i've been meaning to get out to alice springs so that i can leapfrog myself to uluru (ayers rock), kata tjuta (the olgas) and kings canyon for over a year. that said, heading into the desert involves a bit of planning as the last thing i wanted to do was visit the above to spend copious amounts of time outdoors when it's 45+ degrees outside!! the ANZAC day long weekend afforded reasonable weather and reasonably priced return flights to melbourne so i booked and off i went!! :-)
i arrived in alice springs late morning and spend the afternoon at the pool, lapping up a half day of relaxation before my three day tour. i was picked up at 6am on friday morning and the four of us on the tour headed off towards uluru in a landcruiser. it's a 6hr drive so we arrived at our camping spot for the evening around lunch time and then headed over to 'the rock'.
uluru is 348m in height about approximately 9.1m in circumference. geologists believe that approximately one third of 'the rock' is actually above the earth's surface. they speculate that it continues between 500m and 2km further into the earth which is enormous considering it's one single rock!! according to aboriginal legend, uluru was formed by two aboriginal boys who, while waiting for their elders, found a puddle and made mud cakes. they waited so long that they were finally atop of a massive rock so they slid down the rock, creating grooves and markings by their butts and fingers!!
'the rock' was open for climbing (not too hot and no issues from an aboriginal perspective) however i refrained from climbing, opting instead to walk around the circumference and take photos. it was hot and somewhat unpleasant walk as there are heaps of flies and the sun was burning down upon me for 2.5hrs but i got some nice photos. the sun was starting to set so headed off to the viewing area to watch the sun set on 'the rock'. i was amazed at how drastically the colour changes as the sun sets.... it ranges from a yellow to terracotta to a bright red and then to a purple within minutes!! cameras needed to be at the ready (while also enjoying our champagne, biscuits and cheese :-)
we headed back to our campsite, cooked dinner over an open fire and then snuggled into our 'swags' for the night. (a swag is a personal canvas sleeping compartment. it was a mattress on the bottom and you put yourself, your pillow and your sleeping bag inside and snuggle up near the fire and look at the stars!! a fantastic new experience for me!! :-)
we were up at 5am the next morning, packed up and headed over to watch the sunrise on the kata tjuta and over uluru. we then hiked around the olgas, checking out the 36 small humps all collected together only kilometers from uluru. kata tjuta is taller than uluru however it doesn't have quite the same presence as uluru. that said, we had a fabulous hike through the valleys and crevices, saw some wild camel (there are between 500,000 and one million wild camels in australia). we headed into the landcruiser towards lunch, a quick dip in the pool and then off to our campsite for the night.
another dinner over an open fire, a night in a swag and then up at 5am (yes, these are my holidays!!) to drive over to kings canyon to watch the sunrise. the canyons were absolutely breathtaking (my favourite of the three main attractions) and we had a fabulous hike through with too many photo opportunities to even mention!! from there, we headed back towards alice springs, stopping to check out mt. connor (resembles uluru but it's actually a mountain, not a rock), a salt lake and some beautiful terracotta coloured sands en route. truly, the scenery during the entire three days was beyond words... it's just so completely different than anything that we're accustom to seeing!!
i had a lovely shower and headed out for dinner, a bit of drinking/dancing and then off to bed, exhausted from all of the early mornings!! i'm actually looking forward to going back to work so that i can sleep in!!
big hugs to all and i'll post some pictures next week for your viewing pleasure!!
s
p.s. ANZAC day is a memorial day for those that served during WWI and WWII (similar to november 11 in canada). in memory of their war heroes, a song was written called "waltzing mathilda" which made me misty eyed when you listen to the acoustic version: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GPFjToKuZQM
