Uluru-Ayers Rock

Waiting for the Melbourne tram at dawn on Tuesday, we watched two hot air balloons lift off and soar over the city. An auspicious start for our 3-hour flight to the Outback to visit Uluru (formerly Ayers Rock). Located in a national park, the land has been a sacred site for the aboriginal people here (the Anangu), whose ancestry dates back at least 65,000 years.

We watched a documentary in the cultural center chronicling the 1985 ‘handback,’ when the Anangu were finally recognized by the government as the traditional owners of the land. This was a 20-year legal process, resulting in a collaboration between the indigenous people and the national park system. It was important to the Anangu that they be allowed to maintain their culture of careful stewardship of the land. There is evidence around us of controlled burns to allow revegetation to take place. Also, since their oral history and their creation stories are so rooted in specific sites here around Uluru, it was important the Anangu be able to pass along their traditions to the younger generation at those sites.

Uluru is a rocky outcrop that looks relatively smooth from a distance but is folded, pockmarked and interestingly weathered up close. We’ve spent hours observing it at sunrise, sunset and other times in between.

There are several other similar formations, including Kata Tjuta (the Olgas). Kata Tjuta is the only one accessible in the park—a few of the others we only see in the far distance.

While this is a desert, it supports much more plant life than we expected. Most of the ground is covered in yellow-white Spinifex grass. The trees are spindly and consist of desert oaks (pine needle-like leaves!) and many varieties of eucalyptus. The temperatures are what you would expect in the desert. When you’re in the sun you’re comfortably warm and when you’re in the shade it’s a bit too cool. The night sky has been clear and star-filled.Read more