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Published: November 14th 2008
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The Rock at Sunrise
This was one of our first views of Uluru just after the sun rose. After an extensive bus journey through the streets of downtown Sydney early in the morning we had an uneventful flight over barren red lands. It was strange to be heading to an airport in the middle of nowhere with no big skyscrapers or any buildings of note for miles around. The bus picked us up and took us to the resort only 5minutes down the road and 30km from the rock itself. On checking in we were informed that we had booked two male dorm rooms but a brief discussion later the manager saw our point regarding the online booking process and upgraded us to a smaller dorm at no cost. Result! It ended up that in our 4bed dorm we had no roomies for the 3 nights that we stayed there. We had booked on a tour the following morning and so tried to avoid taking a peek over the hill to increase the wow factor. Just before we headed back to the resort an huge thunder storm approached so we stood and watched for a while until it started pouring with rain and the lightning seemed to be hitting ground closer and closer to us so we headed to
Uluru
A different side of Uluru early in the morning bed nice and early ready for our 445 pick-up.
After the alarm went off and we got up and ready I realised that I hadn't changed the clock on my phone and so we were up an hour and a half earlier than we should have been so went back to bed. Second time round, and now at the right time, we went down to reception to be picked up and began our journey in darkness. On the horizon we could make out the silhouette of the rock. The bus was parked up and we sat looking at the changing colours of the sky as the sun appeared over the horizon and causing Uluru to become different shades of red with every passing minute. It was really cool to see, although very busy with other bus tours having parked up to see the same site. We continued on our way and, after a brief lesson about how the rocks formed, went for a buffet breakfast with an amazing view while we filled our bellies. We then met Sammi, our Aboriginal tour guide who told us all about the history of the tribe and area using their Tjukurpa, their way
Stephanie with 'Women's tools'
While the men got to try their hand at spear throwing the women got to practice balancing things on their heads of educating people through stories. We walked into the bush with our guide and interpretor where we were shown how to generate fire using wood and kangaroo poo, make bush glue from plants and throw a spear in traditional ways and had a go myself (I didn't do very well!). The Anangu tribe are still very traditional in their ways and so Stephanie got to have a go with the 'women's tools'. We carried on walking through the heat of the bush (it was only 9am, but already pretty warm) and were told a story of Lungkata, the blue tongue lizard man from the creation time. If you want more information have a look at
Lungkata since it is quite long. It was then back to the bus and the resort, feeling pretty tired we headed to our beds after our early start (it was 10am by now). We spent the afternoon at the pool trying to cool down from the 40 degree heat and the evening having a glass of wine while listening to the live music at the accommodation. He was very good and had us all up and dancing around to a very catchy tune that we
Sunset
The sun setting behind the Olgas enjoyed so much we ended up buying his cd.
We spent the morning at the pool again to work on the tans before renting a car so that we could drive out to the Olgas, the much forgotten second set of rocks in the Uluru - Kata Tjuta national park. Unfortunately the weather closed in again and became very humid so the flies appeared in great numbers to annoy us both. As we started the walk Stephanie got too stressed with them landing on her face and trying to get in her ears so took refuge back at the car while I carried on walking for a little bit. As I walked the thunder got louder and the rain started falling so I abandoned my trip as well and we drove off into the rain. We spent the evening listening to some more live music with dinner and heading back to the room to sort out our bags for the flight.
After finishing packing our bags and returning the car it was time to head to the airport, little more than a shed, for our flight on to Perth...
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