Uluru....here I come!

Friday (2008-09-12)

Up at 6am...quick continnental breakfast...and over to the hotel next door to meet the group that I'll be travelling with for the next 30 days.

Well, it wasn't the entire group...only 1/2, we'll meet the other half when we swing back to Alice Springs in a couple of days.

After some introductions and paper work we were on our way to Uluru, aka Ayres Rock, aka "The Rock"...the red moniloth in the middle of nowhere.

During the 5 hour ride, which included time for a quick roadside lunch, I had the opportunity to learn a little bit about who is on this trek with me. So far we have our tour guide, an Australian, Matt; 1 Hollander, Peter, and 4 folks from the UK: Sophie, Nikki, Amy and Paul (whom I had met on the ride to Annie's Place).

Once we arrived in Ayres, we set up tents at the Ayres Rock Resort and headed over for a 9.4km hike around the base of Uluru. Formerly known as Ayres Rock, the lands are a sacred place for the local Aboriginees, who refer to themselves as Anangu, "The People". Recently, the lands were formerly returned to the Anangu under the condition that they would be leased back to the governments National Park system. As a result the lands are now managed by a shared team of Aboriginees and Government members.

There is the opportunity to climb Uluru; however, the walk is a traditionally sacred walk for the Anangu and as such they have requested that tourists not do it. In consideration of this, we instead did the 9.4km hike around the base.

Uluru is not the only formation out here in the desert which doesn't look like it belongs, but it certainly is the most famous and perhaps the one most surrounded in mystery. What I mean is that because Uluru plays a very important role in the spiritual culture of the Aborignees; there's a lot of locations and information about how those locations were used in their ceremonies which just isn't made available to visitors. There are several sites around the base which are out of bounds and where photography isn't permitted. It certainly all adds to the mystery of the monolith.

As for my experience hiking around the base; I couldn't say it was anything spirtual for me; however, it was quite amazing in it's own right; especially realizing that for me this hike represents a culmunation of many months planning and many more years (many, many years) of dreaming.

After the hike we took up position to watch the sunset behind us. As it sank below the horizon, the sky was filled with various hues of red and blue while the face of Uluru was set a blaze in a brilliant orange. And by chance if that wasn't wild enough, there was champagne, strawberries, cheese and crackers for all as well.

Quite the beginning for what I'm sure is going to be an amazing experience!