Sunrise over Uluru

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Uluru Sunrise
Not the most spectacular
But took lots of pics!

Our first activity of the day after breakfast today is to go see the sunrise by Uluru. Sunrise is at 7:23AM but we get there with plenty of time to spare. It is a crazy madhouse up at the sunrise viewing area...so many bus loads of tourists...who told them about this? haha

Uluru, it is 9.4km around. 3.4 km climb up. 2.4km width. 7 km deep. How heavy is Uluru? One stone. HAHA I thought that was a good joke.

We were given three options for this morning. 1) “The climb” if it is open. 2) 3/4 base walk around Uluru and see the sunrise from the base. or 3) Watch sunrise at the sunrise viewing area and then do the 1/2 base hike. The majority of us did the 1/2 base walk since the climb was closed. Monica and Mandy went on the 3/4 base walk and watched the less than spectacular sunrise up close to Uluru.

I can't say enough how amazing Uluru is to look at. Uluru is quite textured and the red colour is because it is rusting. There are areas where it looks like rusting, peeling paint. Oh and the many colours depending on time of day, sun, cloud etc. of Uluru are cool to look at.

Our next stop in the morning was to Kata Tjuta (also known as the Olgas.) Kata Tjuta is just as amazing as Uluru. We did a 4km walk in the Valley of the Winds. (Apparently there is an amazing Japanese cartoon set in the Valley of the Winds.) It got pretty hot up there and apparently sometimes in the summer they close down the hike because the temperatures become too unbearable and unsafe. Amazing how the rocks can just absorb and retain the heat.

We headed back to our campsite in Yulara for lunch. Sandwiches again! Then we said good-bye to our two day tour people and we were down to just 10 on tour.

Our afternoon was pretty busy as well. Six people (Di, Philip, Sam, Kye-Soon, San-Chun and Tomoko) went up for the challenge of climbing up Uluru in the hot afternoon sun since the climb was open. Everyone left on the bus was thinking...Will Tomoko make it all the way? We only thought that because when we were at Kings Canyon yesterday she was having quite a bit of trouble on heart attack hill. The rest of us (Mandy, Anna, Monica and myself) went over to the Cultural Centre to learn more about Uluru and the Aboriginals of the area. The Cultural Centre was really quite interesting to explore. One of my favourite parts was the book of letters and the "samples" taken from Uluru that were returned. Many returned their "souvenirs" thinking that they were "cursed" for taking away a part of Uluru. Too funny how some people can be so superstitious! lol

After our visit to the Cultural Centre we waited at the base of the Climb area to wait and hear how the climb was and what the views up top were like. Tomoko was the last to make it back down the hill. When we see her after the climb and ask her how she's feeling her response was..."Almost dead!" We couldn't help but laugh. Good on her for making it up there. Di said it was pretty steep and on the way down she had to turn around and walk backwards because her knees were starting to hurt.

We witnessed another amazing sunset. We were at the sunset viewing area (along with the other kajillion busloads) and the many colours of Uluru was witnessed. It is amazing how the sun and clouds can change the colouring of Uluru so dramatically.

Slept under the stars in a swag again. I'm still amazed to be able to see the Milky Way and as Di pointed out an "emu" as well. Tonight's experience of sleeping under the stars was a bit different than the night before... this time we had a rude awakening at 3:30 in the morning and were just pelted with rain. We had a 4:30 wake up call anyway so I decided to stay up.

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Photos

Sunrise at Uluru.
Not the most spectacular but still pretty amazing.

Kata Tjuta (The Olgas)
Climbing at the Valley of the Winds.

The climb is...
currently closed.