Uluru National Park

Today was our long long day but very worth it. I cant remember what time we got up and left but i think it was 4 or 5 am. We traveled to Uluru and had breakfast and watched the sunrise over the rock. It was the rock we actually watched and not the sun rise. The rock actually changes colour as the sun comes up it goes from grey to purple to pinky to the orange and red during the day. We took lots of pictured and then were given a few hours to walk around the base of the rock (takes about 2 2.5 hrs). We walked around the rock. Along the way some of us ran into an old lady who fell over and we had to help her and call an ambulance. It took a while due to the fact our mobiles kept cutting out but eventually help came. After that we were running late so had to run the rock to make our optional harley ride.

The harley ride around the rock were really good. We were going 2 at a time and got to have a bit of a race along side each other. The guys were really funny and entertaining. It was well worth the money. Good fun. The guy who took me was originally from my area so had a bit of a chat.He had been in the navy 7 years and then came up to NT for a change.

Some people chose to walk up the rock. The rock is only open for walking around 40 % of the year - if that. This is due to dangerous condition with heat, wind etc and also cultural reasons. The local Anangu request that visitors not climb the rock. This is for two reasons: - 1. The climbing route is a sacred path of spiritual significance that is only taken by few Aboriginal men on special occasions.
2. People have been hurt and people have died when climbing Ayers Rock. The traditional owners feel responsible for these accidents.
The climb itself takes around an hour and it is steep hot and hard. People have died climbing from heart attack and falling.
However the people all did it seemed to enjoy it.

The cultural centre is very informative and has nice pictures and touristy things for sale. It also contains a sorry book. It is illegal to take anything out of the park, but still tourists have taken away rocks from around the base of Uluru as a souvenir and then claimed that bad things happened to them. People believed they have been cursed and send the rocks back with a sorry note. These notes are all displayed in the sorry book which is quite entertaining.

After that we went to the Olgas and hiked through there.

We had a little break in the afternoon and then went back out the rock for the Champagne sunset which was really awesome. We had food and lots of drink and watched the sun set on the rock. Again it changes colour to pink purple blue and gray as the sun sets.

When we returned to our accommodation we went drinking in the bar/courtyard till that closed. After that xav and some of us grabbed some food and alco and went and sat up at the lookout - although you could not see the rock in the dark - and continued to drink. Again we were in the dark so you could see so many stars in the sky. We all stayed up there probably a lot later then we should have :)

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Part of trip: Aussie Explorer - Darwin - Sydney

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