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Published: February 3rd 2010
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The "Kangaroo's Tail" - the start of the climb up Uluru Day 14 - Uluru to Kulgera
The wind sprang up last night after we went to bed and blew the tent around quite a bit so we didn’t get much sleep. Consequently, when we heard the hoards of cars and motorbikes start their engines and take off in the wee hours to make their way to the sunrise viewing area, we just rolled over and tried to go back to sleep. I wasn’t successful in getting back to sleep so I decided to get up and eventually Caitlyn joined me. I talked her into going for a drive to see if we could get any good morning photo’s so we headed for the road that does a loop around the rock.
It was a dull, overcast morning and I’m glad I didn’t bother to get up any earlier and race off to see the sunrise. The viewing area is not as good as the sunset viewing area as you are a lot closer and the vegetation gets in the way of your view. It was also very crowded so I think you’d need to make a mammoth effort to get there before everyone else and secure a good
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Uluru up close - the Mala Walk winds along the bottom of Uluru and it's quite a different view spot, otherwise I don’t know that it would be worth it. We didn’t stop at the viewing area because there were still so many people there even a full hour after sunrise, but kept driving the loop all the way back to camp. Which was just as well because we had forgotten that we had all the food in the back of the car and the others were really hungry!!
After packing up, we set off back to the rock. I had already determined that I was not going to climb the rock nor was I going to allow the two younger ones to climb it in deference to the Arrente people’s wishes however Kevin & Caitlyn were still quite keen to climb. However, that decision was taken out of our hands anyway as the rock was closed for climbing due to the high winds. Instead, we did the excellent Mala Walk with a ranger. There are actually a lot of caves and waterholes along the side of the rock and also quite a lot of vegetation so it is very pretty and far more interesting than climbing to the top (in my opinion anyway). Some of the caves
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One of the many places where water cascades off the top when it's raining. are for “men’s business” (i.e. caves where the men taught the young boys how to hunt and make tools) and some are for women’s business, like the kitchen cave. There was also a cave for the elders of the tribe which was a cave that would be quite cool in the summer and situated close to the kitchen cave.
We also learnt about the story of the rock and its relationship to the Mala tribe. The story goes that the Mala people were holding one of their ceremonies at the rock when they received an invitation from a neighbouring tribe to come on over to a ceremony that they were having. The Mala declined the invitation saying that they were in the middle of a ceremony, and since everyone knew that once a ceremony started you had to finish it, they thought that would be sufficient excuse for their neighbours. However their neighbours were offended that the Mala would not come to their ceremony and so they sent a spirit being, a big black dog with red eyes called kurpany. Kurpany was a shape shifter and so he could move across the countryside without being seen and get close
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The Ranger gave talks at various points along the Mala Walk. This was a 'teaching' cave where young boys were shown the finer points of how to hunt. The walls of the cave make a great blackboard! to the Mala people at the rock. The Mala had a spirit being too, a kookaburra who was a known gossip. When she cried out that the kurpany was coming, the Mala ignored her warning because they thought she was stirring up trouble. Eventually the Mala saw kurpany but he was as big as Uluru so he moved quickly. One warrior stayed behind to fight and give the others a change to get away to the south. When the others fled, Kurpany fought with the warrior. You can see his footprints from the sunrise viewing area going across the rock chasing after the warrior. You can also see the warrior’s head with his hair pulled back into a ceremonial bun, looking towards where the others are fleeing, hoping that his sacrifice will save them.
This story is part of a song line that starts in Tennant Creek and ends at Marla in South Australia. Traditionally, only the part of the story that belongs to that area can be told in that area so if you want to know the whole story, you would have to get the beginning in Tennant Creek and the ending in Marla. Needless to say,
we didn’t find out the beginning or the ending but it would be great if someone reading this blog could add in the story lines.
We eventually left Uluru just after lunch and made our way back to the Stuart Highway. Due to a mix-up with the booking, we didn’t end up staying at the Desert Oaks resort at Erldunda - apparently they had us booked in for the night before and since they were fully booked up, we had to keep going to Kulgera. We stayed in a cabin there which was pretty basic but the food at the roadhouse was good and we were just happy not to have to camp again.
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