My short visit in Australia in 2008 would not have been complete if I wouldn’t have visited Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park. So from tropical Cairns, we flew to desert-like Alice Springs. We arrived there at exactly the right time because that day there would be a procession including marching bands which started and ended at our hotel “Todd Tavern”. The whole town was out to celebrate so that was a great welcome and a fantastic introduction.

Alice Springs

I didn’t have more time to explore Alice Springs. I did notice that there are more aboriginals in Alice Springs than in Cairns and Sydney.

Our tour guide would tell us a fun fact the next day at the start of our three day Uluru Safari (this was booked through the same tour company as the trip to Cape Tribulation: Australia Adventure Tours), namely that Alice Springs is home to one of the only river races in the world that will be cancelled if there is any rain. The river race is only hosted when the riverbeds are dry, which is most of the year.

Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park

The first day of the tour we were picked up at the hotel at 6am in the morning because it would be a 6+ hour bus ride to Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park.

On the way we made a few stops, one of which at a camel farm; a very unlikely place in Australia or so I thought but Australia is actually full of camels. So full in fact that landowners can kill them when they are walking on their land. They eat all the food that the indigenous animals eat (and kangaroos are more picky than camels) so they mess up the Australian wildlife. The camel farm was nice, but the highlight was the sweet dingo who was eagerly rolling on his back to be petted.

Kata Tjuta
That same day we would hike up Kata Tjuta (also known as The Olgas). It was 39 degrees Celsius which meant it was 1 degree under the maximum heat limit for climbing the rocks. The views across the landscape were beautiful, but at that moment in time I didn’t fully appreciate it. The 3 hour hike after the long drive took all the energy I would normally use for enjoying things. Now I can enjoy the photos though.

This was a very steep climb with nowhere to hold yourself. I’m an awkward walker as you may have read in my story about the Great Wall of China, this particular climb was even more tricky because I was wearing Converse with virtually no grip. Great travel planning.

Uluru
In the same day we made our way to a viewing point to watch Uluru (also known as Ayers Rock) by sunset. The following morning we would watch Uluru during the sunrise from a different vantage point. This means under difficult circumstances I had to watch the rusty rock twice and I wasn’t appreciating it at all at the time. We were wiped out after a full day of activities, not to mention the fact we slept in tents the first night of the tour; getting up at 4:15 am just to watch Uluru change colour was not the first thing on my mind. Seeing the pictures now makes me wish I would’ve appreciated it more then.

Sunset

Sunrise

The tour never stops.. So after watching the sunrise we also had to walk all around Uluru. It’s 9.4 km, so it took me around 4 hours. The first part of the tour was guided, so our tour guide informed us of the natural phenomenon that have occurred to this rusty old rock (the reason the sand is orange is because of rust). Uluru is sacred to the aboriginals in the area, but they did not share why exactly it is sacred for them so we not much was said during the tour about this. Nevertheless, the history part is very interesting. At the time I was not excited about walking all around it because I just didn’t see the added benefit. I was young and naive. Now I would’ve enjoyed something like this so much more.

There was also an option to climb Uluru but every tourist is strongly advised against it. This rock is very sacred to the Aboriginals, and they do not want people to get hurt or die (which happens surprisingly often) on their sacred place.

How impressive does this rock look? It looks exactly like a breaking wave. The reason the rock has been deformed like this is because of the sand and wind beating against it.

This rock art is thought to be more than 5,000 years old.

That wrapped up the second day. We stayed in a different camp where we could actually see a much more beautiful sunset than the one at Uluru and we had our first Outback barbecue (just beef not kangaroo).

Lake Amadeus (Salt Lake)
Lake Amadeus (Salt Lake) on the way to our camp.