Uluru at last

 

Thursday 25/2/21

 

We did not go on our sunrise tour today but instead of sleeping in, Paul decided he had to let the bus people know we were not joining them. This meant getting up before 5am and letting them know. Kind of defeating the purpose??

Anyway the alarm was set incorrectly and we sleep right through the 5am start.  As we find out later, they only wait 5 minutes for stragglers  before leaving so no one was inconvenienced. Relief..

I decline an early morning swim in the cold pool unlike Paul. Breakfast in the hotel is good but pricey.

To explain,  the Ayers Rock resort is huge with 5 different hotels/accommodation on it, all at various price points. We are staying at Sails resort which is one of only two open at the moment due to low bookings (COVID, global pandemic). It is at the high end.

In the middle of Ayers Rock resort is a town square with shops, IGA, and coffee shops which do breakfast and lunches.  There is also a medical centre where both Paul and i were treated: me for my sprained little finger/ankle/bruises and Paul to have the stich on his skin cancer removed. That was supposed to be my job but I was happy to leave it to the professionals.

 

After all the stress of our arrival yesterday and my fall, I forgot that Paul had left his glasses behind on the bus from Alice Springs. Yes the second time this trip. He realised as soon as we got to our room at Sails. He rushed back quickly to the bus but it had left. A few phone calls and enormous distress later, the glasses were to be returned on our next bus tour later that day.

Again a man bag idea was mooted but still no way.

We both had a swim in the beautiful pool and had lunch at the town square.

There are a couple of cafes at the town centre including one run as a training café for local indigenous youth.   It is good to see something positive.  There are quite a few indigenous people employed here unlike in Alice Springs where there appeared to be few if any. 

And then finally after 1.5 days, it was time for our “Uluru Sacred  Sights and Sunset tour and also BBQ dinner tour”

 

It left at 3 in the afternoon and stopped at the Uluru-Kata Tjuta Cultural Centre for a look at local paintwork and stories. We bought a painting which I really loved. Probably should have taken a photo but you will just have to see it once it is framed.

Another reason to stop here was to use the amenities as there none on our Uluru tour.  (And bus toilet not available due to COVID, global pandemic etc etc).

Taking photos was not allowed in the centre or surrounds.

We drove around the base of Uluru only taking photos at some points as others were sacred sites and not to be photographed. It was amazing and I am only including some of the photos.

                                                                                                             

And then we actually did a walk around the base and a walk to Mutitjulu Waterhole to look at caves and rock paintings.

Photos around the waterhole and caves

cave entrance

 aborignal rock art

 the waterhole

 us with the waterhole behind us

                                                                             

There is one point where you are allowed to touch the rock and even sit on it. it was very slippery so i just touched it.  It is hard to imagine how people climbed the rock.  For cultural as well as safety reasons.

We also sat on the bench on which Princess Diana and Prince Charles had sat as well as where Meagan and Harry (not royals!) had sat.  

After this we went to our viewing of sunset over Uluru with wine and nibblies of course. We were advised to start taking photos just before sunset and then take them at 1 minute intervals to see the changes in colour. I did but am not going to include them all here.

Just a few. The colours were great. Note the blue right on the horizon as sunset passes. It is the Namatjira blue they kept telling us about. Beautiful.

We then went back to BBQ area for a really great meal under the stars with very few lights  We then had a star viewing of which i have no photos whatsoever as my phone battery had run out. Paul may have taken some. 

I needed an escort to the amenities block as it was in complete darkness after a 30 minute timer on the light had run out. Lucky for the person caught there in the dark, we arrived to turn on the light. The outback is fun.

It has been a wonderful day and finally we had a good look at Uluru. So much more spectacular than we imagined. And we heard stories we had never heard before. How could we not have known about the aboriginal history of our country. Tragic on many levels.