After a 3am start to get to the airport for a 5am lift off to Uluru, we left the coastal humidity of Brisbane and flew into Australia’s heart – the Red Centre.
Peering down onto the scrubby outback and gouged channel country from 35,000 feet we flew over flooded Lake Eyre and sparkling salt pans until as the mid-day sun was reaching its zenith the soil color changed from a bleached grey to rusty red, and… a tantalising first fleeting glimpse of Uluru came into view as we circled to land.
“There it is! There it is!” And with the excitement and anticipation of seeing a long lost friend – I beamed with delight.
There aren’t many iconic places you go to in your life, which prior to your visit, you’ve been bombarded with a gazillion images forming impressions and expectations. Such places have a lot to live up to – Could Uluru live up to my high hopes?
While it was summer, it was a comfortable 80-90 degrees throughout our visit in the National Park. To visit, you have many options: camping, budget hotels and a variety of hotels. The one think you realize quickly are the flies. Flies are everywhere. The moment you are outside they want to be with you and your humidity. They don’t attack, they don’t hurt, they are just annoying. One morning when I run, my back was almost covered with flies just going along for the ride. Since it was fairly windy and mild throughout our stay, we didn’t have to buy a fly net that covers your head completely. We just opted for a hat and bandana and were good to.
Luckily, the flies mostly stay out of the room and hotel. We didn’t have to deal with them during meals which was a huge benefit.
Back to Uluru.
Once you’re in your accommodation, you have many options to visit the National Park and they are super expensive. All of them. The cheapest one is just buying a bus fare plus park ticket and it will run you $85. Ouch. We opted for the sunset tour, including Kata Tjuta and ‘nibbles’ plus wine.
Kata Tjuta, sometimes written Tjuṯa (Kata Joota), and also known as Mount Olga (or colloquially as The Olgas), are a group of large domed rock formations.
Kata Tjuta is a Pitjantjatjara Aboriginal tribe word meaning ‘many heads’. There are many Pitjantjatjara legends associated with Kata Tjuta. One legend tells the story of the great snake king Wanambi who is said to live on the summit of Mount Olga and only come down during the dry season. Kata Tjuta is a sacred site for men in the Anangu Aboriginal culture and many of the legends surrounding the site are kept secret.
The Walpa Gorge walk is an easy stroll for less than a mile, a gazillions of flies waiting for you.
On to the main event.
Standing there with nibble and a glass of wine, many people started chatting away. I mostly just stood there and looked at the monolith. While the viewing conditions weren’t optimal due to cloud cover, we were still able to experience the perpetually changes of light and colors throughout the sunset.
One of those experiences you dreamt about all your life, always imagining how it would be.
You take pictures every other minute to capture the changing light and to find a way to experience the moment over and over again. And, deep inside you know that it will take time for the moment to really sink in.
You are in the middle of nowhere to look at a monolith that was turned 90 degrees millions of years, spreading downwards for 5 kilometers.
The vastness of the universe.
The little specks that we are.
Our inconsequential being in the big scheme of everything. And you feel the moment sinking in.
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