Uluru - Ayer's Rock

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Today was a very special day! It was the first day of our monster trip around Australia. Oh and it was Deirdre’s birthday.



We got up seriously early and got one of the first trains to the airport. Flight was amazing, we were on the right side of the airplane for the views of Uluru and Kata Tjuta (the Olgas). Got to the resort, got settled and then headed to see the Sunset over Ayers rock. There is a bit of a divided opinion with people that have been there. Some say it is one of the most beautiful natural rock formations that they have seen, “mate”. Others say “It’s just a rock, mate.” We thought that it was spectacular. It also has important cultural significance, and up close the rock has lots of formations and faults that have become pictorial explanations of various “dreamtime stories”. We had a talk by an aboriginal guide who told us about the various characters that were associated with the small corner of the rock that we were at. “Dreamtime” is a place in space and time where the past present and future all exist as one, and “Dreaming” can be used to describe beliefs of various groups. An extremely interesting concept, and one to which we had not been exposed to before.





In the Aboriginal cultural centre Deirdre was shown how the women’s headring and food carrying bowl work, and Ciaran was shown how to throw a spear at a plastic rabbit. He was the second closest. The closest was a 9 year old Canadian boy. The next night we did the “Sounds of Silence” dinner. This was a dinner in the desert under the stars. It was amazing. Only us and two ladies from Guam at the table, was a great night, The stars out in the desert were the brightest we have seen and we had a talk from a bird who knew about stars. Saw Scorpio, Saturn and the big emu in the sky!!Sunrise was equally amazing and freezing (-1°C). It was cold, and everyone was running about with quilts round their backs as if we were up the Alps! Rented bikes from here and cycled round the base of the Ayers Rock. Up close the rock is really interesting. You get a real feeling for the spiritual significance of the various parts of the rock, so cycling around it was really special. Then we headed back to the airport and headed for Sydney.

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