Alice Springs to Ayers Rock (Uluru)

Wednesday in Central Australia and our objective today was to get to Uluru (also known as Ayers Rock) from Alice Springs. First off, we noted the iron light poles on the roads here. They had to use iron because the termites would eat wooden poles.

Just next to our hotel is the casino which is right across the road from the dry riverbed where the Aborigines like to rest in the shade of the trees there. Our guide told us that the casino originally had a petting zoo just outside its doors with kangaroos and wallabies. The aboriginals, whose traditions exemplify the “no worries” lifestyle, dealing only with today’s needs, saw the enclosure as their local butcher and would climb the fence, hit a roo on the head and go cook it up. The casino replenished the enclosure a few times, then gave it up.

It is at least a five-hour drive through Central Australia, also known as the Red Centre. Australians refer to “the bush” as open areas that include greenery. Out here, bushes are exactly what you see. Even the trees appear mostly to be bushes because, in some cases their trunks are below ground, so all we see is the tree tops.

Most of what we’re seeing are mulga bushes, a type of acacia, but there are a couple of other shrubs. Trees are mostly the coolibah and the desert oak. You might remember the coolibah from “Waltzing Matilda.” The desert oak is not really an oak, but is a casuarina. We often find these misnomers here.

We pulled in at a camel farm for our morning tea. Camels were brought to Australia from the Canary Islands and used in trains to move goods up through this desolate country. Once the railway came, there was no longer a use for the camels and they were released into the wild. Now our driver, Colin, says there are a million feral camels in Australia. They can subsist on the vegetation here and because the open country is so huge, they can actually hide from occasional attempts to diminish their numbers.

Nowadays, the managers of the giant cattle stations out here have found a new revenue stream in rounding up and selling the camels. In those countries where camels originated, they no longer have wild stock, so they are buying camels from Australia to keep up their herds. The Aussies are also making a few dollars selling camel meat—word is that it has no cholesterol so is healthier than beef. That’s a little hard to swallow when we’ve just taken pictures of our friends riding camels.

Driving on through the vast expanse of this country, we pass few other vehicles and more dry riverbeds. On this road signs are posted encouraging drivers to stop occasionally to avoid accidents caused by drivers falling asleep due to the monotony. In order to relieve any potential boredom among the passengers, our driver and guide alternate in telling us stories about the countryside and Australian oddities. One quick tongue-in-cheek question: what do you call a dead kangaroo by the side of the road? Answer: a was-a-roo.

The driver also keeps handy and plays Australian folk music for us. As he points out, almost all the songs have something to do with drinking beer. When he played “Waltzing Matilda” for us translated the story into something much less cheerful than it sounds. Apparently, the swagman ends up being hanged for thievery and dancing at the end of the trooper’s rope. Not what I’d ever imagined the story might be.

Mt. Connor appears on the horizon when we’re about 90 minutes from Uluru. When I ask if that’s Uluru, the driver says no, but it’s often referred to as “Fooluru” because people think they’re seeing Uluru. Mt. Connor, however, is shaped somewhat like Uluru when seen from a distance, but is on private land and not part of the Uluru National Park. Uluru itself belongs to the Aborigines and is includes some of their holy places.

When we stop to take photos of Mt. Connor, a short walk up the red sand dunes on the other side of the road reveals Lake Amadeus, a huge salt lake, usually visible as a dry salty crust when there is no rain. Our driver offered a lengthy amount of information about the history of this area, but I’ll not attempt to include all the blah-blah here.

Our driver made a sudden stop because as we traveled along the road at about 55 mph he had spotted a Thorny Devil (lizard). He backed the coach up and pulled off to the side, opened the door and said “I’ll just get him and be right back.” Sure enough, he returned moments later with a gold and brown mottled lizard about 7 inches long. This little guy lives up to his name with little “thorns” all over him. He allowed us to hold him. While he was a bit jumpy at first, he calmed and seemed to relax as flashes went off and other hands reached for him. After a few minutes of this unexpected nature experience, Mr. Thorny was released into the roadside to search for the tiny ants he eats.

As we come closer to Uluru, we see how the light and the clouds overhead change the rock’s appearance. Most photos show it as red, but clouds moving overhead create a rapidly changing myriad of designs, much like looking through a kaleidoscope. The clouds themselves float like cotton puffs through the bright blue sky and, because it’s relatively flat out here, it feels like one of those movies in the round where you are conscious of something to see all around you.

Now, too, we could see Kata Tjuta, formerly known as The Olgas. There are 36 of these vertical columns about 15 miles from Uluru. Seen together on the horizon these rock formations are worthy of awe. We took a brief drive around Uluru this afternoon, but will go back for a walk around the base and go to Kata Tjuta tomorrow.

Uluru is a place of holy meaning to the Aborigines, although only parts of it are considered. Their legends about the rock include both fanciful and imaginative explanations for the various features visible there, including lichen and erosion formations. One big formation looks very much like an Aborigine and is said to be one of their wise men.

We’re staying in a low-rise, sprawling hotel called Sails in the Desert. The roofline has sails along it. The buildings surround a courtyard with green grass, a swimming pool and beautiful landscaping. When we got to our room we found that we have a large terrace/balcony with flowers all around it—a great place to have a glass of wine in the cool of the evening after the flies go to sleep.

Capping the day off was what is called the Sounds of Silence dinner. We were picked up from our hotel and taken out to a place where we were first treated to champagne and canapés. In addition, the first part of the evening contained didgeridoo music. The musician welcomed us and shared his personal story, explaining both the instrument and his heritage in the process.

He called it the Yidaki and explained how it’s made with the help of termites to eat out the inside of the eucalyptus trunk, as well as fire to smooth and seal the ends. He said he was the child of a Caucasian mother and Aborigine father and had been playing the Yidaki for 11 years. Looking a bit like Russell Crowe, he had the women enthralled with his story.

He also repeated a story we’d heard earlier today about the word “kangaroo.” Apparently when the first English in Australia met the Aborigines, they pointed at the marsupials and asked what to call the animals they had never seen before. Because the two cultures didn’t share a language, the Aborigines answered with “kangaroo.” That means “I do not understand your question.” The English took kangaroo to be the name of the animal and so it has remained.

Then we were escorted down the hill to the dinner area, replete with tables for ten with tablecloths and silver and a truly fabulous buffet that included Australian dishes like kangaroo, barramundi (a local fish) lamb and crocodile Caesar salad. Plied with local wines throughout the meal, we were also treated to a star talk with a different take than our experience in Alice Springs last night.

It was a beautiful night with a full moon above and the stars all around. We watched the sun set near Kata Tjuta and the moon rise beside Uluru. As one of our tour friends and tablemates said, “Here we are in the Outback, having dinner under the stars. What could be better than this?”

Surely there are many experiences that are yet to please us, but none that will better this night under these stars with companions from around the world who have come here and shared this time. Memories are made of this.

Photos by Mike Lumpkin