Two things. One, it turns out that the Astro Guide was about 12 hours late with his forecast. That's okay, there are weather newsreaders that are AMS certified, whatever that may mean, who computer generate the bejeezus out the local weather and miss by more than that. Two, it was raining pretty hard this morning. It turns out that hard rain leaves a rather monochromatic look. See for yourself.
But, being the intrepid traveler that I would like to think I am, and thanks to Katy and L.R. giving me a pair of hiking pants and Rene buying me a rain jacket and convincing me that buying my third Barmah hat (and waterproof and kangaroo leather, no less), I turned to the the very nice woman from Brisbane and excused myself and said I hadn't come 12,000 miles to stand under a shelter in the rain and took off for the lookout point to see what there was to see. She understood.
The pictures are a little gray, but I did get to see what few who visit here see. The waterfalls cascading down Uluru. As Betty Seabaugh used to tell me, that's why you dress for the weather - and it kept us from freezing at the St. Louis Football Cardinal games all those years ago. After talking to several of the locals this morning, when they heard it was raining, they got up early to go see the waterfalls. It is that rare. It turns out our group saw what about one percent of the visitors to Uluru see when they come visit. The pictures don't do it justice, but trust me, it was the good awesome, just a little moisture (to borrow a phrase from a Port Douglas resident when it was raining a little the morning we left last week). Maybe a little more than a little moisture.
The self-anointed leader who doesn't have enough sense to get out of the rain. Got the black and white pictures at the lookout point, found the trail and started walking and with more light, and a let up in the rain, that's when you could see the waterfalls.
Followers at the lookout point.
We then went on our walks around Uluru (Ayer's Rock). Fun facts about the Uluru-Kata-Tjuta National Park. We're in World Heritage site again (in 1987, and yes, there is a theme here with many of the places we've been). The area is sacred to the Aboriginal people (the Anangu, who have been there 20,000 - 30,000 years, even before God created the universe, so say some Christian fundamentalists and a few of Presidential candidates for the Republican Party in 2012) and was given back to them in 1985. Uluru is 348 meters above the surface of the ground. And about 5 kilometers below it. Basically, this is part of a mountain range that was as high as the Himalayas hundreds of millions of years ago that has been pushed over on its side.
With the help of our tour guide, Jo, a very knowledgeable young woman originally from Toronto, we started out in the rain and some of the trails were small streams. So, someone (Jo) decided we should take off our shoes.
We're in the desert and the path is pretty sandy, so it was pretty easy. So, when I put my socks back on, there was no way I could get the sand off my feet, so instead of having wet shoes, I had slightly wet socks with a little sand in them. Hmmm.
From leader to follower in 30 minutes.
We took the Kuniya Base Walk, the Mutitjulu Waterhole Walk, the Mala Walk, and visited the Cultural Centre. Without telling all of the detail of the stories, there is all types of Anangu stories about how to live, treat one another, and know your role in the family. I will post pictures, but I am not getting the ones for the stories to come up. I will keep working at it and set up a separate post for those pictures and the stories that go with them. Meanwhile, here are some up close pictures.
Don't go chasing those.
Again, no chasing. When you get this close with this height, everyone just looks up and it gets really quiet. L.R. and Katy, it was a lot like the time we walked through the Narrows in Zion in 2002. You just look up in awe.
Aboriginal art. Bad picture. Not the art. Bad photographer.
Spilling into the largest water hole at the rock. The water table here is very high. There are no water restrictions here like you see in many deserts. The greenest desert, with the reddest sand, I have ever seen.
One of the watering holes. Unfortunately, it has been spoiled by the climbers (using Uluru as a toilet and a trash bin) and none of the fauna come around as they once did.
We saw a Joey. He was lost from his mum. He has scared. We just stopped, took pictures of course, and let him go where he wanted so he could figure out where to go.
No, not that one. This one. Not a great picture, but that joey was hopping and slipping all over the rock.
So, up at 5:30 and finished by noon. What to do? One, go to Kata Tjuta. Unfortunately, with the commitment to go to the Sounds of Silence Dinner later in the afternoon, I couldn't fit a walk to Kata Tjuta in and make dinner.
What to do. Go lounge by the pool? Take a nap? Noop. It's time to go ride a camel. Australia has the largest indigenous population of camels in the world. Darn near 800,000 of them. They brought the camels over to pack through the desert. Then they finished the railroad. So they just let them go.
And now, in an homage to Ed McMahon, hheeerrre's Johnny!
Proof that I was riding Johnny.
Here's Darcy. He was behind me and Johnny. From what I could tell, what Darcy enjoyed most was regurgitating his cud, getting about four inches from my left thigh, and burping up his camel spit and whatever else was in there on me. Thanks so much for the experience, Darcy.
Got back in time to plan out my getaway day, take a shower and go to the dinner out in the desert. It wasn't raining, so it was time to take pictures of Uluru at sunset. I think, well, not think, but hope, this will work. Enjoy.
Here is Kata Tjuta. The guide driving the bus said he thought it looked like Homer Simpson laying on his back. I didn't say that, the bus driver did. He was driving Bus #3 to the Sounds of Silence Dinner. For the record.
Seriously, after seeing Uluru and being exposed to some of the history, I need to get over to see Kata Tjuta. It would be a big miss not to do that when I am so close.
Almost sundown. Time to go see the stars. No, not B-list celebrities who can't dance, the stuff astronomers talk about. Though we did see some aboriginal dances after dinner. No sequins, but body paint. And no B-list celebrity judges, either.
I had considered climbing Uluru. With the rain and the slick sandstone, it was academic that was not going to happen. After learning the history here, I would never consider climbing it. Ever. It is sacred ground and it would be a shame to scar it. Besides, as the Anagu, say, why do it? There's no food or water up there. I guess they wouldn't think much of George Mallory's reasoning.
I think I have that figured out and can be at the airport in time for my flight tomorrow.
After dinner, some other star gazer came to point out several neat things about the view of the night sky in the Southern Hemisphere. An amazing sight. A clear night, no light pollution. I have never seen the band of the Milky Way so clearly in my life. And it turns out I was right about the two Magellanic Clouds I saw last night. Our star gazer pointed out how you use the intersection of the Pointers (Alpha and Beta Centauri) and the Crux to get the polar south, the Scorpion of Scorpio, the Lion in Leo, the Canis Major and Minor, and pointed out how the Anangu see the night sky, not to use the point to point system we do, but to look at the dark spots in the night sky to tell the story of the Emu. And the Emu is there. We just don't look at the sky that way.
The star gazer set a couple of telescopes on Saturn, which was showing its rings in full glory. Nice way to finish a great day - a day that seemingly didn't start well.
Cheers!
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