Looking at the big rock
Trip Start
Nov 22, 2010
1
91
112
Trip End
Ongoing
Where I stayed
Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park, Northern Territory, Australia
Wednesday, April 4, 2012
The sunrise itself was magnificent, there weren't too many clouds around and so we got a nice view of the sun coming up over this beautiful scenery. Although it is pretty much only a big boulder, the fact that it is sitting in the middle of nowhere (not inbetween other mountains) makes it pretty special. After the sunrise and a bit of brekky we had a look around at the cultural center and then drove up to the rock. I also did manage to drop my camera and have it crap out on me. It's done this before however and I have a little backup camera with me (and it started to work again a few days later), but what a great timing to stop working at Uluru...
I had a short walk to see some of the rock, while getting some information from a ranger that was giving a tour to other people and showing aboriginal sites. You could not climb the rock (it was too hot), which I wasn't planning on doing anyway, but you can walk around it. But since this means walking 10 kilometers in 37 degrees heat and Uluru actually looks better from a distance I didn't bother.
And, here it was, for the first time during my now 17 month long trip I randomly met people I knew from before: Linde and Alette. Linde and I lived on the same campus for half a year in 2005 in Port Alfred, South Africa. After we finished that semester I travelled for a few weeks with Linde, her twin-sister Alette (who was visiting) and two other guys through Zululand and Lesotho. We hadn't met since, but it turned out that Linde and her boyfriend work in Adelaide and live quite close to Glenelg! Alette (who is living in the Caribbean for already 7 years) and her boyfriend were visiting Linde and together they rented a 4wd and took the adventurous route (via lake Eyre) up to Alice springs. Quite a coincidence to meet again after 7 years and on the other side of the world!
Anyway, after a bit of walking we were done here and moved on. We drove to Kata Tjuta, which is a mountain range 50 KM's from Uluru and similarly famous. Due to the high temperatures the walks here were also closed off, so we only drove to a viewing area (also to spare more driving in the heat), took some pictures and drove back to Yulara. It was all nice, but a bit of an 'ok, been there, seen that - let's get on with it' feeling. Maybe because in my mind I was more thinking about the engine-troubles and whether or not the van would get us into Alice Springs or let us perish in the outback... Not sure.
