Mon 2nd June – Day 25: Uluru

Up early to climb that same sand dune where I sat in the pitch black to watch the dawn creep over the horizon. Huddled in my chair, it was soooo peaceful to be the only person as the light crept over the horizon turning the whispy clouds bright pink as the shape of the rock emerged from the darkness. The rest of the family joined me as the first rays bounced onto the landscape and a new day had begun.
Breakfast out of the way we hurried out to Uluru - Kata Tjuta National Park an area over 311,000 acres and comprising two main significant sites:
1. Uluru (sometimes called Ayers Rock) - one of the largest monoliths in the world. Made of arkosic sandstone, Uluru rises 348m above the desert floor and has a circumference of 9.4km.
2. Kata Tjuta, known also as The Olgas lies about 30km west of Uluru. Kata Tjuta is the Aboriginal name, which means "many heads'. It is a group of more than 30 rounded red domes rising from the desert floor. The tallest is said to be around 546m high.
First stop a visit to the cultural centre, which explains the intricate spiritual relationship of the traditional Ananu people and this area. Both sites feature in their stories about how the world formed, and were important in both ceremony and survival. Rain runs off Uluru and Kata Tjuta forming massive storage gorges and also flowing northwards underground to the bore fields at Lake Amadeus where water is still harvested today.
The 2km ‘Mala’ walk around some of Uluru’s massive base was next. Our National Parks Guide showed us ancient caves, aboriginal rock art and may edible native plants. We had then planned to climb to the summit (despite the local people not wanting us to!), but unfortunately it was closed due to high winds so we did another 0.5km walk to Mutijulu gorge which still had a small amount of water in it – there was evidence of wild camels, dingo’s and kangaroo activity with some footprints and dung scattered around.
Back at camp we got the school work out of the way and spent the afternoon on domestic chores (washing, showers etc). By 4pm we found the rock was open so we raced out to climb it. There was hardly anyone there, the clouds had come over as we set off up the steep initial slope to the start of the chain. Toby our resident ‘billy goat’ bounded up like it was a Sunday afternoon stroll. Chloe needed further convincing and was certain she would fall – threatening to back down at many stages of the climb. Pete was gasping for breath half-way up and sank to his knees vowing to ‘get fit’. We left him behind and continued onwards to find him trailing us further on. At the summit Chloe and Toby let out and almighty scream of triumph and I knew we had done the right thing by attempting the climb. We were the last people off that day and climbing back down the chain in the fading light was a most exhilarating experience.
Voyages Ayers Rock Resort (Powered $43.50)