Day 25 - Uluru | Travel Blog

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May 2nd 2015

Published: May 2nd 2015

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Rob and Lynns Bago bash

Uluru

The panoramic view

Big day today! We were up at 5am to get to the Uluru express for the dawn viewing! They take you to the sunrise viewing platform first. Its very pretty there, but the photo opportunities are a bit limited especially when its cloudy. Its definitely not as cold here overnight compared to Alice Springs but still a little cloudy and cool before sunrise. None the less it's still beautiful to see.

We forgot the selfie stick but a nice bloke obliged us with a photo! After a million snaps by everyone there (yep it was pretty busy) we piled back into the bus and headed to the Mala car park. This is where the climb starts and where the base walk starts. I was hoping the climb would be closed so we had no choice but no, we saw a stream of ants climbing up already. I started to climb but knew pretty quickly it wasn't for me. Not for cultural reasons but coming back down would have freaked me out completely. Rob was determined but unfortunately (well that depends on your position, I was very glad) his knees played up straight away. He went up for a fair bit,

Uluru

Cuddles by the rock

but then had to come back down. He was very disappointed but the knee would never have held up coming back down. I know people have died climbing the rock, but I'm surprised it doesn't happen daily. There's absolutely nothing to stop you if you slip coming down. Its crash bang,splat, if you fall....

So off we went for the 10k walk around the base. Its awe inspiring, there's no other words. We have zillions of photos and have included quite a few but you really do need to see it first hand. We read all the indigenous stories about how they feel about the rock and its spiritual connections. And added to that the rock itself has its own stories, there's no doubt. It has stood in that spot, very very gradually crumbling, eroding and shaping into what its looks like today, over millions and millions of years, well before any human inhabited the earth. And it will continue to stand there well beyond the world as we currently know it. That's what is so extraordinary, the absolute ancientness of it. (yes I know that's probably not a real word, but I can't think of anything else that

Uluru

Sunrise

explains it well enough)

We didn't plan things very well and it was obvious we should have bought a snack particularly for Rob. We had just enough water which was good. The walk is over 10 k's and it was pretty hot in certain places. We were walking for over two hours. When we reached very near the end of the circuit we took a 'short cut' through to the cultural centre. We'd been told it was only 200 metres through the bush but it was more like over 2 k's! Eventually got there and had a yummy sandwich so felt better! After a rest the bus picked us up and took us back to the camp. It's really quite hot now so we are having a lazy afternoon. Not sure if we are staying on tomorrow, we will have a think later. But we will take some sunset photos from the viewing platform here at the park tonight.

Additional photos below

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