Kings Canyon & Uluru

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I can see why the centre of Australia is called The Red Centre. It is just that! And it’s as beautiful as it is striking.



King’s Canyon was without a doubt one of the highlights of this trip. After an early start to the day (the early mornings are definitely the best time for driving as it’s still cool), we did the 6km hike around the rim of King’s Canyon. It’s a steep climb to the top but once at the top, it’s a fairly leisurely walk with AMAZING views. The sheer cliffs, stone formations and the utter vastness of it took our breath away. Circular mounds, or domes, are dotted all over the landscape. These were formed after cracks appeared in the sandstone and rain and floodwaters smoothed them down. Lunchtime coincided very nicely with our arrival at the Garden of Eden, a lush pocket of cycads around a big rock pool. It took Dean all of 60 seconds to get into the beautiful ice-cold water.



The next day, we made it to another stunning natural phenomenon: the mighty Uluru. En route, we unfortunately lost our diesel jerry can off the roof of our van! In these areas where fuel is expensive and service stations are far apart, we’ve been relying on it… but thankfully we’ve since been able to replace it.



As you drive into the Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park, Mount Connor looms in the distance. Despite being the wrong shape, apparently a lot of people think that that’s Uluru. The whole area is well set up for tourism, but not in a tacky way which is nice. We’re quite glad that we were there during the low season though, as the place would be crawling during high season! Our first stop was the Uluru-Kata Tjuta Cultural Centre where you can learn about the history of the area and the culture of the Anangu (the Aboriginal people of the area).



I just love learning about different cultures but I really had to control myself when I read and watched a DVD about the land ownership issue which dominates so much of the interaction between Aboriginals and Westerners. I get how countries are defined by borders, but how can different ethnic groups within a country claim to be entitled to land? I have nothing but the highest regard for the morals and principles of the Australian indigenous culture, but you can’t have your cake and eat it. If a community was to choose to live a self-sufficient life, reliant on the land that is their home, then that would be fair enough. But we learnt that no communities choose to live that way anymore. So how can you lay claim to land as well as free services and facilities when you refuse to live by the principles that supposedly give you entitlement to them? I’m very aware that resistance to change is part of our human nature, but it strikes me that a hefty measure of the problem is the refusal to accept that things never stay the same and times have changed. Wouldn’t it be much healthier to embrace some elements of modern culture and make the most of, for example, education and free choice? At the end of the day, we are all responsible for looking after the earth and nobody actually ‘owns’ it. Alright, I have said my piece! I hope that I have made a bit of sense.



The Uluru Cultural Centre also featured a pile of ‘sorry rocks’, a collection of stones accompanied by letters of apology from visitors who were tempted to take a little piece of Uluru back home as a souvenir. Apparently this is bad luck and many letters refer to misfortunes that occurred after the stones’ removal from their rightful place.



As Uluru is sacred to the Anangu, visitors are discouraged from climbing it. There would, however, be a lot less visitors to the park if climbing the rock was prohibited. The park diplomatically manages this by closing the climbing path on hot and windy days, and we got the impression that any opportunity to close it is taken.



We did two short walks, the Kuniya walk and the ranger-guided Mala walk. The base walk (10km all the way around Uluru) wasn’t really an option in the 40^oC heat and will have to wait until the next time. But even the short walks give you a really good view and feel of the place. I still can’t quite fathom that Uluru is actually one big piece of solid stone – 3.6km in length and 348m in height. What’s more, two third of the rock actually lie beneath the sand! There are lots of caves (each one with its own significance or story) and sweeping black lines (of algae growth) where rain has flown down crevices. Thunderstorms were actually forecast for the days ahead and Uluru would be a truly amazing sight during rainy weather!



One thing that reeeeally tested our patience was the amount of flies around. In search of any hint of moisture, they crawl up your nose, into your ears, sit on your eyes and generally make a real nuisance of themselves. I joined many other visitors in the purchase of a seriously unsexy head net – and would recommend that to anyone visiting Uluru!



Yulara (‘Ayers Rock Resort’) is essentially the service village for the Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park and is the only place that visitors can stay in the area. There’s plenty of choice of accommodation as well as a little village centre with post office, supermarket and plenty of boutiques. The resort also put on a handful interesting activities and we enjoyed watching the Wakagetti Cultural Dancers and joining a ‘bush yarns’ session for some indigenous stories.



On this occasion, we didn’t go to see Kata Tjuta (also called The Olgas), a group of domed rocks with deep valleys and gorges about 35km west of Uluru. Having seen gorgeous pictures of them, I’d love to see them another time. Our current plan (which is always subject to change, haha!) is to return to Melbourne and work for a year before exploring the west coast of Australia. To make the most of the seasons, we would make our way up the coast in early 2014 and get to Darwin in winter, just in time for the Territory Day fireworks at the beginning of July. So perhaps we can do Kata Tjuta on our way back from Darwin.

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