Uluru (Ayer's Rock) - a true Aussie outback experience

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“The time is 9.30am. Welcome to Alice Springs.” As we stepped out of the plane and into an oven I asked Philippe “What time did he say it is??”. I knew there was an hour and a half time change, but if this was the early morning heat, I dreaded to imagine what the midday sun would be like.

Alice being such a small airport, we quickly found our luggage and our complementary hostel pick-up. Thirty minutes later we were in our swimmers lounging around in a 10ft pool desperately trying to cool our microwaved bodies.

In the afternoon we strolled into town to confirm our tour for the next day. Once all the t's were crossed and the i's dotted for “The Rock Tour” we meandered our way around town looking at the snakes in the trees and the aboriginal art on display. Then the phone rang. It was the tour operator, asking if we could postpone our trip by one day as they were double booked? It made no real odds to us as we had a day to spare before our flight, so we agreed (for a small discount!) and found ourselves with an extra day on our hands.

And so, after a delightful sleep-in the next morning, our tans began. In 30+ degree heat there is not much to be done bar sit by the pool and take it easy. So that became our plan. Three hours and one blog later, we were hot and bored. We took a walk into town in the sweltering heat to buy some last minute supplies. As the day progressed we got chatting to other people in the hostel that were doing the tour with us the next day. We packed our small bags, stored our luggage and tried to get an early night in advance of the 6am pick-up the next day.

Bleary eyed and very quiet, twenty one people made their way onto the bus the next morning. It is a five hour drive to Ayers Rock. For the first two hours the radio remained silent while we tried to doze as the bus trampolined its way to the first pit stop. After a quick toilet break, we were back on the bus and Scott, the tour guide and driver, cranked up the radio and the tunes started rolling.

Our first scheduled stop was at King's Canyon. We arrived at approximately midday. “Bring three litres of water with you and slap on the sunscreen”, was Scott's advice as he passed out our picnic lunch. The heat when we stepped off the air-conditioned bus was ferocious. And we were going to be walking in this heat for three hours? How does that saying go again...Only mad dogs....

As I broached this subject with Scott he told me that 3pm is the hottest time of the day around these parts, and if we walked fast enough, we'd be back on the bus by then. Right so, that will do as motivation! The first thirty minutes of the walk was more like rock-climbing. It was a steep incline that seemed to be be designed to pick off the weaklings. It was absolute hell to climb, and by the top I was huffing and puffing and having deja-vu scenes from Machu Picchu. But we made it, and from then on it was a gentler walk around the rim of the canyon. When we stopped for our picnic lunch the group started to get to know each other and we got chatting to a nice English couple, Jonny & Dee.

We made good time walking around the canyon rim and still had time to admire the scenery. It looked exactly like how the outback of Australia looked in my imagination - all red hues and dusty bare landscape. We were back on the bus by about 3pm, and set off towards our campsite for the night, only making two very important pit stops on the way...one to collect firewood and the other to buy beer!

Our campsite for the night was in a field with cows roaming freely around us. As the boys moved some cow pats to make a huge camp fire, the rest of us started to prepare vegetables for dinner. Scott cooked the meal in big pots sitting on and covered in embers from the fire. As everything was cooking Scott showed us our swags. We loved them - we would be sleeping outdoors without a roof over our heads, gazing up at the stars. The swags are basically zip up external sleeping bags made of tent material with a built-in mattress. We just put our sleeping bags in them and voila, bed made!

As we waited for dinner to cook the beer was cracked open and we each had to introduce ourselves. There were about seven Irish people in the group. As we all happened to be sitting together we exchanged gossip from home and for a while it felt like being home away from home. Dinner was Chilli Con Carne with potatoes and carrots, served in tin camping plates, ate by the light of the campfire. The whole evening felt very authentic and there was a great atmosphere in the group.

Given our early start that day, and 5am wake-up call the next day, most people were asleep by 10pm. Scott's parting advice before he went to sleep was that we should hide our shoes from the dingoes! (Apparently that's all they are after...)

It was still dark when Scott woke us the next morning. With no toilet or shower block there were lots of torches scurrying off into the bush. After breakfast we rolled up our swags and sleeping bags and were back on the bus heading towards Uluru (Ayers Rock). At 8am we got off the bus at the beginning of the Windy Valley Walk. While there was a cool breeze blowing it was already a warm day, however it was set to be a scorcher of a day, peaking at 40 degrees. We had to do the walk so early because the Park Ranger closes it at 11am on days like this as it is too dangerous to do in extreme heat. With stiff legs from the walk yesterday we plodded along for about 4km before Scott gave us the option of taking a short or long route back to the bus. Everyone opted for the long route. Half an hour later Dee and I were wondering why we had said yes to the long route... It was 10am, the cool breeze from this morning had turned into a hair-dryer blowing directly into our faces, there was no shade and we were guzzling water like it was going out of fashion. When we eventually made it back to the bus at midday we were sporting an attractive soaked and sweaty look.

Scott drove us to our next campsite and a lunch buffet was quickly set up. We formed a line and enjoyed tuna salad wraps. What was a very normal lunch seemed like manna from heaven to us. The delight continued when Scott led the way to the campsite swimming pool - a stop that is not strictly on the tour schedule, but was one that we had all been hallucinating about all morning. A leisurely soak in really cold water. It was fantastic, but Scott had us back on the bus again in the afternoon to take us to the Aboriginal Cultural Centre in the Uluru National Park. The centre is a great way to learn about the Aboriginal people and their way of life. This, coupled with a short walk we did around a portion of the base of the rock to see cave art, set the tone for our final activity of the day - watching sunset at Uluru with a cold beer in hand.

We had dinner before sunset, and after seeing the Rock change colour and eventually fade into darkness we piled back on the bus to return to the campsite and roll out our swags once more. The group was a lot more comfortable with each other and there was good banter by the campfire before we turned in for the night.

We were up and on the road again before sunrise the next day, making it to the parking bay in time to witness the silhouette of the rock as the sun rose behind it. It was a special moment, marred only by the need to continuously swat at flies (doing what is now dubbed 'the fly dance' by Philippe and Jonny). We clicked away with our cameras until eventually it was complete daylight and then we had breakfast and boarded the bus to go over to the foot of the rock. Four people from our bus chose to climb the rock, despite the heat, the fact that 35 people have died doing it, and that the Aboriginal people ask visitors not to climb out of respect for the Rock as a religious monument for their people. The rest of us did a 7km walk around the base of the rock, only taking photos when we were outside of Sacred Sites. It was about 9.30am when we boarded the bus for the long 5 hour drive back to Alice Springs. We had done more by 9 o'clock in the morning than we have done on many full days on the rest of our trip!

Just one hour out of Alice Springs we stopped at a special farm. It was a camel farm, and for five dollars we could have a short ride on a camel. We were definitely up for it. With cameras at the ready we were launched up on a tandem saddle on a huge camel. After a slow walk to the end of the paddock we were giggling as she jostled us about, sprinting back to the starting point. The most dangerous bit of the ride is when she launched us forward while she knuckled down to let us off. It was definitely worth the five bucks, but could I ride one all day across a desert? Hell no!

We were deposited back at our hostels at 4pm. That evening we all planned to meet up again in The Rock Bar for dinner and drinks. It was a lovely evening out, ending in warm goodbyes and promises to stay in touch.

Alice Springs is in the middle of nowhere, but it is the fact that it is in the middle of the outback that made this tour so special. It is worth the flights - Highly recommended!

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Photos

Sunset
Or sunrise, it's the same thing.

Comments

[karin counet]

ayer's rock
When I red this blog I was with you both to visit Ayer's Rock, thank you for this fantastic experience!