Ayers Rock - Sunrise

Greetings to the world,

On Friday morning at 4am (WHAT TIME????) it is fairly busy at the Ayers Rock Resort as the people get ready to see the sunrise. And today we had some cool 26 degrees Celsius! There were two coaches picking up people from the various hotels of the resort at 4:45am. We actually wanted to do the Desert Awakening Tour which would have been in a small group and at a secluded viewing area but that was booked out, so we had to go with the big crowd to the common viewing area. I paid our National Park tickets with the specially folded 50 AUD-note that my friend Karl gave to me (see here: 3 days left). Thanks a lot for that Karl!!! I know you have never been to the Ayers Rock and I think you should go there – but not in summer! After a 20 minute drive we arrived at the viewing ground and directly headed for the main platform at the highest point.

There were an awful lot of people (I think about 5-6 coaches and several other cars and vans were in the parking lot), so we decided to go to the lower walking track to have more tranquility, even if there are more trees in the view. At 6am straight the sun got out and the colors at the Uluru changed and we also saw the Kata Tjuta in the distance.

After 20 minutes we got back on the coach and we drove around the Uluru. That’s right. We DROVE around it. We thought that we would actually walk along the Uluru Base Walk but apparently not which was a bit disappointing. We reached the climbing point at about 6:45am and due to the cool temperatures there was a fair chance it would be open (the park rangers decide if it is open or not safe enough to climb up). Unfortunately the climb was closed, probably due to the strong winds. So we drove further north and this is the part that you are not allowed to photograph. The two guides told some stories of the Aborigines about the rock and how they see the rock in their tradition.

We finally got off the coach and wandered around, found an unexpected waterhole and learned more about the plants, the waterholes and the different caves and ceremonies that take place around the area. Back on the coach we drove back to the climb at about 8am and it was still closed but we had a quick look around anyway.

Then we headed to the Aborigine Culture Center (photos and videos are not permitted here) which was nicely decorated but we already got told everything that was displayed there by our guides, so nothing new. This was our last stop of this half-day tour to the base of Uluru. It was a lot different from what I expected it to be, especially in regards to the believe and all the rules and stories of the Aborigine but also in regards to how the rock looks like close-up, what happens around it and what had happened in the past. Amazing, beautiful, shocking, fascinating, surprising. All of it. There was a lot of information to digest as we got driven back to the resort at 10am. But the day was not over yet, there was still a lot to learn, try and discover. Stay tuned!

Yours Uluru-at-sunrise-visiting Stefanie