"Walking through the high dry grass
Pushing my way through slow
Yellow belly black snake sleeping on a red rock
Waiting for the stranger to go...."
The opening to the iconic Midnight Oil track, "King of the Mountain" had always conjured up vivid images for me of the Australian outback, a landscape which we'd dipped our little toe into over decades of motorbike trips to dusty, country towns on the edge of the outback. We'd been keen to venture to the "red centre" for the vast majority of that time as well, but time and logistics and lack of real will were all against us!
I suppose like a lot of people, we'd prioritised overseas adventure for our "big" holidays and when we lived in Asia for so long, we were also drawn to the relatively short flight to Europe for our Christmas breaks. Suffice to say, we'd neglected some classic Aussie rights of passage, but we're slowly making up for it, starting with our circumnavigation of Tassie late last year and our travel to Uluru just last week!
We'd opted to travel independently, so we hired a car for the duration of our five days. Picking up our brand new hybrid Camry at Uluru Airport, we found it not as luxuriously appointed as the Merc, but perfectly comfortable and zippy. We caught an initial glimpse of the rock on the way to the hotel and it was an electric thrill to see such a well known landmark in real life. After settling in to our very slick digs at "Sails in the Desert" we went out in the car to the sunset viewing carpark inside the Uluru National Park, using our Parks Pass for the first of many times.
The desert in the foreground was blooming from recent rain and the tufted grass was almost azure with splashes of purple wildflowers dotting the canvas of green plants and cherry red soil. The rock itself was a sleeping giant of pink and red contours, craggy ridges reflecting the light and blood red gullies folded into the curves of the rock at once wonderous yet foreboding. It was just so huge! Time and again in the next few days we marvelled at its change of character and colour and light, but also its impossibly immense, sheer bulk.
The hotel on extensive grounds that were curated and watered to provide an oasis in the desert was very comfortable, but the main eating option was the on-site restaurant which was a buffet. Each night we demurred on the chance to attend the buffet, rather choosing a small meal at the bar with accompanying glass of wine or beer. I don't like buffets. They seem to be heavily populated by overweight, greasy and pasty-faced yobbos who have questionable hygiene. They also seem hell bent on stuffing their gullets with as much food as possible in order to get their money's worth. There, I've said it!
We attended the Field Of Light dinner and installation one evening and it was a sumptuous multi-course meal out in the desert under the stars that was preceded by a cocktail party watching Kata Tjuta and Uluru as the sun went down. It was a unique experience and we were happy we'd made the effort to attend. After dinner, and a talk about the star constellations, we walked the extensive field of light art installation which although impressive, couldn't outshine the natural beauty in our peripheral vision.
One day, we arose in the dark and drove (carefully to avoid wildlife) out to the sunrise viewing decks to watch the sunrise over the rock and the play of light change the colour and mood of the rock as we watched. An artist painting this scene would need to remix his palette of colours second by second to render the scene accurately: it was cold and sparkling and beautiful. We'd done a reccy the day before so we drove confidently to the Mala carpark straight after this to start our walking trek around the base of the rock. We took our time, stopping often to take photographs, have a drink, or simply to marvel yet again at the size and different facets of the rock as we moved around it. Hours later we'd achieved our goal and not a minute too soon: the tiny bush flies which luckily stay away till around midday, had started to swarm into our eyes, mouth, nostrils and ears. Those Chinese tourists with the head fly nets didn't look so silly after all now!
After a bit of a lay day where we visited art galleries and cultural centres (impressively nestled in the shadows of the rock, camouflaged with brush roofs and earthy colours) we set off early to make the 50km drive out to Kata Tjuta ("The Olgas"). In some ways, this group of ochre coloured domes is even more awe inspiring than Uluru itself: it's certainly more extensive and even taller. The indigenous name means "many heads" which is a simple but appropriate description. We opted to do the challenging full circuit of the group known as the "Valley of the Winds" walk, a grade 4 hike. At times, bouldering up steep sections of rock and gravel, at others inching our way down precipitous slopes of loose gravel and thigh-burning cliffs, while also tramping along roads of tennis ball sized rocks and humping our way up endless slopes, we were well and truly exhausted at the end! Once again, we managed to avoid the worst of the flies and were glad of our prepared water supplies and snacks. Sensational vistas and bush silence were our companions with the odd flitting of brightly coloured birds....I sincerely hoped there were no yellow belly black snakes sleeping on red rocks!
It was an amazing adventure and after a plane ride, hotel stay in Sydney and a train trip back to Newcastle we settled back in to daily life with good memories and an enhanced appreciation of the power of the vast outback to inspire and delight. So much so, that we eagerly attended the latest in the Mad Max franchise, "Furiosa" the other day to see if anyone got safe passage across the wasteland...after hours of red desert, petrol belching trucks and motorbikes and frightening, dystopian scenes of all descriptions, we're still not sure!
Here is the full album of the trip.