Another trip that Barbara and I had been keen to do was a visit to the Northern territories and the Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park. We flew from Sydney to Uluru airport, around a three hour journey, and were picked up by our driver, Wookie.
We were the only ones on the bus and found out that the rest of the tour had arrived at Alice Springs and driven the 450Km that morning. They were now at the cultural centre and we were on our way to meet up.
We had booked with the Rock Tour, a budget group which mainly attracted young back-packers and our group was made up of a few Aussies, Europeans and South Asians with Barbara and I being practically the oldest.
After meeting up with the rest of our group we headed off into the National Park and our first close up views of Uluru. Wookie gave us a run through of the do's and dont's of visiting this most sacred of the indigenous peoples sites. There are places on the base walk where it is not permitted to take photographs, these can be male or female sacred places and the opposite sexes are not allowed to see them. If a male for instance saw a female sacred site(or even a photograph)he can be punished by the tribe elders. This could involve,depending on the seriousness of the offence by being blinded with a local plant,it lasts about three days, and taken out into the bush. If they somehow found their way back they would be looked after until their eyesight returned or if they survived the three days the tribe would find them and bring them home. But the worst alternative is that you would perish in the outback.
You are also discouraged from climbing the rock, It is not forbidden but under the terms of the 99 year lease the Australian Government insisted on the right to climb being granted. There are several instances when the climb is closed anyway so the the opportunities are scarce. If you are determined to do it though you have to sign the 'sorry' book to apologise for desecrating a sacred site. Heavy stuff.
We were then given around 2 hours to complete a section of the base walk. There are signs along the way telling you where you can and can't take photographs. There are also places where the Anangu people had decorated the rock with drawings and designs.
We met back at the bus and then headed back out of the park to a viewing area where we could watch the sunset. There had been a few birds around during our walk but I always felt under pressure to keep up with the others so my photo opportunities were scarce.
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| Grey Headed Honeyeater |
The view point was quite a circus with many buses and coaches parked up. We had our own little area though that the Rock Tour always used.
Wookie got on with our evening meal whilst we watched and took photo's of the ever changing colours of Uluru. The idea is to keep taking pictures every 5 mins or so as the rock gets a deeper red all the time.
As the sun goes down the colours leech away until the rock looks like this.
We then had to clear up our meal and do the washing up. Another rule of the park is that you take everything away with you including your waste water. So the washing up water has to decanted into a large container and disposed of later. We then drove to our campsite where we would be sleeping in Swags under the stars.
There were showers and loos there also and after everybody had helped unload the trailer most headed in that direction. Wookie however had a camp fire going by the time we all got back and we spent a couple of hours chatting around it before turning in. A swag is a canvas oilskin bag that you and your sleeping bag goes into and then has a flap that covers your head. There is a thin padded mattress sewn inside and its pretty uncomfortable lying on the ground. I tried to make a pillow with first my rucksack and then my boots but I didn't get much sleep that night. It was to be an early start next morning as well as we were due to be up to see the sunrise over Uluru.
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