Ayers Rock Resort

Look at the landscape as we do and know that our ancestors are still here.

  This is the right place to learn about this story because it happened here at this place.

This is a place of great history.

  An important place.

Although we'd seen Uluru from a distance on the way in, we were excited about getting up close to the rock for the first time.  So we were up early this morning to join the ranger guided Mala Walk at 8am.

The park ranger took us along the base of the rock, stopping to tell the story of the mala (rufous hare-wallaby) people.  The ranger spoke a lot about traditional Anangu culture, Tjukurpa (traditional law), rock art and how the park is managed.  At a distance of just 2 kms it wasn't too strenuous, but it was very interesting and it took care of a couple of hours school work at the same time.  It was a good place to start, giving us a great insight into the indigenous culture and spiritual meaning of the rock.

 

The colours of the rock were magnificent 

Rock Art in the Boys' Cave

 

We were also introduced to the Men's Cave, the Kitchen Cave, the Old People's Cave and the sacred Kantju Gorge.

Bruce in the Surfing Cave

 

 The Rock Ape Cave

 

The weather was kind to us too.  Although it was a hot day, it was quite overcast and we managed to stay out of the sun most of the time.

 



Visitors are strongly discouraged from climbing Uluru.  I have to admit that climbing the rock had been one of the most anticipated parts of our trip.

 

 The Climb

 

The climb is closed for many reasons -

• if the win speed at the summit exceeds 25 knots
• if there's a greater than 20% chance of rain in the next three hours
• if more than 20% of the rock surface is wet from rain
• if there's a greater than 5% chance of a thunderstorm within the next three hours
• if cloud covers the summit
• if the temperature reaches 36 degrees or above
• if an emergency response is in progress
• if it is requested by the traditional owners for cultural reasons

Conditions really do have to be perfect for the climb to open.  Even  so, we may have been lucky had it not been for a recent protest at the rock.  Some numbskull had sabotaged the climb by cutting the safety chains, resulting in semi-permanent closure to the climb.

We headed back to camp where we spent the next couple of hours as the kids had been dying to get into the new Lego sets that they'd purchased in Alice Springs. 

The boys were fascinated with where the poo goes!

Later in the day we took the short drive into Yulara.  Surprisingly, Yulara has a resident community in excess of 1000 people and is the fourth largest city in the Northern Territory.  We did a bit of shopping and were pleasantly surprised at the range and prices of groceries and gifts.

We went to a Bush Yarn at the Circle of Sand.  Here we experienced an indigenous storyteller explaining Aboriginal history, culture and traditional techniques used on the land.  

Young Leon enlightened us on traditional weapons such as katji (hunting spears), tjutinpa (clubs), kali (boomerangs) and miru (spear thrower).

Bruce getting angry with the katji
 

On the way back to camp we received a message to say that Angela and Rob had arrived in town.  This news caused much excitement as we weren't expecting them until tomorrow.

Rob setting up his new roof-top tent

The boys cooling off in the Resort pool

 



Late in the afternoon we packed the esky and headed into the Uluru Kata Tjuta National Park to watch the sunset on the rock.



Corks were soon popping!

The colours were breath-taking

Happy Hour

 

Happy Days

We were joined by an albino dingo just after sundown. 

We were having so much fun that time just seemed to slip away.  Here we are having dinner back at our camp at 9.45pm.  Oh well, that's just how it rolls in the outback!