Be Aboriginal!

Day 22: Wednesday, July 8th, 2015
Steps taken: 7.544

Another early start as we woke up before the sun in order to watch the sunrise on Uluru.  I slept all right, and got enough sleep.  I rolled up my SWAG, and got on our new G bus named Giles.  We set up our breakfast at the sunrise site parking lot.  I had a bowl of coco puffs.  I should have made a cup of tea since it was a chilly morning.  I brought my cereal to the viewing platform, which was fairly crowded by this time.  As the sun rose over Uluru, and the surrounding mountains, we got a reverse effect of what I saw on Anzac Hill.  The rainbow curtain formed, and gave a red glow to the rocks, then the colors faded into light and dark blue.  Majestic!

After the sunrise, we went to hike the Valley of the Winds.  I put on my dark blue Underarmour shit, and was ready.  The hike was easier than the day before although there were a few inclines that caused some exertion.  Having the Underarmour shirt was great.  I wish I invested in a few before Romania.  Live and learn.  Also, I really didn't have extra money for boots, breathable shirts, shorts, and pants between Antarctica and Romania.  I have them now, which is all that matters.  There was one path that led to the fort lookout that was like the Yellowbrick Road only brown and beige.  We followed the Brownbrick Road to Oz.  There were three lookouts, each one more spectacular than the last.  On the way, Kodak explained to us the formation of the major rocks in Central Australia.  He said that the bottom of Ayers Rock is 5,000 feet beneath the surface.

We rested at the top of the Valley of the Winds for a bit taking pictures, and selfies before returning to the bus.  From there we went to the cultural center, and set up our lunch.  I made a turkey, ham, mozzarella, camembert, and sundried tomato wrap.  I also had some olives, a pickle, and more rice crackers on the side.  Alex made friends with a bird who joined us.  She gave it some bread scraps before flying off.  Once we were done eating, we went into the cultural center.  There was a film playing, original paintwork around the inner circumference of the center, and details about some of the Aboriginal myths and customs.  There were a few Aboriginal women having a painting demonstration.  Watching them paint the very detailed and intricate patterns was mesmerizing.  I managed to pull myself away and looked around the gift shops.  Lots of cool items.  I really wanted a tie with Aborigine art on it, but they were $50.  I want to support their culture in any way I can, but that was a little too much for me at the moment.  I came back to the bus, and read a bit of the 6th/final book in the Immortal Nicholas Flame series The Enchantress, before we left the cultural center area.

From the cultural center, we arrived at the main area of Ayers Rock, and did two hikes around different sides.  There were people climbing, and if it wasn't profane to do so I would have. [Since then I wrote a short story about this kind of action.] Uluru is a sacred place, and climbing is discouraged but allowed.  We got to touch different parts of the rock and cave walls.  Kodak gave us information about myths, and the society on the first hike.  We were on our own for the second hike, which most of us did a Sonic the Hedgehog style speedrun of although there we had plenty of time before sunset.  I did a little more of a walk after the main goal, which was the watering hole.  The others missed out on a nice tree covered walkway, and the few flowers I had seen around the rock.

After the hikes, we headed to the sunset spot.  We were one of the first groups there so we picked a prime viewing spot.  We had plenty of time to kill so Kodak made us dinner early: chicken stirfry over rice.  We happily ate and popped open the champagne early as more and more people gathered.  The sunset was glorious.  The rock gradually became redder.  Ayers Rock was earthy before before it changed to gray and then purple before becoming a silhouette in the distant night.











We returned to camp while having a mini dance party on the bus.  We followed that up by roasting marshmallows, Timtams, and having drinking games around the fire while echoing "In the Jungle" that the campers on the lot over were loudly singing.  Around 10 I wiggled into my sleeping bag, and tried to sleep even though we didn't get up too early.  I stared up at the stars and the Milky Way for a bit, and then started to doze off while while some of the others still wanted to drink and have a good time.  That's fine, but just as I was starting to get comfortable, Catherine drunkenly stumbled over me on the way to the next camp.  GRRRRRR! It took a while to get comfortable again, but it was definitely a full and rewarding day despite getting stepped on at the end of it!