Uluru-Kata Tjuta Day 1 (Road Trip Day 3)

Today we got up before the sun to get ourselves ready to go and over to Uluru with plenty of time before sunrise. Allan was determined to get a good spot. We drove about 25 minutes, scanning our passes on the way into the park.

We parked at the sunrise viewing spot and walked a short distance to the viewing platform. We didn't get the best spot, but we still got a pretty good one. This was my first look at Uluru (Ayers Rock). As the sun came up, the rock changed varying shades of red and brown. After the sun was up, we headed back to the car and drove over to the Mala parking lot where the Mala Walk starts at 8.

As soon as we got to the Mala parking lot, we planned to have a quick breakfast, but that plan was dashed when several fraudulent credit card payments began coming through on my American card. We had to call them, through my mom, to get everything taken care of. Then we rushed out of the car just as the walk was starting.

The Mala Walk was lead by an aboriginal ranger. Throughout the walk he took us to a few sights. Unfortunately, I don't think I really learned very much beyond, white people are ruining the land and he wants aboriginal people to have more of a presence in the national park. He also told us that some sights are sensitive and we shouldn't take pictures of them. Some areas of the rock were used by men, and others by women and those stories are shared by male or female elders, but only with the young people of that gender. He also told us the Mala story about the Mala people that came to the rock, held an inma, ceremony, and were attacked by a nearby tribe when they didn't leave their inma and join the other one. That story was interesting, and we learned more about it when we read the signs at the start of the walk.

After the Mala Walk, about 2 hours later, we went back to the car and finally had some breakfast. The heat and the flies were starting to pickup so it was nice to get some sustenance. We made some breakfast, got a bit distracted and uploaded some Facebook pictures, and before we knew it, it was 1130 and we hadn't even started the Uluru Base Walk, 10.6 kilometers.

We went back to the start of the Mala Walk to begin the Base Walk. This time, we got to spend time reading the signs and actually learn a bit about the area of rock we were looking at. One of the first sections of rock, the Itjaritjarik Yuu, looked like a large mole, and the aboriginal people believe that the marsupial mole woman built it and dug it out as a shelter. It really did look like a mole! A little bit further on was Kulpi Nyinkaku, a reaching cave with rock art to help teach young men about the world. Women were not permitted here.

Our next stop was the kitchen cave where women would grind seeds and make bread and men would bring things that they hunted to be made I to meals. Families would gather here for meals and fellowship. It was a pretty large natural cave in the side of the rock, and interestingly had a huge footprint-like carving...

Our walk continued to Kantju Gorge, a watering hole around the corner where a large waterfall sometimes falls off the side of the rock and empties into a pond. Animals gathered here as well as humans. You can tell where water falls from the top of the rock because those parts of the rock are black. I especially liked being able to see all the different patterns that falling water made on the rock as we walked around it.

Our walk around the rest of Uluru didn't have as many explanations of the different parts of the rock face or caves. There were a couple sections with cautionary tales, like myths, about how the rock sections were formed, such as a strong woman turned rainbow snake and thieving emu hunter. They were interesting to read as many traditional tales and origin stories can be. The other signs we did see as we walked around denoted if it was a men's area or a women's but didn't elaborate. It was a nice walk, albeit hot after stopping in the kitchen cave for about half an hour to work out some travel from Adelaide back to Sydney. It was cool to see Uluru up close. At points I thought it was a bit like Swiss cheese with all of the holes in it. I also liked how close and personal it felt to get near Uluru after seeing it from further away.

After we finished the base walk, we drove back to the campsite. We had a little less than an hour to make and eat some lunch before Allan went out on his helicopter ride over Uluru. While he was gone, I walked to the supermarket for some matches and a fly net (the flies here are INSANE) and I cleaned up and organized the van a bit so it was less chaotic. When Allan got back, we drove back to Uluru for sunset.

The sunset viewing area is right at the parking lot, so we backed up so we could open the back doors and sit on the bed while we watched sunset. The actual sun was behind us, but we were watching Uluru change color as the sun went down. It was crazy how red it got about 10-15 minutes before sundown. It was a really nice way to end our day. We stayed and made dinner here as we watched the sky change once the sun dipped below the horizon. It was one hell of a dinner spot. We also stayed until the moon rose over Uluru. It was pretty magical it watch it slowly rise and come out from behind. Being a full moon, it was also incredibly bright.

After sunset and the moon rising, we went back to the campsite. We had showers and then spent some time just talking and sitting together. With all the camper relocations, things have been pretty crazy, and we've been so tired that we haven't just spent time devoted solely to being in each other's company without distractions or driving or phones. It was nice and we definitely needed to take a minute to chill, even if it was just a small minute. Tomorrow it's up early again for sunrise at Kata Tjuta, or The Olgas.Read more