The Red Centre

Arriving we did a lovely circuit drive in the Ayers Rock Resort, that includes a number of accommodations and a town square. The town square houses restaurants, a bank, gift shops, and an IGA supermarket. The tourist information centre is mostly there to sell tours, although the staff at the first two desks seem to be the ones answering all the questions, and they were so friendly and helpful.

Queueing up is something one has to do at Ayers Rock. Queue up for coffee, for information, for petrol, to get into park to get into camp grounds. We spent a lot of time queueing up – not just minutes, but tens of minutes. We rang to book Ayers Rock Campground a few weeks before we planned to be there, to be told if we wanted the 'overflow', to just turn up. Ayers Rock Campground has cabins, powered sites @$63 a night, and unpowered 'overflow' @$25 a night. 'Overflow' is a distance from the amenities and is really suited for self-contained campers. A bit expensive for self-contained considering all one gets is a tight patch of dirt, but it is close to Ayers Rock, and a little bit more secure than free camping. We chose to stay about 25km from Ayers Rock Resort / Yulara at the free camp for two nights and then booked into Ayers Rock Campground for the third night, and the night we had booked a Field of Lights Tour. Well, after being told weeks before we didn't have to book 'overflow', we did!! The lovely, overworked Courtney, found us a site. Ayers Rock is expensive. Coffee $6.60, petrol $2.16 (another happy camper said -”Fraser Island” prices – and they are right) Even simple Noodle dishes are a lot higher than any where else we have travelled in Australia. We didn't try any meals at the different hotels, but everything was expensive. We were there at 'peak' time, certainly didn't plan that – and will not do that again! A pass into Uluru / Ayers Rock was $25 per adult and lasted three days. Unlike Alice Springs, we found a number of shops employing indigenous people and the cafe in the Arts Centre and one in town are actually training centres for indigenous people. 

The second day we queued up at the entrance to Uluru/Kata Tjuna (Ayers Rock / The Olgas) and paid our $25 each for a three day pass and we drove about another 50km to The Olgas. An interesting drive and The Olgas are spectacular. I could find very little information about Kata Tjuta / The Olgas at the site, so this is what I know, and what 'Google' added. The Olgas were formed the same time as Ayers Rock and are made up of 36 formations. It is thought they were originally the same shape as Ayers Rock, but weathered over millions of years. It is 35 km west of Ayers Rock. The highest point is Mount Olga and was named by Ernest Giles in 1872 in honour of Queen Olga of Wurttemburg, daughter of Tsar Nicholas I. In 1993 a system of duel naming policy was adopted to show both the English name and the Aboriginal name. Kata Tjuta is Aboriginal for many heads and that is what the Olgas look like.

I remember from teaching that there are legends about Uluru and Kata Tjutu. Aside from a few info boards at Uluru, there was very little associated with the Aboriginal legends available. I remember a legend about a big snake living on Kata Tjuta that came down in the dry season (now – July) and his breath was said to be the cold wind to punish the evil. The wind while we were there was very cold. The domes of the Olgas are home to Aboriginal spirits.

We had lunch and a short walk, and then headed back to Uluru and the Cultural Centre.

A very interesting and well thought out display of Aboriginal Culture, but lacking relevance to Uluru. Shame. If one is on a time limit, I would skip the Cultural Centre and spend time at the Rock. If there is time at the end go to the Cultural Centre. Yes, it is expensive, but everything is expensive here. One is not allowed to take photos so you will have to take our word for it :) I wondered why there was nothing about Uluru and its scientific history, or even the Dreamtime stories.

The second day we planned to spend at Uluru. Wow what a special. It is a place that we would come back to. Uluru is the name not only for the rock, but also the surrounding area (that was not mentioned anywhere in the Cultural Centre). Uluru has many different meanings to different Aboriginal clans. Some say it is a name of the snake, others says it is an ancestor, some say it is the name of a cave on the top of the rock. After reading many pages via Google, it appears the name Uluru is secret mens' business, and we will probably never know what it means. We do know that some individual features of the rock and named and have legends attached to them, and some were acknowledged with information boards on site. Some of the places at Ayers Rock people are not allowed and photographs can not be taken. It would be good to know why or the legend behind the area. The English name of Ayers Rock was named by William Gosse in 1872, and is named after South Australian Chief Secretary Sir Henry Ayers. We do know it is a monolith, or an inselberg – from the Greek meaning island mountain. (Uluru does not mean island mountain), and it is the largest monolith in the world. This was not mentioned anywhere in the area. Peter called into the Cultural Center to get his coffee and we went round to the first carpark – Mala (no idea what Mala means) – no car parks so we continued on. It is only about 10km around Uluru. The next carpark was Kuniya Piti (again, no idea what Kuniya Piti mens), plenty of parking and an interesting walk. One walks past a sacred site, that one can't take photos of, and wonders why? Why is it sacred? Why can one not take photos? Most would be willing to to respect the wishes not to take photos if one knew why. Lovely walk anyway. We had lunch here looking at the beautiful rock changing colour.

The next carpark, Kuniya (no idea??) was the best, and we would recommend going straight to this car park to start the base walk, or simply to do the short walk to the waterhole. This was recommended by the info fellow at the info centre. This is a must do! Waterhole, art work in a cave, great info boards explaining Dreamtime stories about this part of the rock.

If short on time do this one first!

We then drove back to the first Mala carpark and plenty of spaces then. This is where the rock climb takes place. I didn't think one was allowed to walk on the rock any more, but I was wrong. Last week a 76 year old Japanese tourist collapsed and died after climbing the rock. He is the 37^th to die after climbing the rock, and the first recorded death since 2010. Climbing the Rock will be banned from next year. The climb was closed both days we were there due to high winds.

There is nothing about the scientific origins of the Rock, which occurred well before Indigenous inhabitation. The whole area has shaded seating and information boards which makes a base walk / ride (one can ride a bike around). There are also water stations.

There was nothing we could find about the formation of Uluru or Kata Tjuta at either site, so I Googled this information. The three structures, Uluru, Kata Tjuta, and Mt Conner, and many smaller ones were formed about 550 million years ago when an earth thrust lifted the high grade metamorphic rocks over low grade metamorphic rocks. Erosion lead to the formation of the Mount Currie Conglomerate, and Uluru (Ayers Rock), Kata Tjuta (The Olgas), and Atilla (Mt Conner) are all part of the Mount Currie Conglomerate. They are made of basalt, granite, quartz, and volcanic rock.

Comparing Ayers Rock, The Olgas, and Mount Conner.

Height: Mt Olga is 546m high, Ayers Rock is 346m high, Mt Conner is 300m high;

Circumference: Mt Conner is about 30kms; The Olgas are about 22kms around; Ayers Rock is about 10kms around;

A bucket list item ticked off!