Snakes and Aboriginal Stories

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What I am about to write is not a type-o. Wake up alarm at 5:30am. It’s completely dark outside, it’s almost freezing- literally- I crawled off the top bunk, quiet not to wake the others who wouldn’t need to wake up for another five hours, and met my 4WD bus in the car park.
Basically felt like I was being shipped off somewhere to be cooked, but then I remembered that I was in Ayers Rock and the only cookin’ around here is roo and wallaby- roo of which I ate last night… it was really nice, too!
We whipped left and were jolted onto a dirt road. Immediately, I felt like a world rally driver flying through the desert on a nighttime rally course. Really, the driver didn’t seem to be the racer type- short, bubbly, blonde chick- but a couple of times I could actually feel the back of the bus drifting away from the front.

We arrived at our destination, somewhere in the middle of the desert, and walked up a hill to where a fire was waiting for us. Enjoyed a spectacular sunrise over uluru, however, there was too much cloud cover, and it continues since I’ve been here, to really enjoy all the colors that one could see. Anyhow, we got a nice breakfast, can you say egg mcmuffin and tea?!
After the sun had risen, and my nose was stuffed from the cold and the dust in the air, we jumped back in the rally bus and headed over to the rock. The guide gave some really good explanations of the stories of the rock, and even got me to the point that I was a bit upset. This is because the aborigine have many versions to each of their stories, there is one that they tell the children, one for the men, the women, elders, and so on. And the only story that they will tell us visitors is the children’s story, which is essentially a pointless one that describes the marks on the rock in terms of personified snakes and desert rabbits- haha, it didn’t take me this long to spite the Japanese!
Anyhow, the children’s stories were cute and still an interesting way to describe and remember the different parts of the rock.
I learned a lot of other thins from the guide, one that the aborigines around the area don’t even practice the ceremonies that they used to, since there are tourists around the rock so much they don’t want to close it down and lose all of the money from the angry tourists. Nonetheless, there is a part of their law that forbids cameras- clearly these people were ahead of their time when they incorporated photography into their laws- so that explains also why most people have only a few different angles of the rock; including myself.
Got back to the dorm for a quick and much needed nap. Just beautiful. Then, I took a drive with my british roomie over to Kata Tjutal; for a walk through what is know as the valley of the winds. The walk was close to 3 hours, door to door, but being that we had nowhere to go and nothing else more to do, the walk was one of zen Buddhist proportions. Just walking to walk, with no specific goal at the end. Just admired the canyon as we walked through the middle, up one side, and through the valley of the winds…basically a Mars walk.
By the time we made it back to the room, the sun was setting and the clouds covered the sunset again! But the sky was clearing.
A few hours later, as it is now 9pm, I smell the beautiful monsoon rain smell, and I know for myself that there is a big storm on the way…maybe even some lightning? The first storm in a while, and on the day I’m leaving. But the good news is that if it rains tonight, I can wake up first thing in the morning and cruise over to the rock to check out the waterfalls. If it doesn’t rain, I’ll just sleep in!!!

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Photos

Valley of the Winds
A Beautiful Overlook of the Valley