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Published: October 8th 2013
After our stay in Alice Springs, we headed south to Uluru, or The Rock, or Ayres Rock, in the red centre.
The sealed road south and then west to The Rock is generally good, just broken shoulders in places, and work teams out setting things to right. As you head west up the Lassiter Highway, its not long before you see the rock, and then you realise that it is the wrong rock as the sides become more visible.
There is a lookout to see the false rock (Mt Conner) as it stands out above the desert plain. The area is generally low shrubbed in the desert with a few exceptions such as at Mt Ebenezer where things are totally barren.
When we did the Palm Valley trip, our guide said to cross the road at the Mount Conner lookout and climb the reed sand dunes to see Lake Amadeus. This is a large salt lake, a remnant of those times that the red centre was indeed a vast inland sea. This lake prevented early explorers from travelling from the West MacDonnell Ranges through to Uluru and Kata Tjuta. (formerly known as the Olgas.) An odd thing, the
Mount Conner
The fools Ulurured sand actually felt soft on the feet. The mess in the van afterwards was not such a good feeling! There is no sign pointing to the salt lake, so many miss this huge salt lake. This is a tiny fraction of the thousands of hectares of salt flats.
Continuing west, it wasn't long before that iconic rock came into view - just like we had seen on post cards and friends blogs, and way back in school days, in our geography lessons. So why come way out here? Because that Rock really gets in your head - its size, texture (not really appreciated in photos) and changing colours.
Then you walk around it, then you drive around it, watch a sunset or two, freeze in the early morning to see the sunrise. It is magical, and not hard to understand the Aboriginal's respect, even reverence of the memories and traditions associated with Uluru.
There are many plaques that inform of the history of Uluru, others geology, and others for the plants and trees that surround the rock.
I had some unlearning to do, I thought this was a solid rock like granite - but it
has a core of grey sedimentary rock, the outer skin coloured red with iron oxide and other material.
It is porous, thus providing water even in drought, though in small amounts. Hence the lush growth around the base of the rock.
The rock is far from smooth. and the grooving seen in many pictures is only part of the story. The upper surface is like honeycomb - lots of furrows and holes. There are water courses the envy of many a water garden with layers of pools. There are huge cavities, one quite close to the climbing path.
We respected the Aboriginal request not to climb the rock for the following reasons - their request, too hot, too old, not fit enough, helicopter wouldn't take us up and land.
But we entered the shelter caves of yesteryear, saw where the tribal elders sat, where the women cooked, where the children were taught. (segregated classes)
In the evening, hundreds of visitors just quietly sit and watch the colour change from dull red/brown to glowing red/orange, and then quickly settle to milk chocolate colour when the sun has set. They say 400,000 people a year do this
- we did it twice, and would do it again any time.
We don't expect to return to the red centre, and if we did, it would not be in October as the heat is building fast with day temps from 36 to 42 at the moment. Oh, the nights can be cold still - 16 is COLD and 10 freezing.
There is an excellent Cultural Centre at the base of the rock too - well worth spending time to get an Aboriginal perspective of their local heritage.
If you are an avid rock climber, you will have a choice between respect of the wishes of the traditional owners, and your desire to climb an iconic desert rock. They see each person who ascends as conquering their ancestral tradition, we generally see it as a challenge, but with no thought of conquest other than achievement. Your choice, but be quick, the climb will probably be closed in the future. It was closed on our second visit as the temps were over 36c.
Enjoy the pictures, but they can never capture the great magic of The Rock.
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D MJ Binkley
Dave and Merry Jo Binkley
We loved our time near Uluru and Kata
The peace and serenity. The rock has a great energy. We have friends who have friends that told them not to waste their time going....that it is just a rock. We did not feel that way at all. We love it. The sunlight dances off the sides and it looks different each time. We drove around it two or three times. We did a couple of hikes and were taken by this piece of rock. We did a sunset BBQ that was amazing and a sunrise breakfast hike. I'd love to go back. It was lovely.