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Published: October 31st 2011
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On Wednesday I arrived in Alice Springs on a very nice Quantas flight with quite a few seats to myself. I arrived at my hostel at about 2pm and went for a walk around town. It was a very hot 38 degrees, but without the humidity of Northern Queensland it felt nowhere near as hot and sticky. Alice Springs is the largest town in Central Australia, but that does not make it a big town! It does have a couple of supermarkets and quite a few shops, but you can walk round it in about 20 minutes. There are a lot more Aboriginal people here than any other place I've been to; Cairns had a fair few but Alice is the town that all the Aboriginal communities in the reasonably local vicinity come to buy the things they need. Alice is also the stabbing capital of Australia and often gives Aboriginals a bad name because of this, but it tends to be Aboriginals who have been kicked out of their communities due to alcohol or drug abuse who are causing the trouble in Alice itself.
Due to tourism to Australia, and particularly Central Australia, only really picking up in the
Uluru at Sunset
Unfortunately it didn't turn purple as promised, but it was still pretty impressive. last 50 years, lots of Aboriginals have still been living in the bush until a few generations ago. Now they live in communities across Australia, often near to where their ancestors lived in the bush or outback. Because of this, white Australians and Aboriginal people live pretty seperated lives, which to me coming from London seems pretty weird, but it seems to be the way both parties want it from what I can gather. I've seen quite a bit of racism towards Aboriginal people throughout my trip; mainly people in bottle shops refusing to serve Aboriginals, and references from white Aussies to 'f-ing Abos', but here I've actually seen graffiti all over Alice saying things like 'I hate Abos'. Walking through the streets here, even at night, I haven't experienced any dodgy behaviour from anyone, but I have seen a fair few drunk people staggering around, white and Aboriginal alike.
On Thursday morning I was picked up bright and early to make the 5 hour journey to Uluru. We got to our camp at lunchtime and then made our way to the national park to see Kata Tjuta, also known as the Olgas. These are huge rock formations that
have formed massive domes. Geologists reckon they've been around for about 350 million years and that they formed when a huge mountain range got squashed by the plates moving, and huge rocks fell down the mountains. The surface changed again and the mountains were flattened (I'm not entirely sure what by!) and the rocks joined with other rocks and were pushed up by yet another plate movement. This basically formed these huge domes that are about 3m shorter than Uluru but much much bigger. We went on a walk around Kata Tjuta and saw some incredible views of it. Places like this always make me feel very small and insignificant; a feeling a lot of people probably don't like but that I really enjoy. Knowing that this stunning piece of land has been around for hundreds of millions of years makes me realise how short our time is here and how we should make the most of it.
That evening we made our way to Uluru, ready to see the sunset, but were pretty disappointed to sit and watch it gradually get darker in the rain, with all the clouds covering the sun and therefore any colour change of
Uluru. It was still pretty impressive from a distance and made me really excited to see it up close the next day. We went back to camp and went to bed pretty swiftly after dinner; we were all cold and tired and needing sleep ready for our 4am wake up the next day!
Friday morning at 4am was painful, especially getting up to see wind and clouds which were likely to spoil our sunrise viewing of Uluru. The viewing platform was absolutely packed full of tourists, and Uluru itself was partly covered by clouds. Again, we saw no colour change as the clouds covered the sun. However, I did experience some of the spirituality of the place while staring at it, and actually felt quite overcome with emotion. I don't know if it was the early morning, the ancient spirits, or just the fact I've been away for 3 and a half months now, but for the first time I actually felt homesick. I suddenly became very aware of what's important in my life and had a big urge to see all the people I care about.
We then did the full base walk of Uluru, which took
about 2 hours. It was amazing to see the rock up close, and see where the water and wind have eroded parts of it away. It really is absolutely huge, and really is very red. Apparently the rock itself isn't red; it's the sand that has been blown onto it and stuck to it that makes it red. When we saw the route of the climb, we saw where the tourists have eroded away that red sand and that the rock is actually white underneath. We had several talks from our guide about the climb, and how she doesn't recommend it for several reasons; it really isn't very safe, it's not very environmentally friendly to climb it, and the Aboriginals view it as such a sacred place that they ask you don't climb it. It forms part of their creation story and is quite disrespectful to climb it. As we walked around the base, there are quite a few areas where there are signs asking you not to take pictures in that area as it is a special place. Quite often it is where the female elders lived, or a very special story is set there. They believe that you
shouldn't take a picture and take it away from there; you should only see that area when you are actually there and can experience the whole thing.
Once we'd finished the base walk we had a cultural walk from an Aboriginal elder and a translator. The elder, a woman named Happy, spoke in her native tongue, and then the translator explained it to us. She told us stories that had been passed down for 30,000 years about the Mala people who lived in that area. People as recently as her grandparents lived in the traditional way, and she was taught by them when she was very small. The stories often relate to something on the rock; there are lots of caves and bits that stick out or are missing that help imagine the story. One story talks about a girl whose face and neck was ripped off by a monster, and on the rock there what seems to be a woman with hair and a body, but no face or neck.
There were several people in my group who sniggered a little when Happy was telling us stories about monsters or spirits, and I found it hard to not say anything. Fortunately, the translator picked up on it and explained that Uluru is part of these people's religion, and is no more bizarre than Christians believing that Jesus walked on water or that Moses parted the Red Sea. The Aboriginals believe their stories are literal and that they really happened, and they do seem easier to believe when you see actual 'evidence' in the rock.
After lunch we made the 3 hour journey to Kings Canyon where we spent the night. The next day was a much more civilised 5am wake up, and we did the 3 and a half hour rim walk of the canyon. This was absolutely incredible and the views really were stunning. Our guide talked to us about the different plants around the canyon that the Aboriginals utilised for food and also for weaponry. When they came across a new plant that they didn't know whether it was edible or not, they fed it to the youngest female of the group to see if she became ill or died from it!
We headed back to Alice Springs that afternoon, and went out for dinner with the group. I'm so glad I went to Central Australia; not many British backpackers seem to go, but I now feel I know much more about Australian Aboriginal culture.
Love to you all xx
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