5am
alarm is not my friend but it did mean my trip to Uluru, or it's more common
name Ayers Rock, was about to begin! The tour I've ended up going with is
called Emu Run tours and they picked me up outside my hostel (Alice Lodge
backpackers) at about 5.45am! I chose this tour because everything was included
in one price, even my airport transfers and my hostel at either end, meaning I
didn't need to sort or pay for anything else whilst I'm here.
We
drove for about an hour until we reached Stuarts Well, you could ride camels if
you wanted but there were other animals to look at too. Did you know the first
camel was imported here from the Canary Islands in 1840 by a man named Horrick.
After another hour of driving we stopped at Mt Ebenzer Roadhouse which is owned
by the Aboriginal community and has an art gallery filled with one off
paintings and wood carvings, for most people it was just another stop for good!
After about another hour we pulled over and in the distance you can see Mt
Connor, which was pretty cool! Everything is very flat and it's just a lot of
nothing then these big mountains appear from no where, it's crazy! I then
walked up a small hill and on the other side were salt flats, it was weird to
see because literally everything else is a red/orange colour and obviously they
aren't.
Finally
at our last longish drive on the bus for the day! We went to camp to eat lunch
before heading out to the big rock. Before we went there we stopped in the
Cultural Centre. I watched a short documentary about the aboriginals and people
visiting the rock. Did you know that 44 people (mostly Germans) have died
climbing the rock! Then a further few hundred people have died after because of
heat stroke and organ failure... Crazy! You can still climb it (which I didn't
think you could) but it is disrespectful to the Aboriginal people. The climb
was closed for us because of the heat, 38degrees if you're wondering, which is
2 degrees off the entire walk around the base being closed too!
We were
then dropped off and told our walk was going to be about 5.5k around probably a
third of the base. The rules 'Always carry water, always drink water and you'll
be sure to survive here.' Got it, 1,5litres to be consumed in the next hour or
two. I always try and drink loads anyway because I am prone to a bit of
heatstroke. Yesterday in Alice I purchased a sexy fly net so along with that
and my free Canyon Swing hat, I was rocking the part of backpacker outback
adventurer! That fly net was my savior, apparently the flies are just trying to
get moisture from you because it's so humid and hot out here they're just
thirsty like the rest of us.
The
walk was flat so quite easy to do, battling the heat wasn't fun but there was a
good wind, plenty of rest stops and shade to make it through. There were
certain points you weren't allowed to take photos because they're sacred spots.
It was pretty cool even if it is just a big rock.
We were
back at the bus about 4 and made our way back to camp. For dinner we had
chicken stir fry cooked on a BBQ... It was all pre-cooked so it was actually
just heating it up, less weird. We then made our way back to Uluru for sunset.
The further the sun set, the darker the rock got from this bright orange in the
day to a really dark brown at night, it was impressive to see it change like
that.
Back at
camp we were given some nibbles and bubbly, which didn't taste nice and told to
make up our beds. We slept in swags, which is basically a bag with a mattress
in, as well as a sleeping bag and pillow. That was it. Just us and the stars
tonight!
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