The Red Center Day 2
Sunday, May 24th
Another early morning! We were up at 5am to get to Uluru to see sunrise. Again it was cloudy, but there was a rainbow by the rock which was awesome! After the sun came up we walked around the rock on the Southwest side. Uluru is a single giant sandstone rock, and the red color comes from iron oxide in the dirt- which apparently 
was blown from another part of the continent relatively recently (only a few thousand years ago) and in places where there has been a lot of wind erosion you can see the original greyish white color of the rock. 
When we met up with the bus again on the other side of Uluru it started to rain, and Steve our tour guide gave us the option of doing the short Mala walk in the wet or to go to the visitor's center and stay dry. Hannah, one other girl and I were the only ones willing to brave the rain, and it turned out to be the best decision of our trip! Because it was pouring, water was collecting in pools at the top of the rock and flowing along paths down the sides in waterfalls and the whole rock became a milky white color. We saw some rock paintings which were much more simple than the ones we saw further north, and Steve explained this is because life around Uluru was much more difficult and most of the people's time was spent looking for food a fuel and they didn't have extra time to sit around and paint. We saw some sites where women butchered emu and ground and stored seeds. There was a cave called the Wave Cave because wind erosion has made it look like there are waves in the wall, and then we went over to a waterhole that tours don't always make it to. During the dry season it rarely rains much, so a lot of the people familiar with the area haven't seen it like this! Our guide and a couple of others were running around taking pictures, and apparently park rangers were stopping on the road to take photos as well. When we got to the water hole there were at least 4 waterfalls coming down in different areas. Some were just small streams, some were coming down through a series of pools on the face of the rock, and there was a giant one rushing one. While we were standing there looking at it I said to Hannah that I really wanted to run into it, and she said she was thinking the same thing. Steve said "I won't tell if you don't tell" and then it was pretty much decided. I pulled off my socks and shoes, rolled up my pants (not that it made a difference) and just ran in. I think the other two were surprised that I actually went for it, but once I ran back out they both went in as well. You aren't actually supposed to go swimming there, but we rationalized that it wasn't really swimming if you just run in. And anyway, how many people can say they've been under a waterfall coming down Uluru? Ridiculous. Hannah and I couldn't stop smiling all day. 
Luckily we could get dry clothes- it would have been a very uncomfortable 4 hr bus trip to King's Canyon otherwise. It stopped raining by the time we got to the campsite. A bunch of us scrambled up a hill like goats to watch the sunset. Leanne and Fabi taught some of us to line dance- apparently country music is huge in Canada. Who knew? We all made fools out of ourselves, but had a good time. Jane made damper bread for us- an Australian outback tradition. It's baked in big cast iron pot on the embers of the campfire. It was dense and delicious and we ate it covered in butter. We had another night in swags. A bunch of stuff was wet from the rain (unfortunately including the last sleeping bag which I had to use). Steve helped me heat it over the fire, and I had my sleep sack. I woke up in the middle of the night to hear dingos howling which was both spooky and amazing! 
Another early morning! We were up at 5am to get to Uluru to see sunrise. Again it was cloudy, but there was a rainbow by the rock which was awesome! After the sun came up we walked around the rock on the Southwest side. Uluru is a single giant sandstone rock, and the red color comes from iron oxide in the dirt- which apparently 
was blown from another part of the continent relatively recently (only a few thousand years ago) and in places where there has been a lot of wind erosion you can see the original greyish white color of the rock. 
When we met up with the bus again on the other side of Uluru it started to rain, and Steve our tour guide gave us the option of doing the short Mala walk in the wet or to go to the visitor's center and stay dry. Hannah, one other girl and I were the only ones willing to brave the rain, and it turned out to be the best decision of our trip! Because it was pouring, water was collecting in pools at the top of the rock and flowing along paths down the sides in waterfalls and the whole rock became a milky white color. We saw some rock paintings which were much more simple than the ones we saw further north, and Steve explained this is because life around Uluru was much more difficult and most of the people's time was spent looking for food a fuel and they didn't have extra time to sit around and paint. We saw some sites where women butchered emu and ground and stored seeds. There was a cave called the Wave Cave because wind erosion has made it look like there are waves in the wall, and then we went over to a waterhole that tours don't always make it to. During the dry season it rarely rains much, so a lot of the people familiar with the area haven't seen it like this! Our guide and a couple of others were running around taking pictures, and apparently park rangers were stopping on the road to take photos as well. When we got to the water hole there were at least 4 waterfalls coming down in different areas. Some were just small streams, some were coming down through a series of pools on the face of the rock, and there was a giant one rushing one. While we were standing there looking at it I said to Hannah that I really wanted to run into it, and she said she was thinking the same thing. Steve said "I won't tell if you don't tell" and then it was pretty much decided. I pulled off my socks and shoes, rolled up my pants (not that it made a difference) and just ran in. I think the other two were surprised that I actually went for it, but once I ran back out they both went in as well. You aren't actually supposed to go swimming there, but we rationalized that it wasn't really swimming if you just run in. And anyway, how many people can say they've been under a waterfall coming down Uluru? Ridiculous. Hannah and I couldn't stop smiling all day. 
Luckily we could get dry clothes- it would have been a very uncomfortable 4 hr bus trip to King's Canyon otherwise. It stopped raining by the time we got to the campsite. A bunch of us scrambled up a hill like goats to watch the sunset. Leanne and Fabi taught some of us to line dance- apparently country music is huge in Canada. Who knew? We all made fools out of ourselves, but had a good time. Jane made damper bread for us- an Australian outback tradition. It's baked in big cast iron pot on the embers of the campfire. It was dense and delicious and we ate it covered in butter. We had another night in swags. A bunch of stuff was wet from the rain (unfortunately including the last sleeping bag which I had to use). Steve helped me heat it over the fire, and I had my sleep sack. I woke up in the middle of the night to hear dingos howling which was both spooky and amazing! 
No comments:
Post a Comment