Uluru,
a spiritual place for the Aboriginals, also known as Ayres Rock, looks familiar
the second it looms over the horizon.
It
isn't until you get up close however, that you realise just how damn big this
flippin' rock is.
And its just that - a single rock (the worlds largest monolith - of which, like
and iceberg, only
1/7th is visible above ground. Formed after several ice ages compacted sediment of a huge
inland sea millions of years ago, it is believed that tectonic plate
movements flipped a large chunk of sandstone on its side - hence the clear
vertical lines which mark its surface.
The
walk around the base is where the real beauty of the place strikes
you. So while a handful of the party climb the rock, the rest of us wander
around the 8km circuit which encircles this ancient monolith.
There
are numerous points where water erosion or heat flaking has shaped the rock,
these are all matched by Aboriginal stories of Dreamtime creatures leaving marks
as they moved over the rock or remnants of fearsome battles. One tells of
a huge snake who's cousin is killed - she finds the perpetrator on the far side
of the rock who mocks her and angers her. She whacks him twice and he
falls down dead at the base. There are two huge grooves in the rock which
represent the blows to the killers hear, and a piece of rock which looks (with a
little imagination) like a shield below.
Now,
to
climb or not to climb is a personal preference here - the Aboriginal people
prefer tourists not to as the route up passes close to a very sacred spot for
them. They call the climbers 'Mingas', which translates to 'ants' - and
its easy to see why when you see those who ignore their wishes from afar!
Most tourists now choose not to climb nowadays. Those that do occasionally
suffer heart attacks or slip off, and the posers puke up after running up.
Nice.
Sunrise and Sunset
are the times to view the rock - when the red dust in the atmosphere causes the
rock to turn vibrant red, then violet, then grey. Predictably, the viewing point for the sunset is a zoo - literally thousands
of tourists from every nation (though mostly Brits and Japanese) line a roped
off area, many with Champagne set up on well used tables. The zoo itself
is a sight to behold.
Been there, done it, drank the champers - yep, its an awesome place.
