The Red Centre - Day 2 - Wonders of Uluru

Dark and early, we were up and about at 5.30am with a quick knock on our tent doors. Half in hour to wake up, brush up, wash up and be at the breakfast table. Each one of us coming to our senses in our own way. Now as I am clearly not an early morning person, as most of you can vouch for, trying to converse with strangers was tough but not as tough as managing to keep yourself warm. It was bloody 3 degrees and dark! With a 25 min ride to the spot, I was all prepared to take a short nap in the car, but man was I wrong. The minute we started driving the darkness just seemed to dissolve into dawn which gave a most spectacular view of the desert which looked even better as I got to drive up front, which of course was because it was cold and had nothing to do with the fact that our tour guide was cute.

So with eyes wide open and huddled with 4 layers we finally got to the sunrise point for Ayers Rock. This is where I had to eat my words from last night, yes it wasn't good at the time but boy oh boy, I certainly now know why the sunrises are so popular. It was a matter of a few minutes, we barely managed to find the perfect spot to take pictures from and the colour just kept changing. Wish I could show the actual change and upload all but do have a look at flickr and you will see what I mean by the change on the rock and the trees ahead of it. It was definitely a site to behold. we took as many pictures as we could and stood there for a bit just soaking in the site we were now upon.

About 20mins later we made our way back to the car and headed for the cultural centre. It is a cute little tourist stop and a must visit as it gives you an insight into the Aboriginal way of life. After everything that has been heard about how they were treated it was good to finally see some appreciation for their culture. The stories on the walls and the little bit of industry they earn from the shop just made me feel like I needed to know more about what this land and its people have been through and so decided to make a conscious effort to understand them. A little bit of history on the rock and its being.

The notes of the Uluru National Park explain that in the beginning the world was unformed and featureless. Ancestral beings emerged from this void and journeyed widely, creating all the living species and the characteristic features of the desert landscape you see today. Uluru and Kata Tjuta provide physical evidence of feats performed during the creation period. Anangu are the direct descendants of these beings and are responsible for the protection and appropriate management of these ancestral lands.

I hope you already know but it is completely against their tradition and culture to climb the rock, so please even if some unknown reason the government still allows you to, do not climb it.

A cup of coffee later we made our way back to Ayers Rock and this time to get a closer look and walk all round it. It may appear to many as, well a big rock in the middle of nothing, which it is, but when you get close and walk around it and can see the different formations on its surface, it does become glaringly clear that this sandstone formation standing 348m high and almost vertical is the world's largest monolith. the paintings that you can see in certain parts and cave like formations bring the guides stories to life and you can see how the Anangu people would have lived thousands of years ago. Completing half the walk and an extended bit with Shane (our guide)explaining certain parts to us, we all returned with goose bumps and a new found respect for how old our planet really is.

Okay so enough of the serious talks, we had to get back to camp site, eat and be on our way to Kings Canyon, a good 6 hour drive away. There was a good photo opportunity along the way at Mt Conner - referred to as the tooth brush and Lake Amadeus - a massive salt lake just off the Lasseter Highway. Other than that we managed to survive the long drive with some good music, books and a lot of sleep :) Touch down at the camp site was a welcome relief for all and we even managed to make it in time to catch Kings Canyon in the sunset. The camp site was great and quainter than the last one. We had collect wood for our fire (another pit stop along the way) and got cracking with exploring the area and settling in.

This night being the second and all of us a lot more relaxed around each other, called for some fun times. We picked a game post dinner to keep ourselves entertained and charades was the popular choice. There is nothing more I can say but that we could not stop laughing for about 3 hours and finished all the wine we had left, which is to say it was night to remember. Finally when the wine got the better of us we retired to our tents. I decided this would be night I would sleep outside in a 'swag'. It wasn't as cold as last night and well it would be something new I would have tried. As promised it was warm and beautiful. The main force driving me to sleep outside, contrary to popular belief, was not the cute tour guide but was to watch the sky, the most beautiful I have seen since New Zealand, in the hope of catching a falling star. But as they say when you look for one you won't see it and even though there is meant to be one every hour, I have yet to see a shooting star!