1
It's already been over 8 months since we went to see Red Centre of Australia.
I realize it's much harder to write about trips after a long while.
Sadly I have to admit human temperamental tendency to move on or become blase
whether you want or not.
Uluru was one of a few places in the world I've always wanted to have a visit since I came to Australia.
Whenever we talked about going there the not- so- cheap-cost held us back for a time.
We also kept thinking we could go there anytime because it's in here.
We felt good with the fact that we finally made it like we finished a long lost homework.
Eddie was hugely immersed in the spirit of the land and also excited when we saw parts of Larapinta track.
He's been talking about hiking Larapinta End to End track( 241 km).
My daughter was simply happy to count off one at the bucket lists of hers.
My friend Valerie who is living in UK valued the place much more than man made civilized cities in Europe with a lot of ancient historical buildings and remnants.
On the other hand I have seen quite a few people who deprecated the meaning of Uluru both to indigenous people and
common tourists by thinking it's useless dry desolate desserts.
2
Sun was harshly strong and dry in Northern Territory.
It dawned on me that indigenous people beseeched water desperately for survival generation after generation.
Their rituals and religions must have been evolving around this beseech obviously.
Imagine how they had accepted it when they found the symbolic rock with affluent water in this dessert.
After agonizingly long years (who knows how long)of wandering and searching.
That's why understandably Uluru has been one of the most sacred places
and many of the caves around the rock hold deep meanings to the local Pitjantjatjara tribe.
Rituals are still held in the caves around the base of the rock.
At the last part of trip we visited a small run down village community hall
where we watched a documentary of their history and spent an hour trying to imitate their paints by making dots and lines.
I found it very soothing and unforgettable.
My daughter's impressive painting
Shockingly some bogan Australians are not so happy that on October 26, 1985 the land
ownership officially returned to Australian Indigenous people
and now Australian government and they work together in Uluru and Kata Tjuta National Park.
In 1995 they regained their original names too from Ayer's Rock and Mt Olga's National Park.
When we arrived at Alice Springs airport I found 3 hours flight from Sydney changed scenery quite dramatically.
They called it dessert but to me Dessert meant Sahara Dessert or something like the photo down.
It was incredibly dry and hot there so it's kind of miracle to see green leaves along with red dirt in fact.
Anyway they call it red centre, that's because it's in the centre of Australia and it had red dirt.
The Red Centre is the physical and metaphoric heart of Australia.
I reckon if you wanted to feel the heart and spirit of Australia you need to go and taste it there.
Before going there I asked Eddie and my daughter if they wanted to climb Uluru.
Of course they didn't want to.
At least we wanted to respect their spiritual and religious beliefs rooted around the place.
3
We stayed one night at Alice Springs and were picked up at our accommodation early morning
by a guide from a company with whom we joined a group tour around Uluru area for 4 nights and 5 days.
We traveled from Alice Springs to Uluru Kata Tjuta National Park and moved to Kings Canyon
and then to Glen Helen, Omiston Gorge, Owen Springs etc and finally back to Alice Springs.
It was a great distance of 462.8 km from Alice Springs to Uluru, took 5 hours and half hours.
I was impressed with various different kinds of short scarce green forms or plants in both sides of road.
They were in fact thriving in a harsh condition by adapting themselves to environment to the fullest.
It was definitely a very dry harsh dessert which was amazingly full of energy and fresh looking plants
to my great amazement.
Some people were picked up at Alice Springs like us, others from Uluru Air Port.
My family and two young guys from Melbourne were from Australia.
Except us everyone else was from overseas.
There were two female tourists from France,a young couple from Switzerland, an old couple from Belgium
with their daughter who was currently working in Tasmania, two elderly brothers from UK and then
at last a young newly married couple from Canada.
All together 16 people of us.
Half of them left after seeing Uluru, Kata Tjuta and Kings Canyon spending 2 nights and 3 days with us.
Actually those three places were highlights like you could expect from typical touristy trips.
Except I enjoyed the quiet morning atmosphere after freezing cold night at Glen Helen and other inconspicuous
places too.
As if we needed a proper closure.
Kings Canyon
Glen Helen
4
I find it always hard to talk to people naturally when you're in a group.
It's a weird feeling knowing you were with them for a short period of time sharing
everything like meals, memory and experience and then you would never see them again in your life time.
I tend to be more engrossed in activities and routines.
It's good to join a group where you learned how other people were doing
which we couldn't know without doing it.
Amazingly every member of this group was actually very nice,easy to talk to and caring.
It's always comforting to meet good-natured people.
Like typical generalization about nationality two British elderly brothers were very serious and rarely smiling.
I didn't have any chance to talk to them personally.
One time I happened to overhear them arguing about some things like kids.
Two young well-dressed guys from Melbourne were very polite.
But they kept some distances to themselves.
Swiss girl was smoking when we were gathering to admire the most splendid sun set around Uluru
which made me frown at first but later on I realized she was actually a very pleasant young girl.
Her boyfriend was a slim build and rather feminine type of guy.
He was quiet but almost always trying to help whenever needed.
When we were on the way to Uluru this Belgian couple were seating just behind us.
Wife was coughing so severely all the way there I was actually very concerned about infection from her.
Also she talked to her husband or daughter nonstop which ruined my intention to savor quiet moments.
However she also turned out to be a very nice lady too.
Husband had many things in common with Eddie.
Two of them were very enthusiastic for volunteering their efforts to almost everything during the trip.
They were always in the leading group beating younger less enthusiastic people.
Helping to cook or wash up,collecting wood for fire you name it...they were there.
Especially on the third morning after we spent a very pleasant night at Kings Creek Station
Jules our guide found one Tyre flat.
Two of them most eagerly helped him, made him and us happy.
One French girl didn't speak English very well and the other girl was translating for her.
On the second morning while we were having breakfast the talkative one was complaining about
cold night and disappointed that no one was complaining about that.
I laughed with her and explained I felt really cold too but after a hot shower I felt better.
Sleeping in a huge safari tent cabin was an interesting experience.
It had beds inside and tents were high enough like a small house.
Sleeping bags and pillows were supplied by them on the bed.
Red dirt was everywhere and over the trip accumulated on shoes, back packs and clothes.
It was not easy to clean them out later on.
More interesting experience was sleeping in a swag on the dried river bed
under the stars on the fourth and last day of the trip.
It was completely dried, there was no trace of water at all sadly.
Flat sand mound was warm heated by the strong sun during the day and
soft lying on top of it.
It was perfect to spread our swags there.
Still big and tall trees with dried barks were standing where it might have been
river banks.
First I was surprised it was pleasantly warm and cozy inside the swag
with my face out of it.
I heard dingos' howling several times during the night
and after midnight everyone else was in deep sleep I realized temperature
started dropping dramatically so I hid my face deep inside shivering in the swag.
Eddie was awake early as usual and he rekindled the fire for warmth and
cooking breakfast later on.
Jules was appreciative for Eddie's work later.
He woke me up quietly when he finished making fire alive
because he knew I was already awake.
We sat around the fire a while and people started getting up from their sound sleep.
We might go back there one day for Larapinta track to learn and experience more about the ancient land.
Hopefully.
swag from internet image
