Dear Readers:
On Thursday morning (our time, of course) we were up at 5 AM and flew (not at 5 AM!) from Cairns to Ayers Rock. Time change here of half an hour earlier. I’ve never heard of half hour time zone changes but it’s Australia! Ayers Rock is in the center of the country; it’s called the Red Centre because the desert ground is very red; reminded us a little of Arizona near the Grand Canyon.
The only reason to come here is to see 2 huge monoliths. In my initial itinerary I had left this area out; seemed too far away from everything else we were visiting. Several of you have been here and urged me to include it. The tipping point for me was my cousin Ben who lives in Melbourne (and yes we will be seeing him and actually staying with him when we are in Melbourne) who also said we should include it.
Everyone talks about Ayers Rock (or Uluru as the indigenous Aboriginal people refer to it) but we thought that the Olgas (or Kata Tjuta) were much more interesting. Each of these structures are the remains of an ancient mountain that eroded, was covered by the sea, compressed by heat and then buckled up again. Only 3% of each is visible; the rest extends 3 miles underground. The rocks are considered sacred to the local Ahangu people.
Ayers Rock looks like a huge rock from far away. When you’re in front of it, it looms up at you and you realize it’s enormous. It is 2 miles long and 1100 feet high. The Olgas look like a many headed rock. The tallest rock formation in the Olgas is 650 feet HIGHER than Ayers Rock; its base is 16 miles in diameter.
I am attaching a photo of each one as well as one that will give you an idea of how high Ayers Rock is. Look at where the tops of the trees are in relation to the rock.
It was 97 degrees when we arrived at Ayers Rock; they had closed off the hiking paths due to the heat. We stayed in our air conditioned car and drove to and around each of these structures. They are about 25 miles apart.
It was so hot that when we returned to our hotel, I opted NOT to go to the pool but to stay in my air conditioned hotel! I know most of you will find that stranger than my description of the area!
In the evening we went to a special dinner called the Sounds of Silence. It was touted as “the” thing to do at night and we reserved it at the time we reserved the hotel. The evening started with champagne and passed canapes in the desert while watching the sun set from a vantage point where you could simultaneously see both structures. The sunset was gorgeous and this was a fun experience. HOWEVER, I was under the impression that we would be where we would see the effect of the sunset on Ayers Rock and watch it change colors; NOT. This was the first disappointment of the evening. (I’ve included a photo of Marty and me and the sunset; Doug is insisting that I include photos of us in my reports but he better write to me or I won’t continue doing so!)
We then had dinner in the desert at table cloth covered tables. We sat at a table with 6 Australians and Marty now has 6 new friends. Of course, no one is surprised by this! He loved this aspect of the evening. The foods were traditional to the area; interesting but not exciting.
After the dinner we were supposed to have a talk from an astronomer about the night sky. The sky here is supposed to be incredibly full of stars. Well, I guess you can see where this going; “supposed to” were the operable words. It was a cloudy night and we saw all of two (count ’em!) stars. So disappointing. This time I got cursed by Jeanie who hoped we would have a very clear sky; (no, it’s not really your fault!) Oh well; can’t control the weather as much as I would like to!
So I guess based on my experience, I would have left this area out of my itinerary; perhaps if it hadn’t been cloudy, I would feel differently.
On to Adelaide and the Barossa Valley (Australia’s main wine country).
Much love,
The Adventurer
Irene
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