Ayers Rock - Uluru (Northern Territory, Australia)Feb 5, 2006
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Uluru at Dawn ... waiting for the sun to rise
There it is ... the Big Red Rock ... Uluru (Ayers Rock)
Tammy - Sunrise at Uluru
| All these early morning starts - yup another one today. We had booked on the 'Uluru Sunrise and Guided Cultural Base Tour'. We were collected at our hotel at 4:45am and taken to a viewing area on the eastern side of Uluru and whilst we waited for the sun to rise we sipped on hot chocolate and coffee together with coach loads of other people all trying to get front row spots for those kokak moments! After sunrise we were back in the coach and taken to the base of Uluru for our cultural walk. Kate was our guide and she took us on a 1.5 hour walk around a part of the base pointing out the natural features on the rock, aboriginal rock paintings, flora and fauna as well as relating traditional aboriginal stories to certain areas along the way. After tea, orange juice and biscuits we headed off to another area on the base of Uluru where we walked and talked for about another hour - (the beauty of doing a tour instead of doing it by yourself). We were gone for the whole morning only reaching our hotel at about 12:30pm. After a short time at the pool we had to spend the rest of the time indoors as it was just far too hot. We went to the Outback Pioneer Lodge for dinner - they host a do-it-yourself barbeque. You buy the meat from them and they provide a salad bar. We went for the 'outback special' (being skewers of kangaroo and crocodile together with emu and beef sausages) and the barrumundi fish. As these are things people wouldn't normally cook - they had a list showing the cooking times required. Dinner was all delicious and we enjoyed this whilst listening to live music. We followed the main road home instead of taking the short cut through the desert bush .... weren't quite sure what was out there!! Lets tell you a bit about the Uluru - Kata Tjuta National Park then ... The National Park covers an area of roughly 311,000 acres (1,325 square kilometres) and comprises two significant sites being Uluru (known by some as Ayers Rock) and Kata Tjuta (known as The Olga's). The park is listed as a World Heritage Area for both its natural and cultural values. The natural values are the outstanding geological processes that are apparent with the formations of Uluru and Kata Tjuta. The cultural values are the associations between cultural landscape and Anangu, Traditional Aboriginal Owners of the land. Uluru is made of arkose sandstone and rises 348 metres above the desert floor and has a circumference of 9.4 kilometres and contrary to popular belief is not a single stone but one of three surviving peaks of an ancient mountain range. Uluru means 'Meeting Place' and is the sacred home to the many Dreamtime legends. Kata Tjuta takes its name from the Aboriginal meaning of 'many heads'. Kata Tjuta is a group of 36 rounded red domes rising from the desert floor. The tallest is said to be around 546 metres high and is about 30kms from Uluru. The National Park is home to about 24 species of native mammuals, 161 species of birds and more than 566 species of flora. During our base walk with Kate - she showed us this bush plant which has come from South Africa and taken over, growing everywhere. As we were about to have a 'proud' moment that this South African bush was part of this famous heritage site, Kate told us in her second breath that this bush was a pest ... just like the flies and cane toads too!! Oops!! They had just had a controlled fire through the area and it just couldn't / wouldn't kill this bush. |
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