Morning (and Linton's birthday!) came early today, really early, as our wake up call for 4:30 am roused us all into action. Well, sort of. As we wearily traipsed out to meet our tour in front of the hotel we were met by, I kid you not, Bruce - our tour guide. This guy was the real deal. With tattoos running the full length of both arms and gold hoops in both ears, Bruce could not have been more "Aussie" if we had designed him oursleves. To top it all off he was a friend of Steve Irwin, an expert in snakes, and had been adopted into several aboriginal families. If he couldn't teach us about Uluru then no one could. His tour partner and our driver was Fiona another friendly Aussie and together they would provide us with an excellent four hour exploration of the culture and history surrounding the area and its very famous rock.
After picking up some more people from the other resorts in the area, we made the short drive into the National Park and to an area that is reserved for tour groups to watch the sun rise over Uluru. One of big things to see is the change of colours on the rock as the sun rises or sets. We had chosen a sunrise, thinking the kids would be more into it, once they woke up. The day was slightly overcast and as a result the colours were not spectacular; however, I posted two pictures of virtually the same part of the rock taken minutes apart to show how the colours can change. When the sun does hit the rock it explodes into colour and with every change of angle there is a new hue.
We had breakfast along the side of the road with many other tours and tourists with all of us staring at this enormous rock. It's a fascinating picture when you realize how far people travel and how much money they spend just to stare at this big chunk of sandstone. As you can see, Allie really enjoyed the Corn Flakes, too! To give you an idea of its size, Uluru is 9.4 kms around the circumference, runs 5-6 kms deep into into the earth and would take four hours to walk around. It is 348 metres high and made of sandstone full of feldspar which gives it its red colour. The Anangu people treat the area as a sacred place and though it is not illegal to climb Uluru, there are many signs and appeals not to do so. The climb is weather dependent and looks quite scary as it is consistently steeper than 45 degrees. 35 people have died climbing Uluru over the years. There are also several places that you are asked not to photograph because of their sacred significance. Of course, some people couldn't resist.
The rock was "discovered" by whites in 1873 by a man named Gosse who named it after his wife's father - a Mr. Ayer. In fact the Anangu people have called this area home for thousands of years but only recently, 1985, was the rock and surrounding area handed back to the control of the aboriginal clans. As we walked around and listened to some of the stories about the Anangu and then watched some of the residents in places like Alice Springs, I began to understand how our cultures are so incompatible. These people live such simple lives tied so closely to the land. There is no hint of a need for things like money or material wealth. It looks and feels like poverty to me but I think there is happiness where I can't see it. It's no wonder they have been so profoundly affected by the irrepressible "progress" of the west. I have found new perspective for out inexcusable treatment of native Canadians.
After the sunrise stop we checked out the place where people start to climb the rock. Many years ago an enterprising Aussie who saw an opportunity to make a buck on tourism, jack hammered about 200 posts right into Uluru creating a sort of handrail up the face. Apparently he went up and down one post at a time and there are almost 200 posts! Even a younger man without kids, I would not have risked it. We then drove around the opposite side to check out a water hole and some ancient cave drawings. All were expertly explained by our trusty tour guide Bruce who mixed in several aboriginal stories and myths to help elaborate on the significance of the place. The boys did well despite the seeming lack of traditional amusements and it was neat to see them take in Bruce's stories of ancient serpents or monsters that could be found "living" on the rock. Then we were off to the cultural centre which furthers the explanation and ones understanding of the Anangu culture. Bruce told us about how they would hunt with spears and boomerangs as Linton and I kept our eyes open for an appealing piece of original art. It is everywhere and not to everyone's taste - but we had agreed to try and find a small original that might find its way back to Toronto. The trick was finding something under a thousand!
As we were making our way back to the hotel, Fiona pulled the bus over rather quickly so Bruce could rescue a thorny devil lizard sunbathing in the middle of the road. I don't know if he actually pulled it out of his pocket and I am sure they do it for all the tourists, but it was a nice touch especially for the kids who were the youngest on the tour by about 30 years. In fact, Bruce spent much of the tour talking to Colin and Alex and making sure they were having a good time. It was heart felt and appreciated and I tipped Bruce accordingly. It was an excellent tour.
The rest of the day we lounged by the pool, explored the town centre, had another swim in the pool of a neighbouring hotel and tried to catch up on lost sleep. For dinner we walked to a lookout to try and watch the sunset over Uluru but it was a tad overcast for anything spectacular. There was a fun family moment as Alex had us all playing a game of his own invention. Linton's second birthday dinner was another hotel where you could buy your own meat and cook it on the barbie. For the adults we bought two plates that included crocodile, emu, and kangaroo. We loved the croc, found the roo a bit tough and could not stomach the emu - but at least now we knew. This was a fun place that boasted of some real, live Aussie music but everyone was so tired we couldn't make the first song.
We walked back to our hotel along a sandy path in the dark and once again I was overcome with the feeling that today had made some memories that would last and shape us all, forever.
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