Iconic big red rocks -- Julie/Harold head to Uluru and Kata Tjuta

We split up today.  Deborah/Gil stayed in Melbourne to partake in more of its splendors, and Julie/Harold headed to the airport for a flight to the outback to see the iconic Uluru/Ayers Rock.  This posting will be about their two-day, one-night exploration of the red desert outback region in the center of the country.

Flight went well.  No ID checks ever, quick passage through the security, and after a quick scan of our ticket, we were on the plane heading to Uluru.  The sights from the window of the plane were quite wonderful.

there it is!  A hint: when flying into Uluru, sit on the left side, preferably NOT over a wing.  

You will, thus, see Uluru on your flight into the area.

 

The red sands and Uluru and Kata Tjuta in the Australian Outback have been the highpoint of our trip, thus far.  We learned, however, that the area is only semi-arid, not arid. The area gets about 12 inches of rain per year, and temperatures range from 38 degrees F in July to 98 degrees F in January.  The temperature is what makes it arid.  It was 105 degrees F the two days we were there, but because it is sooo dry, it was not particularly uncomfortable.  Yes, one must drink a lot of water during the day, but the evenings and the mornings were wonderful.

Speaking of evenings, we had a memorable night.  We went on a camel ride to view both Uluru and Kata Tjuta at sunset.  Special.  We boarded a bus to go to the camel farm (large group of us).  We received instructions and boarded our camels.  Our camel was named Darcy, the oldest camel in the bunch and the last in line because he was slow, steady, and stable – all good as far as we were concerned.  These camels, by the way, were dromedaries – one humped – so we had a double saddle providing us reasonable comfort on the camel.

An insert about camels: All the camels in Australia are dromedaries, and they can live to be 50 years old.  They were used extensively for travel in the past, but once vehicles became popular, camel use declined, and many owners let their camels loose into the outback of Australia.  They thrived and a few years ago, they even had to cull them by doing an aerial shoot.  Lots of controversy about this act in Australia.  Some say there are still a quarter of a million wild camels in the outback.

Okay – back to our camel ride:  The camels were kneeling when we embarked, but it appeared to be difficult for them to get up and down :-(.  Once we were in our saddles, we both leaned back while they got up; otherwise, we might have flipped forward.  Safely in our saddles, we started our trek.  No snake viewings, which are rare, happily.  The guide for our segment thought it was because the camels made the ground reverberate from their steps, but she said that even when she is walking alone in the outback, she has only seen two or three snakes.  One person claimed to see a lizard, but no one else did.  We did see a fair number of lizard holes, however.  Mostly, we saw the red sandy earth and low-lying plants covering much of the ground. No red kangaroo sightings either.  Our guide said it was too dry for them in this area, and if we were to see them, there might be more of a possibility by Kata Tjuta, but even that was unlikely.  Damn.

Darcy.

Oh, lest I forget – the main reason for the ride: to see Uluru and Kata Tjuta at sunset.  Hard to describe the beauty, but the pictures might give you some idea.

And now for a bit of information about the two limestone mounds

Up close, they are not smooth as they appear from a distance.  Uluru has significant vertical parallel “ribs” running down its sides.  These ribs consist of a softer material than the rest of the sandstone and thus sections wear away more quickly.  It’s surface is flaky red, with the flakes beings bit of rock left after water and oxygen decayed minerals in the rest of the rock.  The red is the rushing of the iron in the arkose.  You can see the gray rock (original color of the arkose) inside the caves. Uluru stands 1142 feet high, and is a massive hunk of sandstone of which geologists believe only the top 10 percent is visible.

 Kata Tjuta, on the other hand, is rocky.  That area, a series of mounds, has been given the name “many heads” because the formation appears to be a bunch of heads sticking out of the flat red sands – 36 domed mound “heads” to be precise.

These two land formations have great cultural significance for the Anangu people, the traditional inhabitants of the area.  The formations were given names of the whites (Ayers and Olga), but in 1993, a dual naming policy was adopted.  The official names then consisted of both the English name and the Aboriginal name, so Ayers Rock/Uluru was the name of the more familiar formation.  Then in 2002, it was decreed that the names would be reversed, so it became Uluru/Ayers Rock :-).

Additionally, in 1985,  the entire area was given back to the aborigines who, in turn, leased it back to the government for 99 years for use as a natural park.  The aborigines give tours in the park, and they also have presentations at the Resort.  We listened to one about the aboriginal people in the area and then we watched a food demonstration of the making of Wattle Seed Shortbread.  Delicious, and yes, I bought a couple of bags of wattle seeds and got copies of the recipe.

The Anangu people have their own stories about how the two formations were created, but that lore is sacred and much of it cannot be shared.  The sacredness of the two sites also creates some restrictions on access.  For example, no access is allowed on one side of Kata Tjuta because it is a scared area only for aboriginal men.  Additionally, visitors are only supposed to hike in certain areas.  Sadly, about 30,000 visitors per year ignore these guidelines and climb anyway.  Also, helicopters hired for viewing cannot fly directly over the formations, and neither can commercial planes.

HINT for flying – since the flight route into the airport is quite standard because of the sacred air zones, it’s best to sit up front (in front of the wing engines) and on the left when flying in.  You’ll get fabulous views of both land formations.  Conversely, on the flight out, sit on the right side of the plane, not over the wings.

Back to the camel ride.  After we returned, we had beer or wine and snacks before we were taken back to our dwellings.  My inner thighs were quivering, but other than that, all body parts seemed okay.

It was a fabulous evening.

The resort, itself, is, as they say, “world class” --  the Ayers Rock Resort.  The area, as I mentioned, is all owned by the aborigines, and about 1/3 of the workers are also aborigine.  There are several places to stay, from camping areas to hostel-like abodes to top-end rooms.  We stayed in one of the latter, with our rational being that we were only there one night, and since we didn’t have time to go on the sunset camel tour (also very popular), we splurged and got a room with a fabulous view of Uluru; thus, we could see the sunrise over the rock from the graciousness of our unit.

Beyond the hotels, there were multiple restaurants (11 of them), a general store, a spa, several swimming pools, three art galleries, several artists on site creating their art, and an art museum/exhibition center.  What’s also cool about it is that every roof is covered with solar panels, creating a uniform effect as you fly in but also, of course, providing all of the electricity for the resort.

Overall, it’s a location worth at least three days and maybe more.  We were very happy we were able to work in the time we had there, even though it was too short.

Julie/Harold flew back to Melbourne to join Deborah/Gil so we could fly to the Great Barrier Reef tomorrow.