Part 2, Week 21: June 10-16
- Katie and Webster
- Jun 16, 2019
- 8 min read
This week we adventured through the Australian Outback! On Monday we woke up bright and early and checked out of our 10 week AirBnB. We made sure we had everything and headed to the airport. We flew directly from Sydney to Ayers Rock (Uluru) in the Northern Territory. When we were landing all we could see was red! Red sand dunes, lots of shrubs and desert grass. We were literally in the middle of nowhere! The pilot was very kind and took his time coming in so we could all see Uluru from above, I can’t describe how HUGE the rock is. Once we got off the plane the desert heat hit us, it was a beautiful 30 degrees, not a cloud in the sky. We quickly grabbed our bags and headed to the resort shuttle. There are 4 hotels, a grocery store, and some restaurants 20 km from Uluru National Park making up Ayers Rock Resort. We stayed in the Sails of the Desert hotel which was right beside the resort town square. We checked into our hotel and headed to the grocery store for some food and snacks. We had read online that the prices were to be as expected, expensive, but we were pleasantly surprised that some things were even cheaper than in Sydney. We were able to get some groceries for $20, and lunch for $15 a person.
In the evening we headed into the National Park to watch the sunset. Since it was a hotter day the bugs were out in full force. The flies at the resort and in the national park were absolutely ridiculous. We were covered in minutes! We decided we should invest in two bug nets to make our few days a bit more enjoyable. We went to the most famous sunset spot, where all the postcard photos are taken from, and enjoyed some appetizers while the sun went down. We were told the rock changes colour every 3 minutes leading up to sunset (and very prominent in the photos below!). It was spectacular to see the rock and the sky change colours hundreds of times in an hour. On the way back to the resort, our tour guide Jason told us about the cultural significance of the rock. He really encouraged us not to climb it, and learn as much as we could about the Anangu people (indigenous) while were there. The Anangu have been living at Uluru for more than 35,000 years according to artifacts and bones found in the sand. Their group is older than the Aztecs, Egyptians and many other ancient cultures. Uluru started forming 550 million years ago and some say that it stretches 2-5 km underground. Uluru is surrounded by lush greenery, watering holes and therefore animals. You can imagine the rock and the people who rely on Uluru for survival regard it as a very sacred place.
On Tuesday, we enjoyed a little sleep in before heading to a men’s bush tools demonstration. We heard from an Anangu man, Leon, about the tools his ancestors used hunt in the red centre. It was really informative and Webster loved it!
In the afternoon we went back to the National Park but to the other rock formation, Kata Tjuta. Kata Tjuta is 30 km from Uluru and is made up of many dome like rocks. Since it is a sacred place, no geological testing can be done, but mining companies believe that the two rock formations are connected for many kilometres below the surface. Kata Tjuta is a sacred site for men in the Anangu culture. They go to Kata Tjuta for ceremonies and teachings to become men. The road system designed throughout the park ensures that the angle of the road is never facing Kata Tjuta, so Anagu women never see it. It is so sacred that they keep it exclusively for men’s use. We hiked the gorge between the tallest dome (Mount Olga) and the smaller dome beside it. It was beautiful, very hot, and full of flies (see backpack picture below). Webster was carrying our backpack and it had more than 100 flies on it once we reached the lookout point. We took every opportunity to take photos and soak up the “redness” of the rock formations.
Once we got back from our hike we had a little rest before heading back out to the park to view an art display. The Field of Light was designed by a British artist and featured more than 50,000 flower like bulbs on display in front of Uluru. We watched the sunset from a great vantage point and then headed down the sand dunes into the display to look around. It was beautiful walking through the display. We took lots of photos!
On Wednesday we had a very early morning! We woke up at 5:15 for our prompt pickup to watch the sunrise and go for a Segway! We got onto a bus with a full kitchen in tow and headed into the park for the sunrise. The crew made us breakfast and took lots of photos for us. Then we packed up and headed to the base for some Segway training. They had set up a course for us to practice. Thankfully Webster and I went on a Segway tour last summer in Genoa, Italy so we were able to hop on fairly quickly. After our training we began our journey around the base of Uluru. The entire base track is just over 10km and took us about 3 hours with some picture stops. It was another beautiful day which meant the flies were out in full force! We were very thankful for our bug nets. We stopped at both men’s and women’s sacred sites, saw cave paintings and Segway’d by the part of the rock damaged due to climbing. Again, our guide reinforced his hope for us not to climb. He said it was a sacred place for indigenous people that is still actively used today for ceremonies and food collection. He also said that 42 people have died climbing the rock, meaning it isn’t too safe. Additionally, it isn’t environmentally responsible. The rock has significant damage where the climbers go up and those who make it to the top have nowhere to use the bathroom, so they end up squatting where they can. This runoff ruins the water supply for local people and animals. Nevertheless there were still 1000 people who climbed the rock this week, 20% of those who visit Uluru. The climb will officially close on October 26, 2019. After completing the entire base track and learning more about Anangu people, we arrived back at the start and had some time to play on the Segway’s before heading back to the resort for lunch.
In the early afternoon we headed on one last tour. We boarded a coach that headed to the Uluru cultural centre and along the base for a short walk to some sacred sites. We were lucky enough to have the same guide again, Jason was our guide and driver. He was so good that we wrote a TripAdvisor review about him! The cultural centre was very informative with lots of stories about the indigenous people and their past. We weren’t allowed to take any photos in the centre but we did watch some Anagu women painting indigenous art as they would in the caves. After the cultural centre, we headed back to the Uluru base for a tour of the most sacred watering holes and to hear stories told to explain the rock formations.
After our time at the rock, we headed to the sunset spot once more for our last chance to see the rock! We watched the sun go down on a perfectly clear sky. We wanted to see just how many colours the sky changed during the sunset so we filmed a time lapse for thirty minutes or so. We enjoyed some appetizers and headed back to the resort for a well deserved rest! On our way home we saw a wild dingo running along the road - we can confirm the dingo did not have anyone’s baby! Once we got back we had dinner in town square, we enjoyed some Asian food from Ayres Wok...clever eh!
On Thursday morning we had a pretty early check out before our afternoon flight so we headed to town square for a women’s tool demonstration. We learned about the tools used in the bush to find seeds, fruit and even grubs. We also learned about the traditional song and instruments used in ceremonies.
Then just before lunch we headed to the Uluru camel farm. It was right at the resort and free transportation was offered from our hotel. Although not native, after being introduced 80 years ago, camels now roam wild in the Australian Outback. They move very slowly and aren’t spooked by cars. Camels near Uluru are often spotted on the road side enjoying some desert grass. Webster was very excited to ride a camel. He hopped on, along with many others of all ages, for a short ride around the camel farm! It was a neat way to end our trip.
We really enjoyed our time in the outback and highly recommend adding it to your bucket list! It is very different from every other part of Australia that we have been too, and we didn’t even see one scary bug!
Some tips for those wanting to go to Ayers Rock:
-Book your flights directly into Ayers Rock airport. There are daily direct flights from most Australian airports.
-Food isn’t as expensive as we predicted - pack some snacks but it’s affordable to buy stuff out there.
-All the water is reverse osmosis, don’t waste money on bottled water.
-Buy a fly net at the dollar store, don’t buy one at the rock and pay the inflated prices.
-Consider the cost savings of a car rental if you’re more than a couple, tours cost between $50-170 per person but gas is $3/L.
-Keep in mind that there are no taxis, Uber’s or public transport. All transportation needs to be booked with a tour (unless you rent a car)
We spent our afternoon flying back to Sydney from Ayers Rock. It was a 3.5 hour direct flight. We got lucky and were upgraded to an exit row - yay! Once we landed we picked up our bags and headed back into the city. We are only in Sydney for 2 more weeks and decided to go back to the first AirBnB we stayed at in February/March. We arrived and got all settled in after our long travel day. We picked up some groceries from the store across the road and watched some Netflix before heading to bed.
On Friday we woke up bright and early head into Cheers to watch the Raptors in Game 6 with Marshall. We enjoyed our Canadian poutine and shared lots of photos from our little getaway. When the Raptors won the entire pub started to sing O'Canada - it was so neat!
In the evening we headed down to Circular Quay to see Vivid one last time. We went to the iconic spots the Sydney Opera House and the Harbour Bridge. It was wonderful to see it all lit up one last time before it goes back to normal next week.
Saturday and Sunday flew by very quickly. We filled our days with studying. The next two weeks are going to be filled with exams so we are getting as prepared as possible. We went out for dinner on Sunday night at Spice Alley after a long day of studying. Since it was our last time eating there, we made the most of it and really enjoyed our meal.
This week we don't have too much planned other than studying. Webster has his first exam on Thursday and I have my first one on Saturday. We have 5 things left on our Sydney to do list so we are hoping to cross them all off this week! Our countdown until Asia begins now...only 11 days until we land in Bali!
Comments