Don't forget your mizu

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We arrived safe and well in Ayers Rock (or Uluru as it should be called by its Aboriginal name) and yes it was very hot and yes there were tonnes of flies. But we were reliably informed that its normally much hotter with far more flies - lucky us!

We had been told back in the UK by our travel agent that its just as good to pop in to Uluru directly by flight as it is to travel overland from Alice Springs, hence our decision. It had started to dawn on us that this may be incorrect as hardly any other travellers we met did this. We now realised why. The Yulara Resort, the monopoly resort at Uluru, is overpriced, shonky and quite frankly takes away rom the experience of remoteness that people talk about when visiting Uluru.

We hung around in the resort for a day trying desperately not to spend money as we waited to join our 24 hour fly by trip of Uluru and the nearby Olgas (Kata Tjuta Aboriginal name).

We joined the tour the next day and while we had packed super light for our "outback experience" the rest of the bus, all Japanese students bar one Irish girl, turned up wheelie bags in tow! The Japanese guys were good fun and really sweet but spoke little English so our tour guide toned down his content accordingly, i.e. "This big rock"! The upside was that we learnt a bit of Japanese, famously - mizu or water. It is so arid out here that the guide frequently had to remind us all to intake mizu to stay well.

Anyway on to the trip itself. That first afternoon we went to the Aboriginal Cultural Centre in the Uluru park which gave us a great insight into Aborginal liestyles and why Uluru and surrounding formations are important. We also read up on some great fable like stories that form their Tjukurpa, a kind of moral law. Following this we went or a walk through the Olgas which are a collection of rock formations just as impressive as Uluru but much secret surrounds them as the Aboriginals don't like to disclose too much. Finally, we ended with a sparkly wine watching the sun set on Uluru. Not the magical experience it may be if you've battled your way here from Alice Springs but undeniably beautiful.

Before bed in our very plush tents, with beds, lights and fans no less, we had a BBQ cooked up by the boys while the girlies made salad - typical Aussie BBQ then.

We hadn't been warned that the campsite was dry unless you brought your own beer. We were very glad of this fact when Tucker, our guide, woke us up at 4.40am! This was to see the sunrise at Uluru. This was a brilliant sight. The rock changes every moment as the sun comes up. Having looked at it so much we got up close to Uluru and did the base walk, a 10k stroll around the whole rock. There is quite a lot of rock paintings to look at plus just loads of great views. You can choose to climb the rock, although all the Aboriginals specifically ask you not to as it is so sacred. We were interested to see who still decided to do it against the local's wishes as it seems a bit strange. However, this day it was closed due to wind as they had another days reprieve.

And that was that - quick as that, the Uluru box well and trully ticked. We're very sad that we didn't do the whole outback camping thing from Alice Springs but there's always next time!

Sayounara!!

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Comments

[Uncle Ads]

Gentle coaxing
Cover the top half of your head in that fly-net picture and you get a pretty good idea of how you'd look with a beard. And it turns out....GLORIOUS

[Rat Race Escapees]

Re: Gentle coaxing
Never! To rebel against your subtle bullying I had a shave today!