Ayers Rock - Tues 22nd April
Trip Start
Feb 11, 2008
1
62
87
Trip End
Ongoing
Where I stayed
Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park, Northern Territory, Australia
Friday, May 2, 2008
After we packed up, we drove to Kings Canyon. There are at least two walks you can do, the shortest is 40 mins and then the next one is 3-4 hours. As we were short on time, we did the 40 minute round trip walk to the lookout and back. The trail takes you through a dry and rocky creek. When we arrived at the lookout, we were surrounded in 100 metre tall towering red rock faces. It was an impressive sight but I was still keen to get on top of the canyon. As we didn't have time to do the full 6km walk we decided to do some of it in the time that we had (2km). So we set off on what's called the 'Kings Canyon rim walk' and took a steep climb up to the top of the canyon. I had no regrets when we arrived to the rim of the chasm as the views of the canyon were stunning. You could see how the canyon had been sliced into two and again, the vibrant shades of orange rock set against a backdrop of shades of green, yellow and brown countryside was unique.
We were soon back on the road with a 3-4 hour journey ahead of us to Uluru. I really enjoy looking at the landscape as we are driving as it is so different from anything I have ever seen before. The sealed road is met with bright fiery red sand, which then changes to burnt orange or deep brown or pale orange, depending on the sunlight. Then there are trees, bushes and sproutings of long yellow grass and that is all. It's just surreal.
We stopped at a lookout/picnic spot for lunch and could see Uluru in the distance. After lunch we continued our journey and arrived at Uluru at about 15:30. We didn't have enough time to do the three hour base walk, which goes all the way around the rock, if we wanted to see the sunset, so we the shortest walk called Kuniya Walk, which on the way to the Mutitjulu Waterhole, we saw different aboriginal art on the rocks. The waterhole is the home of an ancestral watersnake called Wanampi.
We still had some time left so we did another short walk called the Mala walk. We passed various caves and some sacred sights belonging to women's aboringal groups. We were not allowed to take photographs of the sacred sights. At the end of the walk, we saw Kantju Gorge, which is sacred waterhole and for thousands of years has been a place of quiet. But there was hardly any water in it!
At 18:00, we parked at the sunset viewing area and watched the rock turn different shades of red and orange as the sun went down.I had seen postcards and pictures of Ayers Rock many times but nothing prepares you for the magnificance of the real thing. Ok, so at the end of the day, it is just a rock but just the sheer size and colours of the rock make it pretty special.
We stayed at Ayers Rock resort, which is the only place of civilisation in the area. It is like a holiday resort, with several hotels, a campsite, supermarket and a handful of shops and restaurants, all within one complex. Because it is a dry area, only guests and workers are allowed to buy alcohol with an alcohol pass. So whether you are going to the bottle shop, pub or restaurant, you need to show the pass in order to purchase any alcohol.
