AYERS ROCK-CRISSCROSSING AUSTRALIA

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Excerpted from my book: OUR SUMMER IN AUSTRALIA AND NEW ZEALAND, AMAZON.COM)

Leaving Perth we were once more confronted with the vast emptiness of Australia. The flight from Perth to Ayers Rock is 2260 odd miles, crossing inhospitable terrain, devoid of a trace of Man’s civilizing mark. Frank Lloyd Wright pointed out how nature abhors a straight line. When flying over most of the world’s land mass you can see Man’s imprint below; fence lines, railroad tracks, housing grids, the shapes of ball parks and other geometric sports arenas, and not least of all, multi-storied buildings. Not so, flying over Australia.

Within minutes of leaving Perth the traveler can look down for hours upon nature’s uninterrupted handiwork. Dried riverbeds, long sweeps of red desert dunes, an occasional outcropping, and although they are down there, very little sign of man or beast. Landing at Ayers Rock, a government controlled park area, there are only a few choices of where to stay.

On our first evening we attended a twilight dinner called The Sounds of Silence, some miles away in the desert from the complex center. This is an elegant affair, given the desert circumstances, with candlelight, champagne, tablecloths, native food such as kangaroo, emu and crocodile. The dinner site is continuously relocated to lessen any impact on the terrain. The fading light soon gives way to emerging stars. A professional astronomer gave a lecture on the Southern Hemisphere’s night sky,as more and more nautical twilight faded. The enormous horizon-to-horizon night sky filled with evermore stars, and became strewn with the mist of the Milky Way. Fortunately for us, it was a moonless winter's night, the closest town being 275 miles away, and the desert devoid of air and light pollution.

As the last light faded, and Mercury ascended over Mars in the low sky, telescopes and high powered binoculars were made available to further enhance viewing the magnificence of a sky we never see. The sky our grandparents took for granted. The meaning of, and how to read the Southern Cross was explained, Alpha Centurii our closest star was pointed out, and we were asked to hold all conversation and be completely still as we were enveloped by the sounds of silence. Again, to our good fortune, not even the slightest breeze imposed on the naked, soundless, starlit night.

Along with all the wine you could drink… it was one hellava night.

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Photos

kATA TJUTA MOUNTAIN
Miles away, sunset, didgeridoo playing in the background

DINNER SETTING
Location frequently moved to keep the park pristine