We left Coober Pedy around 7:30-8 that morning. We had quite a bit of
Around 12, we arrived at a gas station complex called Eriduna. This place is very popular because it is the gateway to Uluru. Once you get to Eriduna, you have to head west on Lassetter Hwy for 2.5 hours to reach Uluru. Eriduna is also known as being “the center of the Red Centre” aka the center of Australia. We took a break there to refuel our car and make ourselves lunch. A lot of tours stop there, and many gave us compliments on our car. This is a reoccurring event. Throughout the trip, a multitude of people have complimented our car and have asked us about it. After lunch, we spent a couple minutes observing the emu farm they had there and then hit the road. We travelled for about 2 hours when we got to a rest stop overlooking a big red plateau. In our naivety, we thought it was Uluru; we thought wrong. 45 minutes later, we made it to Uluru- it promptly lives up to its mystical and magnificent reputation.
After paying $25 for a three-day park pass, we went to the visitor’s center to get ourselves oriented. Uluru (Ayers Rock) is a World Heritage Site and shares a national park site with Kata-Tjuta (more on that later). It is seen by aboriginals as a sacred site where tribes used to gather for religious ceremonies. I’m very interested to know how the formation was naturally made because it really is like no other rock I’ve ever seen. We did the mala walk where you can see just how imposing and awe-inspiring this place is. I can’t stress enough how sacred this site is. There are places along the walk where you can’t take pictures because those views aren’t allowed to be seen anywhere else in the world. The walk was about an hour and a half. We then went to a short trail that leads to a watering hole. This place is lousy with tour groups. After the hikes, we went to a place to watch the sunset. Uluru actually changes colors at sunset. It turns from brown to red. I set my GoPro to take a
Being the only campground around, we had to pay $40 for an unpowered site so we can camp for the night. The camp was a literal breeding group for tourists, mainly because there was no where else for them to go. The campground included cabins, hotels, loads of activities, and restaurants. I didn’t really have a problem with that, the one thing I didn’t like about that place was that I felt they didn’t respect the wishes and culture of the traditional owners of the land. This goes back to my whole problem with “tourists” where they stay in comfort zones and don’t even attempt to understand the significance of the place. For example, the place is called Ayer’s Rock Campground. Ayer’s Rock already had a name before white men arrived; Uluru. To use “Ayer’s Rock” instead of Uluru devalues the tens of thousands of years of cultural and spiritual significance before the western world even knew about it. You would think that a place that depends on Uluru’s tourism appeal as its livelihood would at least call it by its original and real name. Another thing I noticed was all the advertisements to climb Uluru at the campground, when signs at the site specifically say, “this site is sacred, please don’t climb Uluru.” I don’t know, to me that’s like if a company advertised free wings and then a trip to the Sistine chapel to touch all of Michelangelo’s murals. Granted, I bet (or at least hope) that Ayer’s Rock Resort gives some of its profits to the traditional owners of the land.