Amy, Bid & Lazz do Uluru

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Back in, maybe, Nov 2011, I suggested to Amy & Bridget that we should holiday together at one of the more iconic Australian travel spots. Uluru got the ‘thumbs up’ pretty much straight away. I got the plane tickets and accommodation booked in early Dec 2011. As a Christmas present for the girls I purchased us each a helicopter flight over Uluru & Kata Tjuta.

Finally the time to travel arrived! An Easter Monday (09/Apr/12) 6.00am pick-up from the girls place. Quiet roads, easy drive, to Parking Port in Tullamarine ($29 Cudo voucher for the 4 days). We stop next to the shuttle bus, sign papers waiting on desk, move bags from boot to boot and we’re off. Qantas drop off a little while later, self check in kiosk, self bag drop, personal security screening – all done by 7.10am!

Flights were:

09/Apr/12 QF796 Melbourne 0835 to Alice Springs 1100
09/Apr/12 QF1941 Alice Springs 1355 to Ayers Rock 1445
12/Apr/12 QF729 Ayers Rock 1340 to Sydney 1705
12/Apr/12 JQ529 Sydney 2005 to Melbourne 2135
Cost: 3 x $672 = $2016

So, on the way there, with close to 3 hours to kill in between flights, we walked straight from Alice Springs tarmac to the nearby taxi stand and were at Todd Mall at 1115 (fare $36 & 15 mins). Quiet though, suppose it was Easter Monday. We strolled around a little to see the central city area, stood on the Todd River, etc, but not a lot of action about. Most shops were shut. There were quite a few Aboriginal people about, mostly sort of loitering, the odd one or two offering artwork for sale in the mall. All in all, though, not that exciting, pretty bloody quiet. We spotted Bojangles Saloon in our travels and pushed through the Wild West style half size, double swing doors to find an atmospheric interior. It was decked out with all sorts of country/outback paraphernalia and turned out to be a great spot to wet the whistle.

We whipped back to the airport to catch our second leg flight (taxi $36). All on time. By the time I’d sorted the Thrifty hire car, the girls had claimed our luggage & were ready to go. Out to the car, a 2010 Nissan Tiida ($244 for 3 days with 200kms & insur) for the 6km drive to Yulara (aka Ayers Rock Resort). We were heading to Emu Walk Apartments, one of 5 hotels here, all run by Voyagers. This ended up being the slowest part of our trip, finding the Emu Walk check-in! It was actually part of another hotel reception area & poorly sign posted.

The Emu Walk apartment was pretty good – 4 star. We had room #217, a ground floor, one bedroom apartment with a queen & lounge room sofa bed, fully equipped kitchen for self-catering & balcony. (Cost was $314/night & included buffet breakfast; total $950 with credit card surcharge) After settling in & stowing our stuff we wanted to get a feel for the layout by doing a lap of the resort area & then heading to Uluru.

From about 1970 there was talk of the detrimental effects of tourists and accommodations at the base of Ayers Rock and moves began to establish Yulara. Ayers Rock Resort was opened in 1984 replacing the existing camping and motel facilities very much closer to the Rock. This new location is a more respectful distance away, some 20 odd road kilometres (14 km as the crow flies), outside of the Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park, and thereby protected the area to a far greater extent from the impact of big numbers of visitors and the damage and wastes that go along with them. The old facilities at the Rock, became part of the local Aboriginal community and their housing. The ‘new’ resort has 5 hotels, camping areas, a shopping centre (with IGA, bank, newsagent & other retailers), several restaurants and bars, medical centre, police station, fire station, petrol station, swimming pools, walking tracks, information centre and galleries.

Our included breakfasts was good value & delightful, being a large selection buffet & you could even get the chef to do pancakes, omelettes or poached eggs. Other meals we had were from the restaurants and were average sort of prices. The grog was the killer – a stubby was $6.40 at the bottle shop (could buy limited supplies across the bar at ) or $7.40 with a meal!

The traditional owners of the Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park are the Yankunytjatjara & Pitjantjatjara people and are collectively called the Anangu. They had the title deeds of the Uluru-Kata Tjuta Land Trust handed back to them on 26/Oct/85 and immediately leased the land back to the Federal Government for 99 years.

About 4 kms west of Yulara you enter the Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park and pay an entry fee of $25 per adult for a 3-day park pass. The road approaching Uluru winds in such a way that you get some great views from a number of different angles. There’s a spot on this road where people gather for sunset views of Uluru with its subtly changing colours and the Rock’s classic postcard view. We did a lap of the Rock, stopped briefly at the climbers access car park, but really just wanted to see the sunset views.

On Tuesday 10/Apr/12 we were collected at 0930 from the resort and taken out by shuttle bus to Connellan Airport for our helicopter flight. I had booked this on-line through Viator, an international travel experience group. Viator was using Ayers Rock Helicopters for this particular activity. This was to be a 30 mins Uluru & Kata Tjuta flight (at $275 each = $825 total). There were two helicopters going up, each 4 seaters including the pilot. Our helicopter looked so small, so flimsy, so vulnerable; and our pilot, as Bridget put it, ‘is a 12 year old’. Time to get anxious. The other helicopter took off a few minutes ahead of us, but we were soon air-borne as well. I was in the front with the pilot & with the girls just behind – we all had headsets on. I must admit I tad insecure, particularly when we pitched a little for turns. I know air speeds can be quite deceptive – as a passenger I’ve long been aware of, & unsettled by, how the jet liner speed drops significantly as it leaves the ground. Similarly, we could see the other helicopter in the distance thrashing around yet we seemed to be almost static. When I asked about our speed I was told we were doing around 140kph. Well, I’ll be buttered on both sides! The flight was quite exhilarating and the perspective so different and informative. We got great views of Ayers Rock Resort, Uluru, Kata Tjuta, the landscape, the connecting roads, etc, and the pilot provided more detail about facilities and history of the place.

We were back at the resort around 1100 still high from the buzz provided. A little recovery time, a little lunch and we were off to Uluru. We were intending to do the base walk of about 10 kms but stopped at the Cultural Centre near the rock firstly to gain a bit more insight into the significance of Uluru to the Aboriginal people by reading over the info boards and listening to the audiovisuals provided there. The rock climb was closed again today due to high summit winds. We walked the distance in around 2½ hrs, having close looks at the various facets of the rock. At times you are quite close, at touching distance, and others quite a way back 100m maybe. The type of growth around varies from shrubs to trees and grasses. There are some areas you are asking, by signposts, not to photograph, as they are sensitive areas, of cultural significance to the Aboriginal people. There are some caves to be seen, where food was prepared, where boys were instructed, where girls were instructed and many having ancient wall paintings.

The Anangu people ask visitors not to climb Uluru ask it holds special cultural significance to them. The climbing route being a sacred path only taken by a tribal elders on special occassions. It is also pointed out how physically demanding it is & how 35 people have died attempting it. There is one such request on the large billboard at the climber access point, others in the maps & brochures you are given. There’s even a ‘sign-in’ book at the Cultural Centre for those that chose not to climb. You can buy badges & stubby holders that say “I walked around Uluru”. The initial part of the climb along a steep ridge, and, despite a chain railing being installed since 1964, it is still very difficult. The return trip down this same ridge is certainly no easier.

Trying to respect the Aboriginal culture can be a difficult for someone considering the climb. Many a climber would simply say they mean no disrespect by climbing. And, despite perhaps not understanding or not appreciating the culture, it does not mean you should ignore it. Is it ok to ignore things you don’t understand? Respecting the culture means not necessarily understanding or agreeing but abiding by the cultural wishes none the less. For the entire duration of our visit (Mon 09/Apr/12 to Thu 12/Apr/12) the climb was closed due to strong summit winds, so we didn’t have to face the burning question as it turned out.

This region, indeed much of the top of Australia, has received above average rainfall for the last 18 months and is quite green, even lush, in places, as the plants make the most of these favourable conditions. It’s probably not what most visitors expect to find up here as we’re used of seeing pictures of much drier landscapes. Not many large animals in the region either, despite the fact we did see a wild camel when we went to Kata Tjuta, but there are big numbers of kangaroos, brumbies and camels up further north away from hunters among the lush growth up there. We were also surprised by the coolness of the location, sunny days of high 20s but cool, mornings and evenings, and cool winds blowing as well.

I guess Uluru (meaning ‘Earth mother’) had had its Anangu name for thousands of years before it became Ayers Rock to we westerners. It was named thus in 1873 by surveyor William Gosse after the Chief Secretary of South Australia, Sir Henry Ayer when he arrived at it. Uluru stands 348m above the plain, has a base perimeter of 9.4km, and is just contained in a rectangle measuring 3.6km x 2.4km. In 1993 it was officially given its dual name status – Ayers Rock/Uluru & in 2002 it was tweaked to Uluru/Ayers Rock. Similarly, Kata Tjuta (meaning ‘many heads’) was named The Olgas by explorer Ernest Giles in 1872 in honour or the Queen of Wurrtemberg. Kata Tjuta consists on some 55 boulders.

On Wednesday 11/Apr/12 we drove out to Kata Tjuta, about 55km from Yulara to check out these structures and to walk the Valley of the Winds. Kata Tjuta means ‘many heads’, well named I think, as from a distance, it is a set of big round boulders. These rocks were previously called the Olgas. The walk here was far more challenging, and interesting for that reason too. It wended its way around & through some of these massive boulders and had us scampering up and down some pretty steep areas. Had to watch where you placed your feet most of the time due to the rockiness of the tracks. I didn’t realise how soft the sole of my runners were until I began this walk and my feet were quite tender after we were done from the pummelling they endured. This walk must have been about 8km as it took us about 2hrs.

Uluru and Kata Tjuta are both made of sedimentary rock – Uluru of arkose sandstone (a coarse grained sandstone) and Kata Tjuta of conglomerate (a mix of gravel, pebbles & boulders cemented together with sand & mud). It is thought that Uluru & Kata Tjuta stand above the surrounding landscape because they were harder than the rock surrounding them. The rock layers that eroded around them may have had more faults and fractures allowing increased weathering & erosion. Uluru & Kata Tjuta are visible tips of huge rock slabs that extend far beneath, perhaps as much as 6km. This geological region, the Amadeus Basin, formed 900 million years ago. It has been a shallow sea, been crumpled & buckled, uplifted, eroded, and then all that again. Eventually, Uluru turned on its side (90o) & tilted Kata Tjuta about 15o. The surface sandstones have eroded further to what we see today.

On Thu 12/Apr/12 we did brekky, as usual, and then checked out of Emu Walk. We spent some time looking over the art gallery (they have an ‘artist in residence’ thing happening – Heather Duff this month) & visitors centre near our accom. Found we still had some time to kill before we needed to head to the airport so went driving in the National Park again, but this time went to the Talinguru Nyakunytjaku viewing area.
Flights back were all good, from the busy Ayers Rock airport to the very much busier Sydney airport. Our final leg home was a Jetstar flight to Melbourne but weren’t able to bring forward our flight time so had some time to kill at the airport. All in all, a great little break for the lot of us. Would be nice to do something similar in a year or two.

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Photos

Todd Mall, Alice Springs
In between flights we whipped in to the town centre.

Bojangles Saloon
A nice atmospheric place for an Easter Monday ale.

Climb Closed
Climb was closed for the entire 4 days of our visit.

Sunset View
Classic evening position for any visitor up here.

Ayers Rock Helicopters
Check out this flimsy looking aircraft. So much smaller & more fragile than we'd imagined.

Ayers Rock Resort
Birds eye view of Yulara

Carlton Black
So hard to find - yet, it was up here at Yulara. $6.20 a stubby though!

On the road again
Amy & Bridget looking for a sign!