriate for these images to be viewed elsewhere.
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| Inside the Cultural center. The Aborigine people do paintings with a lot of dots. Their painting tell stories of dreams. |
The Aborigines learn to eat grub worms and seeds and to suck
water from the leaves.
They have a
tradition of dot painting.
We
bought a small dot painting from an Aborigine woman.
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| Aborigine women |
We walked around large sections of the base of the
Rock.
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| Exploring the rock |
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| Scott |
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| Petroglyphs |
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| They tell a story |
There are beautiful views of the red rock formations.
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| Desert Varnish |
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| The red sandstone seems rougher than the sandstone we have near Moab. Does this look like Porky Pig? |
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| Close up of rock |
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| Scott walking around |
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| Imagine the water coming off this ridge in a rainstorm. |
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| Interesting formations |
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| Amazing rock |
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| The blue sky against the red rock was beautiful |
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| Ridges caused by water |
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| Cave formations |
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| Scott thinks this looks like a skull........and it is the day before Halloween! |
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| Sunshine on red rock |
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| There were worn indentions in the rock floor where the women would grind food and cook |
There was a cave where the men would teach the young men how
to hunt.
There was a cave for OLD PEOPLE. Notice the smoke on the ceiling where they would spend long
hours celebrating old rituals by the fire. (B.S.). But there was, in fact, a cave for old people. We have been in the heat too long and
we are starting to hallucinate and make up our own explanations and they seem
to be just as good as the ones on the informational plaques at each cave or
waterhole. (WE ARE NOT OLD PEOPLE)
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| Really? |
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| Old People cave |
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| Old people must rest, but we are not old. We are just waiting for the right moment to continue |
At sunset we went over to the southeast side of the rock and
stopped our car on the side of the highway and took pictures and toasted our
water bottles to the beauty of the moment.
The Rock was glowing red in the sunset.
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| Driving the RAV 4 |
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| Uluru at sunset. Which glows brighter at sunset, Uluru Rock or Barb's shirt? |
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| Sunset Photo |
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| The sunset turns it deep red |
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| This was the actual sunset shining toward Uluru Rock |
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| Last of the sunset |
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| Beautiful |
We went back to the hotel and ate at the buffet.
The Kangaroo kabobs were great.
Kangaroo meat is very tasty and lean
meat.
The next morning we planned to climb the Rock if it is
open.
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| Sunrise |
The Park Ranger tells us it
is closed because it will be too hot.
It is 5:30 in the morning and it is not hot and the wind is not blowing
and there are no clouds in the sky BUT the Rock is closed.
We anticipated this answer so we had a
Plan B.
Plan B is to hike the Valley of the Winds full circuit walk
of 7.4 kilometers. This walk is
through a beautiful red rock area called Kata Tjuta. We drove about 45 minutes from the park entrance to the
beginning of the hike. It was nice
and cool when we started the hike.
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| Kata Tjuta in the early morning |
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| Beautiful lighting |
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| Map of Kata Tjuta area. We are going to hike the Valley of the Winds loop |
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| Scott starting our hike |
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| Barb in the first light |
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| It was still cool enough in the morning hours but the flies were horrendous |
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| Self portrait |
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| We bought some natural fly cream. It actually worked. The flies stayed off of our faces, but they still hung around Barb's hat. |
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| We hiked over rocks through a canyon to start |
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| Beautiful canyons |
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| Beautiful Colors |
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| Stay hydrated |
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| A little hiking, a little music, a little exercise.......It'a all good. |
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| Time for a snack of cookies |
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| Amazing scenery |
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| Scott |
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As we drive around after a day of hiking and hanging out at the pool for a while, it looks as though a storm is brewing, but the clouds are low and dark. The closer it comes we realize it is a sand storm coming along the ground. It looks like a haboob that we have seen in Phoenix.
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| Sandstorm coming towards us |
Kangaroo Island by way of a stopover in Adelaide is the next destination tomorrow. |
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