Getting there
Ayers Rock is smack dab in the centre of Australia. The closest city, Alice Springs, is 600kms away then the next, which is Adelaide, is 1600kms away and there is literally nothing in-between. Michelle and I didn`t come from Adelaide we came from Cairns which is 3000kms away and there’s really nothing in-between other than gas stations, camp sites, dead kangaroos on the side of the road, narrow bumpy roads and lots of long scary road trains. When you travel on reasonably well used outback roads it is not uncommon to encounter a road train. This is a multi-trailer, long truck (can be up to 55 meters long) and when one comes towards you it`s best to give it plenty of room by driving off the road or steer as far away as possible to your side of the road and stop.
We arrived at Ayers Rock just as the sun was setting. It was a very impressive sight as the sunset created the effect that the glowing red rock itself changed its colour through a series of deeper and darker red shades before it faded into grey as the sun dropped beneath the horizon. The same performance in reverse is performed each morning at sunrise so we decided to come back the next day to see it.
It was a cold and early morning rise for Michelle and myself. We awoke at 5 a.m. so we could make it to Ayers Rock for the reverse sunset. The temperature dropped below 0 that night and since all of our camping gear was for the tropics we spent the majority of the night shivering and wondering how the hell the desert in the centre of outback Australia could be so damn cold. We got up packed up our icy camping gear, scraped the ice off the car and headed still shivering towards Ayers Rock.
The Rock
Ayers Rock is to Australians what Mecca is to Muslims. Every Australian feels they must make the pilgrimage to the red centre to see it some time in their life. Considering that 98% of Australians live on the coast and it is right in the centre of the continent, it is an arduous journey for those who decide to get there by road.
Ayers Rock (Aboriginal name is Uluru) within the Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park is an imposing red monolith rising 348m out of the red surrounding scrubland. Uluru is 3.6km long and shaped like a baker`s loaf of bread. It has a 10km circumference at its base - it is believed that two thirds of the mighty rock lies beneath the sand. Terrible joke: I heard form an English guy it weighs One Stone. There is literally nothing around for hundreds of kilometres other than flat desert, which adds to the effect of this huge red rock jutting out of the earth.
The Climb up
The Rock is sacred to the Aboriginal people of Australia and they have requested that people stay off of it. I am a conscientious person and normally respect such requests but I just couldn`t stay off it after driving 3000 dusty km to get to it, hearing of the supposed danger in climbing it and what I was imagining the view to be like at the top. I couldn`t resist being the ignorant tourist who doesn`t respect local’s wishes, besides that everyone else was climbing it too. Michelle decided not to climb it, not so much I think out of respect for the aboriginals’ wishes but more for the fear of death.
Several people have fallen to their death over the years trying to climb it. The heat in the summer can reach up to 50 degrees C and the first half hour of climbing to get to the top is very steep. There is a chain to hold onto the way up because there are points that would be too steep to make it without it. After the half hour of climbing there is another half hour walk across the top to get to the other side.
When I got to the viewpoint at the other side to my luck there were no other disrespectful climbers like myself. I had it all to myself. The view was incredible. I could see for what had to be 200 kilometres in every direction.
It was a Marlborough moment once I got to the top. I hadn`t thought ahead and bought some Marlborough’s though so the Benson & Hedges that were in my pocket had to do.
I sat at the top feeling the freest I have ever felt. I had been on the road for over 3 months and had at least a year left to go with no definite plans of where to go, with my own car and lots of money to burn. Australia was mine for the taking; I was in the centre of the biggest island in the world and could go in any direction I wanted when I left here.
My half hour of serenity at the top is my most memorable and cherished moment in the year I spent circumnavigating Australia.
