uluru and kata tjuta

the last few days that we spent with my parents couldn't have been in a better place: uluru (and it's less famous sister, kata tjuta). my dad, who was a bit "disappointed" that australia didn't look more like the set of crocodile dundee was happy to see a lot of red nothingness while we flew over the landscape. unfortunately for him, upon arrival at uluru we were told that this has been the wettest year that the red centre has seen for a long time and as such, it looked rather lush and green. quite a nice contrast to the red dirt and clear blue sky actually.

we arrived midday, from not so great weather in perth into some scorching desert heat. we hoped on the hotel bus and were delivered to the hotel quickly. there is only one complex in uluru- the ayers rock resort. it's a pretty good set-up in that they have from 1-6 star accommodation, and similar dining options. so you can pay for 2 star, and splash about in the 5 star pool area and no one cares.

our first day was pretty much spent by the pool as we tried to adjust to the heat of the desert. for dinner that night, we went to the backpackers pub and cooked some "buy your own" fish on the communal bbq while we listened to a one-man show (he had tracks to sign too. it was great!) the next day started out much the same, as we didn't have a tour booked until the afternoon. we chose to do tours and not climb the rock out of respect for the aboriginal cutlure- uluru is a sacred place to them and climbing it (as many do!) is rather disrespectful. for some reason people are still given the option to climb it, but we were told that this will stop mid-next year.

a bit of knowledge about uluru- it has a circumference of approx 9.4km (yes, km!) and is 348m high. it's 335km from the nearest city (i use that term kind of loosely here). it was formed, long story short here, by an old mountain range that collapsed in time. the stria on uluru sit at about 85 degrees, so the rock is almost technically side-lying. it's believed to be about 4-5km deep into the ground. and, little known fact here, it's not actually the world's largest monolith. that honour lies with mount augustus in WA (2.5 times bigger, actually). it's just that uluru is more spectacular because it literally is in the middle of nowhere and has no growth on it, so it really looks like a giant rock in the desert.

our first tour was the sunset tour of uluru (or ayer's rock as some people know it). our guide, who could have easily been a smooth-jazz dj, was a surprising wealth of knowledge. he managed to entertain our packed bus and educate us on the flora, fauna and general history around uluru. the sunset tour stops as the visitors centre where you get to spend an hour roaming around, learning about the indigenous culture and lifestyle, look at art, etc. we then drove around the other side and did 2 stops where our informative guide regaled us with stories of aboriginal culture and random bits of history. the tour ends at sunset, when the tour bus pulls into the "sunset viewing area" and we were given wine and munchies. amazingly enough, even though we felt like we'd been out there on our own all day, there were some 17 tour buses parked along with us. not to mention the dozens of cars in the "non-tour group" viewing areas. the colours really were spectacular as the sun set over uluru. it was easy to understand why it is an area of significant spiritual meaning to the aboriginal population.

the next day we *ugh* woke for the sunrise tour- 4:30am pick up. a bit rough really. again, our easy listening tour guide drove us around uluru to watch the sun rise above it. the colours are quite different then at sunset and i would probably chose sunset vs. sunrise for sheer awe, but that may be influenced by the 4am wake up call!

after the sun rose, we were escorted to kata tjuta, an equally impressive yet significantly less known rock formation only a short distance from uluru. kata tjuta (the olgas) is thought to have been formed at the same time as uluru but in a very different manner (i am not a geologist, so i will not try to explain the difference). we did a short walk into the olgas, trying not to be blown away by the intense desert wind that had come up. the tour ended before midday and we were taken back to the hotel.

that night we had the most amazing experience at the Sounds of Silence dinner. a truly unique event, we were taken by bus, at sunset, to an area between uluru and kata tjuta. the sun set over kata tjuta onto uluru. we were given champagne and appetizers and listened to a local play the didjeridoo. after the sun had set, we walked a few metres down to the dinner tables. large round tables in white table cloths peppered the area. we shared our table with 5 old norwegians- they were hilarious (and man! can they drink). for dinner we had a buffet of traditional australian fare (including crocodile ceasar salad and kangaro steaks) and for desert a whole plethora of deliciousness! as the sky got darker, an amateur astonomist gave us a tour of the night sky. he pointed out constellations we'd never seen before and spoke of aboriginal folklore. we were then encouraged to look through the telescopes to see jupiter (cool!) and the moon (also cool!). towards the end of the night, we put out all the lights on the tables and everyone sat quietly, listening to the (you guessed it) "sound of silence" in the desert. it truly was one of the most amazing experiences i've ever had.

the rest of our time at uluru was spent like this: laze by the pool, read, swim, laze, read, swim, drink, laze, swim, laze, drink, laze, laze, laze. when you are in the middle of nowhere (and i really mean that!) there really is nothing else to do but, well, laze. so we did.

it was a lovely way to end a great holiday with my parents. parting at the uluru airport wasn't easy, but we have good memories, lots of photos and the knowledge that i'll be in canada in july. i'll try to get photos up as soon as i can.

xo