So when I asked Rob what we should call this blog, his suggestion was ‘the furthest point from water’ It’s actually pretty fitting! After nearly 18 months in Australia, we finally took a proper holiday to explore an iconic part of this country – the Outback. We spent 5 days in what is called Australia’s Red Centre, which is located in the Northern Territories. This area of the country is a vast desert landscape, with very few towns or people, but a rich Aboriginal culture. It was a trip I’d been looking forward to for months and I was not disappointed!
One of the main draws to this part of the world is Uluru, a massive rock formation that rises out of this otherwise very flat landscape. For many years, this rock formation was called Ayers Rock but its name was changed to Uluru in the 1990s to honour the Aboriginal heritage of the Anangu people, and their ownership of this land. Since then, the Anangu people have worked closely with the Australian government to conserve and protect this land, but also to continue to share its beauty and spiritual significance with the world. One of my favourite parts about this trip was reading the Aboriginal yarns (stories) that described each of the formations and crevices in the rock. The Anangu paintings were also stunning – if only I had a spare $3000 for art!!
The bulk of our trip was spent walking and hiking. It gets super hot in this part of the country and I’m not sure I would suggest a trip here much later into spring/summer than this. We were actually probably pushing it a bit! The humidity is less though than where we live so in some ways, we didn’t feel the heat as much. But we did experience the flies – they were just relentless!
Fortunately, Rob picked us up some fly nets before left.
There are a number of different walks you can tackle at Uluru and we managed to do all of them in the few days we were there. The walks are quite leisurely actually, and pretty flat, and are only rated more difficult depending on the overall length of the trail. The nice part of the flat trails is that it let you really take in the beautiful sights as you walked around Uluru. The texture and colour seemed to change every few steps. Here are just a few of the many, many pics we took …
The colour of Uluru also changes colour across the day. It’s a bit more brown in the day like in the first picture in the post and turns bright red as the sun sets. Absolutely gorgeous!
Sunset at Uluru
When I mentioned to people we were travelling to Uluru, many people asked if we were going so we could climb it before climbing was banned. I will admit I didn’t fully understand what they were talking about but I quickly figured it out when we arrived. There is one section of Uluru where a handrail has been installed to assist people to climb to the top. However, there are signs posted everywhere where the Anangu people request that people not to do this, not only because it is considered sacred and of spiritual significance to the Anangu people, but also because climbing it is extremely dangerous and the Anangu people feel responsible whenever someone is hurt or dies in attempting this climb. The government has agreed to ban climbing Uluru, but not until October 2019. Before I even saw the climbing trail, I couldn’t even consider climbing it out of respect to the Anangu people. However, I think even if we had considered it, this sight of the trail would have certainly changed our minds quickly!
Although Uluru is the natural wonder that draws people to this part of the Outback, there is another amazing formation called Kata Tjuta located about 50km away in the same National Park. From afar, I thought it looked even more impressive than Uluru and I never tired of seeing it in the distance when we were driving.
The walking at Kata Tjuta is much more of a proper hike than a leisurely walk. There were steep hills where you were clamouring up loose or slippery rock, but it was 100% worth it. The views were absolutely breathtaking!
And we even some some bursts of colour as we walked along.
After a long, hot, challenging hike, we were able to head back to the resort and relax by the pool with a few cold drinks. A perfect end to the day! Well that, and the all you can eat Oyster bar at the restaurant we hit for dinner!!
When we first moved to Australia, I saw an advertisement for the Field of Lights art show at Uluru and it is truly what prompted this whole trip. It was meant to finish in December 2019 so we made it a priority to travel here before it ended. It was truly one of the most amazing sights I have ever experienced and seriously took my breath away. Of course, pictures cannot remotely do it justice! The display was created by Bruce Munro, covers 49 000 square meters of land, includes 380km of optical fibre that lights up 50 000 ‘flowers’. The lights are solar powered and all the materials are re-usable and change colour constantly. As we wandered through the pathways, I actually felt like I was Dorothy wandering through the poppy fields in Oz.
To add to the stunning sight of all of these lights, was a sky filled with stars. Truly a perfect way to end our Outback adventure.
