Uluru

Lesson #2 - Three days in a bus with 20 Germans in 40 degree heat, traveling 1,300 kilometers with AC/DC blaring on the radio most of the time is enough. We just got back from a 4 day trip with 20 Germans etc. etc. etc.! We started out with a very long drive from Alice Springs to Uluru (otherwise known as Ayers Rock), arriving mid-afternoon - probably the hottest time of the day. So of course, we put on our heavy boots and walked around the rock! Actually, we only walked about ½ way round, but it was incredibly hot. We got used to carrying large amounts of water with us wherever we went - you just have to keep drinking. Uluru is (I waited here for a while, trying to find the right adjective - amazing? fantastic? extraordinary?) but I couldn’t get the right one. Uluru just IS - it’s huge and imposing. Close up, it’s full of weathered caves and cracks - the most impressive view is what you see from a way away when you can see the whole rock. We did get that view later on when we joined about 2,000 of our closest friends for champagne to watch sunset (see picture).
The next day we got up at 4 a.m. (hurray!) to watch the sunrise at the Olgas, another amazing rock formation quite close to Uluru (see picture). Not quite all our friends from last night were there. We went on a walk called the Valley of the Winds which gave us fabulous views, and we understood the wisdom of getting up early and doing the walk before 10 a.m. - did I say before how hot it is?
Day 3 saw us at Kings Canyon which was actually our favourite of the 3. Again, we got up at 4 a.m. and we didn’t grumble a bit after our experience yesterday - you really do not want to be out in the sun too much after about 11 a.m. The walk at Kings Canyon started up with a very steep climb (locally known as Heart Attack Hill, which had me a little worried, but John’s “little helper” seems to be functioning beautifully and he leapt up the hill way quicker than I did!) Kings Canyon is much more spectacular than either Uluru or the Olgas, we thought. It’s the same rusty red colour, but the canyon walls are full of unexpected trees (palms, for goodness sake!) and you get amazing views from way up on the canyon rim. It used to be the site of many Aboriginal ceremonies, but now there are so many damn tourists, the Aboriginals don’t want anything to do with the place which is pretty sad. Their old way of life is quickly dying - we met quite a few elders who told us about how they used to subsist in the bush which is actually full of things to eat and drink even though it looks quite barren. These old ways are quickly being lost to modern life. We slept under the stars our last night of camping, something I’ve never done before. There are NO BUGS (people in Saskatchewan will understand how amazing that is!) and it was really neat to lie on your camp cot and look up at the stars. We were visited during the night by some brumbies (wild horses), and we could hear donkeys and dogs in the distance - but we slept really well!
Day 4 (this was when we started to come a bit un-glued!) saw us at Wallace Rockhole where we learned about the dot painting method which you see in a lot of the Aboriginal artwork. We actually got to do some dot painting (yes, John did a really nice one!) and after doing our little bookmark, we really had gained an appreciation of the amount of work that goes into the paintings that you see and we can now understand some of the symbolism.
We had 2 guides for this tour, Jason and Marcus - both really nice young men. Marcus was along as the German interpreter as a lot of the other 20 people didn’t speak much English. He was cute - very spiky hair and lots of metal in his lips and ears but quite delightful! Jason was huge - 6’ 8” and 280lb (used to be a bouncer in a bar!) He was such an interesting person - aged 25 with a very “interesting” background, but so inquisitive about everything. He was incredibly well read and told wonderful stories about the history and natural history of everywhere we went. Each camp site was the same - 2 man tents (see picture!) and although Jason did all the cooking, we all chipped in to help with clean-up after meals.
We are now done with tours for a while, although we’re thinking of spending a night on Fraser Island and also on Kangaroo Island - people have told us that both are really worth doing. I’m actually writing this in a bar where John and I are the only white people (other than the barman). The juke box is playing “Achey breaky heart” and the dogs are racing on TV! We have 3 hours to wait for the bus to take us out to the airport, and we’ve been turfed out of our room at the hotel! We’re gaining lots of cultural experiences! We’re off to Cairns today where we’ll be staying at a Youth Hostel (yes, my kids laughed when I told them where we were staying!). Then we pick up a campervan (thanks, Lindsay!) for a one-month trip down to Sydney.