Rosie's phone went off at 0410. We have a hotel wake-up call for 0430. We have a 0515 appointment for a sunrise viewing ride out to Uluru - set up yesterday for $49/person. Our ride out into the National Park and Uluru will be via the HoHo mini-bus. Showered and dressed in plenty of time to walk over to the lobby and wait for our charter. While waiting we met and chatted up a very tall blonde woman my age, Dee, who was an American from Minnesota (I guessed correctly based on the Twin Cities t-shirt she had on under her sweat shirt) who'd been living in Australia for the past 35yrs. She was a lecturing professor at a University in Sydney (can't recall which one). She was here on half play, half work. Turns out she would be leading a seminar within the Desert Garden Hotel the next day for some native Aboriginal leaders of certain Australian companies who were flying in. Nice, interesting person.
When our ride showed up, there were 8 of us headed out on this charter to the sunrise locale just south and east of the monolith called: Talinguru Nyakunytiaku... no idea what this means! About a 15min ride in the dark. We first needed to purchase 2 National Park passes from our bus driver for $50AU cash. We'd need them to legally enter the Uluru - Kata Tjuta National park system. We all boarded and headed out. Our driver was a bit chatty, not a bad thing, and described how this charter worked. He was very accommodating within the bounds of what we'd paid for: a ride out to Uluru; a drop off, and; a pick up to come back. Once we reached the Park Entrance and slowed to enter, the driver asked all of us to hold up our tickets and wave them at the Park Ranger watching us from a building 50 feet away. Was mildly amusing but we did so and she waved us in.
Arrived at the parking location and we were definitely not the first. There were already several large buses parked, some smaller vehicles and a handful of tents set up caring for the breakfast needs of those particular charters' pax... we were obviously on the 'skinnied' down version of a charter. :-) We parked just a little after 0600. The hiking paths were lit with red and green lights on the ground. There were already a lot of folks perched atop the viewing platform waiting on sunrise, soaking in the crisp morning air and taking a lot of photos. Our bus driver asked us to all be back by 0700 and off we went. He also advised that there were some very good vantage points along the hiking paths out in front of the viewing platform - which was going to get very packed with visitors.
This location also housed 1 of the 3 toilets within the park complex - so we availed ourselves to them before making our way up to the viewing platform. When we got up to the 2 level viewing platform, some folks had already parked themselves in strategic locations for sunrise pictures. We politely maneuvered in and around them taking a bunch of photos of Uluru ourselves. It's really massive and imposing. As the morning continued to brighten, Uluru started gaining more character. It's not just 1 huge smooth monolith. It's got all kinds of caves, fractures and other distinctive geological features including wear lines due to rain - when it does rain here. Stayed on the platform until a little after 0630 and decided to get away from the crowd and head down and out onto the hiking paths to find less hindered views to the rock. It really is a striking sight. Rosie and I are still pinching ourselves to make sure we're really here and not dreaming!
Side Note: Uluru. The local Anangu, the Pitjantjatjara people, call the landmark Uluṟu. This word is a proper noun, with no further particular meaning in the Pitjantjatjara dialect, although it is used as a local family name by the senior Traditional Owners of Uluru.
On 19 July 1873, the surveyor William Gosse sighted the landmark and named it Ayers Rock in honor of the then Chief Secretary of South Australia, Sir Henry Ayers. Since then, both names have been used.
In 1993, a dual naming policy was adopted that allowed official names that consist of both the traditional Aboriginal name and the English name. On 15 December 1993, it was renamed "Ayers Rock / Uluru" and became the first official dual-named feature in the Northern Territory. The order of the dual names was officially reversed to "Uluru / Ayers Rock" on 6 November 2002 following a request from the Regional Tourism Association in Alice Springs.
Uluru is one of Australia's most recognisable natural landmarks. The sandstone formation stands 348 m (1,142 ft) high, rising 863 m (2,831 ft) above sea level with most of its bulk lying underground, and has a total circumference of 9.4 km (5.8 mi). Both Uluru and the nearby Kata Tjuta formation have great cultural significance for the Aṉangu people, the traditional inhabitants of the area, who lead walking tours to inform visitors about the local flora and fauna, bush food and the Aboriginal dreamtime stories of the area.
Uluru is notable for appearing to change colour at different times of the day and year, most notably when it glows red at dawn and sunset.
Kata Tjuta, also called Mount Olga or the Olgas, lies 25 km (16 mi) west of Uluru. Special viewing areas with road access and parking have been constructed to give tourists the best views of both sites at dawn and dusk.
Uluru is an inselberg, literally "island mountain". An inselberg is a prominent isolated residual knob or hill that rises abruptly from and is surrounded by extensive and relatively flat erosion lowlands in a hot, dry region. Uluru is also often referred to as a monolith, although this is a somewhat ambiguous term that is generally avoided by geologists. The remarkable feature of Uluru is its homogeneity and lack of jointing and parting at bedding surfaces, leading to the lack of development of scree slopes and soil. These characteristics led to its survival, while the surrounding rocks were eroded. For the purpose of mapping and describing the geological history of the area, geologists refer to the rock strata making up Uluru as the Mutitjulu Arkose, and it is one of many sedimentary formations filling the Amadeus Basin.
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Sunrise was amazing and awe inspiring. Took a lot of photos and at 0655 headed back to the mini-bus. After everyone was back aboard, our driver (never offered up a name and we didn't ask) set out to stop at the 4 locations any of us could get off at to start our individual tours. We chose to be dropped off at the last of the 4 stops, the Cultural Center. Time was 0730. This is where the bike rentals happen via the proprietor, Levi, a real character, representing 'Outback Cycling'. Cost: ~$92 for 2 bikes and 3hrs usage. Levi was there getting set up and renting to a family of 4. He claims to have returned all of the calls we placed yesterday, none that we received, including the call from the lobby desk. Didn't matter, he had 2 bikes available and by 0745 we'd rented them and were off to the Cultural Center to take a quick peek and buy some coffee and light breakfast (a meat pie and sausage roll). I've told you they are ubiquitous in Australia!
Our total ride on this day would be just under 15km from the Cultural Center to Uluru, around the Rock and back to the Center. The ride's all flat with a few soft spots on the south side. It's 2.2km from the Cultural Center to get to the Mala parking area. This is where hardy adventurers make the ~3km assent up the 10% grade climb to the top of Ulura - it's steep! We just didn't have enough time to attempt a full climb - I was definitely up for it but, I wanted to be sensitive to Rosie and didn't want to abandon her to ride around the base of Uluru by herself. We did scale the rock up to the top of the rock fall and took some pictures while we were there... Rosie followed me up - incredible effort. She did experience some vertigo issues part way up and needed just a bit of help getting back down but, many points for the attempt. Climbed back down, passed a few climbers going up on the way down, got back on our bikes and started our counter-clockwise ride around the base of this massive rock.
What an amazing ride! Relatively speaking there weren't that many visitors on this day, at least on the walking/bike trail. We were happy with that. Made us feel a bit closer to Uluru as we went around. We stopped quite a few times around the base for photo ops and to visit designated points of interest. There are a handful of locations around the base that are very sacred to the Aborigine and signs are posted to please not take photos - we honored those. We also, when the opportunity presented itself, took pictures for other visitors to Uluru. Just the neighborly thing to do. The first 'big' stop along the way was at the Mutitjulu water hole on the south side of Uluru. We parked our bikes and trekked in to a wide, tree lined crevice in the mountain that narrows into a small canyon. You cross a couple of man-made bridges and eventually get to an amazing standing pool of water at the base of the rock. A small oasis that stands out in this arid region. It's hard to describe the enormity of the furrow cut into the rock by millennia of rain water all running down into this pool of life giving water. Was quite moving.
Left feeling a bit awed by where we were and continued on around to the next major viewing location, the Kuniya Piti at the eastern most point of Uluru. It's one of several sacred locations around the rock and you're reminded to be respectful and not to take photos. These sacred places are called 'areas of cultural significance.' Continued on around the northern edge of Uluru past some stunning and unique geological features, most notably a huge area on the north face pock marked and resembling a brain. So interesting.
Before we knew it, we were back at the Mala Parking area, where you can climb the rock, and it was just 1000. Even with all of the stopping we'd done on this day, we'd be back to the Cultural Center in plenty of time not to incur a $$ penalty for a late return. Got back to the Center by 1015 with a good half hour left on our rental, turned the bikes back in and spent a good 20min back inside the Center's gift shop. Our HoHo would be here to pick us up by around 1050. Purchased a couple of waters and headed back out to the dusty bus stop to wait for our ride. Our vacation friend, Dee, showed back up and we spent some collegial minutes just sharing experiences before our bus showed up to carry us back to the Resort. Back at the hotel at 1130. That's a bike ride we won't soon forget!
On the ride back we had talked about getting some lunch from the restaurant in our hotel, Desert Garden. Dee, having had more time onsite than we, recommended doing lunch at the restaurant over in the Sails in the Desert Hotel - so we did! We HoHo'd it over to the hotel and got seated by the bar adjacent to the lobby. Ordered some cocktails and 2 club sandwiches: a veggie one for Rosie and a normal, well relatively normal, turkey club for me. For some reason they put an egg in their club sandwiches over here? Still, very tasty. After lunch we hopped back on the HoHo and took a quick ride out to the Camel riding area just for a look see. They have quite a few camels and a small petting zoo. Spent about 20min wandering around before our HoHo was back and we returned to our hotel.
By the time we got back to our room, it was 1400 and we were both dragging a bit so, took a little nap until about 1500. Felt much better for doing so. We got up, cleaned up and just puttered about. We had no plans for our 2nd and last evening in the Resort. Decided to go check out the other venue we considered, the Outback Pioneer, and jumped on to the HoHo for the short ride there. At this time of day, after 1600, many of the day shift workers were on the bus headed back to their 'residences.' Was interesting to see where many of them were housed/bunked, quite a few dormitory settings. We got to see a couple of the areas including the single family units - primarily for the managers of the Resort. A little insight to the behind the scenes world of Ayers Rock Resort.
We eventually made it to the Outback Pioneer. Rosie had considered this part of the of the Resort during planningi but, discounted it because of some reviews she'd read about it being very basic with very few amenities and lots of do it yourself. Some questionable accommodations also... buggy. Those reviews seemed to fit what we were seeing. Having said that, no one was complaining and seemed to be doing just fine. We were very happy to be at the Desert Gardens. Most meals you could purchase here seemed to be BBQ style, do it yourself and, outdoors - there was 1 indoor buffet - with limited windows of availability. We stopped for a beer, wine and some cocktail nuts at the outdoor bar before catching the HoHo back to our hotel.
Thought we'd try the restaurant at our hotel on this evening, it was about 1730, but when we said we didn't have a reservation, they turned us away and said they had openings starting at 2000, much too late for our needs. The place was empty. We didn't wait. They apparently had two large groups showing up for chow in the next 1/2 hr. Oh well. Decided to walk over to the Towne Center to see what was open there. Ended up in the Gecko Cafe with salads and a margherita pizza. Was ok.
We were back in our room by 1930 and started to go through our re-packing routine. We have to be checked out earlier than normal tomorrow morning to make our helicopter tour and have our bags stored and pre-positioned until we get back from the helicopter outing. Our carry-on and 1 suitcase will be just a bit heavier - we did make a handful of souvenir purchases over the course of the last 2 days. We have a 0855 pick-up tomorrow by PHS for our 'copter ride. Our flight tomorrow on JetStar flt#661 takes off at 1415 and we need to be back from the helicopter tour in time to make a 1200 AAT Kings ride back to the airport. Shouldnt be a problem.
Our last night in Ayers Rock Resort!!!
Fuji
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