The Red Centre

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I got to Ayers Rock, no problem. Many people still call the place Ayers Rock, but for the past 20 years since the hand back to the tradition Aborigines, it has been called Uluru. The plane trip from Cairns took 2 1/2 hours and I had three seats to myself, the plane was half empty. I was able to photograph Uluru from the air as we approached the airport. I stayed at the cheapest accommodation at the resort town, the Outback Lodge. Four to a room and the shower and toilets are in another building. The next cheapest accommodation is about $400 per night, and I could have spent thousands per night on accommodation. There were so many tour groups here, unlike anywhere else I had seen so far in Australia. Many French, Italians, Germans and very few independent tourists. Not sure why as it wasn't difficult to get here.

I booked three tours. The first was the first night at the Observatory. We were given a guided tour of the southern night sky, something I knew nothing about. The nights are very clear and cold. The Milky Way is so obvious, and there are so many stars visible, here in the middle of nowhere. The guide showed us the zodiac constellations, and then a few other constellations, the Southern Cross and Alpha Centauri, our closest neighbour. And how to find the south celestial pole. Then we had a chance to look thorugh the telescopes to see the Moon, a bonary star system, Jupiter and its moons and a star cluster.

The next morning I took a tour to the Olgas, now called Kata Tjuta, the our rock monolith about 30 km from Uluru. Here in the red centre in the middle of winter it gets to about 1 degree overnight. It was so windy as we walked up to the gorge, but the scenery was great. Kata Tjuta is red, but it's made from a sedimentary conglomerate, huge rocks within the larger rock itself; up close, it just looks like a ancient active beach. We didn't have long here, just a three hour trip in the morning, about half of that was driving. Some people say they prefer Kata Tjuta, the rock is more varied and weathered, and there are fewer tourists. I prefered the star attraction of the area, Uluru.

Later in the afternoon I went to Uluru. While some people chose to climb the rock, I walked around it. It's 9 km around and it took me two hours. I had stopped many times to take photos. Many places along the route are marked as sacred places to the local people, so please no photos. I did my best to respect their wishes, but it's hard to determine where the sacred place ends and where photos are allowed, especially if you take panoramic scenes, the sacred places are bound to show up in those, but I did my best to observe their customs. Then we were driven to the sunset viewing spot. We watched the sunset on Uluru, an incredible lightshow. As the sun sets the rock goes from a sandy brown red to orange to bright red, before the sun completely dissappears below the horizon and the rock goes back to a dull brown. Possibly a thousand people were lined up to watch this event. It was a fabulous visual sight.

I am not sure of the significance, but many tourists, those with money, go to the rock with champagne, and just as the light is dissappearing - pop - the cork is released and champagne served all around. My first night from the resort, I had a quick chat with an elderly couple who were wondering about this ritual as well. They thought my tea in a thermos was more practical. As the sun goes, so does any warmth. There was a dinner option, more than $100 per person, to have a fancy dinner under the stars at the foot of the rock. Cloth napkins, wines, champagnes, BBQ (kangaroo perhaps) and the stars. I'll stick to tea with fish and chips, thank you.

My socks got red as I walked around the rock, the soil is very red. Iron oxide to be precise. The area is extremely flat, except for Uluru, Mt Conner and Kata Tjuta. There is more vegatation than I expected, spinifex everywhere, but also bushes about 2-4 m tall and trees about 3 - 8 m tall dotted about the landscape. One small on the far side of the rock had been burned. These taller trees must allso be lighten rods because many look burned, but everything around is green. The land is not totally flat, actually there are sand dunes covered in vegetation. It's a fascinating area - green, red and blue.

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Photos

Uluru
Seconds before the sun sets

Comments

[Shelley]

I had the $100 dinner
I actually paid for this.. It was worth it, let me tell you. Really romantic. You haven't lived until you have had barbequed Crocodile with Champagne under the stars in the Red Center.