Day 14 – Uluru (camping at Yulara)
Today started very early for us with the alarm going off at 5:30am, that was a rude awakening!! Up we got and stumbled into the car, we were going to make the pilgrimage to Uluru to see the sunrise. The kids were all quiet in the back, I like to think this is because they were in awe about what they were about to see but the reality is I think they were thinking about their beds.
The pilgrimage is made with 100’s of others they come by coach, car and hire car. We waited quietly in the pre-dawn light and watched the colours of the sky slowly change and the Olga’s become more visible. As the sun rose, because of the shape of Uluru you soon began to see the different colours as well as the shadows from the gullies and crevices. I just kept taking photos along with everybody else!! It was a pretty magnificent spectacle. I really enjoyed watching the sky change colour around Uluru, almost like it was competing for attention as everyone was focussed on the rock.
After sunrise we huddled in the car and ate breakfast, did I mention that is was cold and very very windy whilst we were watching the sun rise? Poor kids I think they are now convinced that their mum has lost the plot. At the cheery time of 8am we joined a free guided tour – Mala Walk. This went for about two hours and was really informative. We learnt about how Uluru was formed, the type of rock it is – sedimentary sandstone, why it is red and lots of other useful facts.
The kids also got their first look at Aboriginal rock paintings and learnt some interesting
Aboriginal Dreamtime stories. Slowly the day was warming up and out came the flies.
After morning tea we got changed into shorts and headed off on another walk – despite numerous requests to inform the family of how far we were going I kept quiet!! I also handed over the children their camera’s for the walk so that they could be responsible for them and take their own photos. Callum promptly gave his back announcing “that he just couldn’t be that responsible could I please carry it and he wasn’t going to take any photos” we just fell apart with laughter, it was such a Callum comment and a very true statement. I carried his camera and he took lots of photos.
The walk was awesome. It is not every day that I get to walk somewhere and every time I turn around I want to take a photo, every curve in the track lead to another spot where the light was just right, the colours just beautiful and the shape of the rock or waterfalls breathe taking.
We have been privileged also to see Uluru after so much rain which has meant that the land around Uluru is green and alive with flowers and growth, there was even water in a couple of Billabongs around the base of the rock and evidence of where flood activity had taken place. Uluru itself has trees and shrubs growing in cracks, crevices and what look like water holes up in the rock face – I didn’t expect this. There are many spots where you can just imagine the water cascading down the face of the rock if/when it rains again.
We returned to the car and after many pleas I told the family they had walked 6km’s today – I think they all collapsed in exhaustion!! I felt exhilarated!!
Back at the campsite we spent a lazy afternoon riding bikes, resting and swimming – it is warm here and the kids have appreciated the pool.
I’m also surprised by the large number of school groups on tour, yesterday we spoke to a couple of teachers who were here with a group of 160 year 10 students from a High School in Melbourne – oh my gosh – they were day 5 into a 14 day Top End excursion!! Having so many adolescents around was an experience for the kids – Claudia was most fascinated by the behaviours of the adolescent girls – each time she went to the bathroom she was confronted by strange and unusual behaviour – make up application, the use of hairdryers and on one occasion leg shaving in the sink….poor Claudia. She did announce today though that the “adolescent children took just too long in the showers, they were in there forever!!” I told her that when she was older she too would probably spend longer in the shower and I would yell at her to get out, she declared “no way mumma, its silly”
The kids tumbled into bed early and tired, that nice tired you get when you have had an active energetic day…..
Fabulous!!!!!!!
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