We went to hostel reception and tourist information in Alice and planned a route to Uluru that takes a few extra days but visits some of the other stuff in the area too.
Next up was Ellery Creek which is a big water hole. We stopped for a late bbq lunch then checked it out. It looks fantastic because it's surrounded by these massive jagged red cliffs and you can swim in it but the water is reeeeaaally cold!
Camped at Ormiston Gorge on Sunday night which had solar powered showers wooooooo
Monday we headed for Kings Canyon - which we've heard from two people is better than Ayres Rock. About 150km of the route was on unsealed gravel road though which was corrugated and very bumpy at times!
Arrived at Kings Canyon at about 2pm, had lunch and chilled - there was a pool and at sunset we enjoyed a cheeky bev on the "sunset viewing platform"
Tuesday morning we got up at 5am and set off on a walk up Kings Canyon in the dark in order to get there for sunrise. It was defs worth it to see the fascinating colours of the rocks in first light..
After Kings Canyon we drove on to Uluru for two nights. On the way we saw a big rock on the distance and thought that was it so I got an embarrassing selfie with it in the background..
That is actually just Mount Roper.. not that famous. oops
Anyway we did finally get to Yulara (nearest place you can stay to Uluru), set up camp and then headed for the rock at sunset.
Just to clarify Uluru is the name the aboriginals give to the rock and the national park is called Uluru. In fact the aboriginals were handed back the land rights a while back but on the condition that it was leased to the Aussie government for 99 years. We're in year 30 of that lease at the moment.
Sunset at Uluru was fantastic - just as the sun is about to disappear it lights up the rock bright red and the colour change is actually huge, plus the contrast with the ground really makes it special.
We went back and slept since we got up for sunrise at KC and were planning to get up for sunrise again in the morning which we just about made in time!
A free walk and talk took place after sunrise and was fascinating, I'll fill you in on some stuff that I found really interesting:
The aboriginees in Australia represent the world's oldest society that has been in continued existence. There are so many different groups that speak different languages and all have their own name - the one "tribe" at Uluru now has about 300 people in and they've been around for tens of thousands of years. In their society men and women are equal but different - they do different jobs and have different traditions.
Suprisingly, what looks like a barren landscape is actually full of life and there are various trees that bear fruit, honey ants to eat and grubs that are apparently better for you than beef, lamb, pork or any of the meats we normally eat. The aboriginees stick to their ways but with a modern approach, they may use steel knives instead of making quartz blades and they use cars to travel to places for hunting etc but still they hunt like they used to.
For the aboriginees, their ways of hunting, finding food, traditions, maps, teachings etc are all passed down through songs and stories and bits of the rock tell different stories. There are men's places and women's places around Uluru and there's strictly no taking photos of women's places because the stories in the rock are like scripture only to be read in the location where they are, not taken away. The men's place is where boys come to get initiated into manhood (this used to mean leaving the women of the tribe for up to 3 years) and even though the tour guide is clearly a man the aboriginees won't tell him what goes on in that place. Similarly, he couldn't tell us anything about the woman's place - he doesn't know as he's a man and no men are allowed to go to the women's place.
Uluru itself was formed by part of the earths surface tilting up at an angle. It carries on 5-6km below the ground too
The tour was so interesting and it's amazing how the aboriginees have integrated into society yet maintain their values. I love the idea that they sing songs as they walk that has directions in it and is essentially a map and every time they go past features of the rock or landscape they tell their kids the story of that feature which holds a lesson and this continues for generations!
Also interesting is that the national park ask you not to climb the rock on behalf of the aboriginees - it's very western to need feel the need to climb and conquer things. Yet the park have a rock climb in operation. This is because a) it was part of the lease condition from the Aboroginees to the government and b) because so many Australians feel it is their right to climb the rock and the tourist industry in Uluru is all they have.
Anyway enough about that, after the talk we headed back to the campsite and just chilled out all day in the shade and applied for a few jobs. Went to see sunset again but clouds stopped the rock lighting up so we were lucky to see it when we did!
Watched Crocodile Dundee before bed then woke up early to hit the road at sunrise.
We had planned on making Adelaide in 3 days initially with two overnight stops but convinced ourselves today to smash it out in two days with one overnight stop and then finally we just decided to smash it all out!
Drove from 7:30am for over 17 hours travelling 1583km and taking the Paj up to over 9000kms on this roadtrip.
(I actually post this at 12:32am with one hour to go so fingers crossed!)
Sooooooooon xox
Ps. I remembered how much I loved Crocodile Dundee after watching it last night so I bought a hat like his - real Kangaroo leather too. Life investment.
