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Published: November 28th 2009
Ayers Rock
Beccy with a handfulLike most people, Geology has never really been my thing and my interest in rocks doesn’t extend past the sparkly, wearable kind. That said anything, let alone a rock, that has its own airport, commands its visitors to get up at 4:30am, divides them over climbing it and has two names must be worth a visit.
It was.
Ayers Rock, known to the Aboriginals’ as Uluru, attracts people to the middle of nowhere because of the array of colours it turns throughout the day; and from a geological perspective it is an astounding single piece of rock in near complete isolation. To climb or not to climb is the question you face once you’ve watched sunset and sunrise. The traditional aboriginal owners are against anyone climbing as they view the rock as a religious monument. Andy and I decided to climb and set off just after sunrise. Climbing quickly became crawling / pulling yourself up a chain as the angle is so steep. The higher we climbed the stronger the winds and harder it got but we made it to the top and were rewarded with amazing views which make you appreciate the magnitude and remoteness of the rock
Ayers Rock
5AM at sunrise even more (although our French room-mates were not impressed and gave us a telling off for climbing). By the time we had made our way back down, the climb was closed due to high winds and we were both relieved to have our feet back on (red) soil. There isn’t much else to do bar watching Uluru at sunrise and sunset apart from visit another rock formation called the Three Olgas 45km away. Both rock formations are made even more spectacular by the fact they rise up out of otherwise Fenland-flat plains as far as the eye can see.
As I write we’re drinking the leftovers from our winery tour here in Margaret River (just south of Perth), a rather delicious Chenin Blanc. For those of you who know us well I can sense the surprise that there were leftovers and have to admit that we did reach our wine saturation level - we started at 10am!! Margaret River is literally FULL of wineries (over 110) and on our tour we had the chance to sample over 40 different bottles, cheese, chocolate and, Andy’s favourite, beer from a micro-brewery. After being wine and cheese starved in Asia, it was
Margaret River
Towards the end of the winery tour like all our Christmases had come at once - especially when Andy discovered a circular pool table in the last brewery! That and the strawberry and chili beer and he was happy to say the least.
We still can’t get used to the concept of a warm Christmas and are bemused every time we see Christmas trees and decorations. Perth town was no exception and if anything even more bizarre in their “Ye Olde London” quarter. Whilst there we also visited their Mint and saw a gold bullion being melted and poured - an even better liquid than the wine we’ve been sampling.
We still have one more bottle to drink before we head back to Perth and catch our flight to Adelaide and we’re off in search of a sunset to pair it with...
Bex & Andy
P.S. For the OBS crew - walking down Perth high street I bumped (purely coincidentally) in to Pier Cottee - small world huh?!
P.P.S Dad - hope you had a great birthday!
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alan
non-member comment
well done
Well done on ascending Uluru (I must have some aborigine in me!) I am not convinced I would have made it! Great blog!