4 Stray Katz: The Rock- exploring the heart of Australia

The Rock- exploring the heart of Australia

Thursday 26^th- Monday 30^th October

We spent four wonderful days immersing ourselves in the beauty and spirituality of Ulura and Kata Tjuta, and making the most of all the free activities offered at Yalata, the nearby township where all the accommodation is located.

Our days went like this:

Thursday 26^th October

On the drive in we all got excited when we saw a huge red rock in the distance, before Jackson pointed out that it had a flat top and didn’t look like Uluru. A quick check revealed it was Mt Conner (jokingly known at Fooluru as so many people are tricked by it). It wasn’t too long before we saw the real Uluru sitting majestically in the distance- it is so recognisable, we don’t known how we we’d made a mistake! After arriving at Yalata around lunchtime we set up and headed into the National Park to get our first up-close look at Uluru. We visited the Dune Lookout and spent some time at the Cultural Centre learning about the Anangu culture, including some of the traditional stories from the area. It was getting later in the afternoon and the café had closed but they had leftover pies they were giving away, so Jackson, Emilia and Daniel ended up with a curried crocodile pie as their afternoon tea!

We had an early night as we were all still tired from our 2 hikes the day before.

Eating a curried crocodile pies at the Uluru Cultural Centre- gotta love a freebie!

Friday 27^th October

We began the day with a Ranger led guided walk along the Mala track where we learnt about traditional laws guiding the Anangu people as well as some of the Men’s and Women’s sacred sites around Uluru, and the types of things that would have been taught to boys/men and girls/women by their elders at these sites. We visited some rock art sites and had the symbols explained to us. One of the sites was used as a ‘classroom’ to instruct boys in hunting methods and knowledge, before they were taken out onto the land to practice.

After the Mala walk, we walked around the base of Uluru, noticing the different shapes and textures of the rock and visiting some of sacred areas associated with the traditional stories we read about at the Cultural Centre. It was a very picturesque 10km walk, but we were all very hot by the time we got back to the car about midday. That afternoon Jackson, Daniel and Emilia attended a didgeridoo workshop where Daniel and Jackson learnt the basics of playing this unusual instrument (Emilia was not permitted to try as, traditionally, only men play). The also learnt that the instrument is actually called a yadaki, and ‘didgeridoo’ is just one of the sound patterns made (another mistake caused by the language barriers between early settlers and indigenous people). They had a great time and both managed to make some sounds.

That evening we met friends back at Uluru and watched the rock change colour as the sun set behind us. It was just magical.

On the guided Mala Walk we learnt that this overhang at the base of Uluru was used as a cooking and sleeping area by a family. You could see the marks on the rocks inside where spears had been sharpened and where food was prepared.

Walking into Kantju Gorge- one of the permanent waterholes at the base of Uluru

Some photos from our walk around the base of Uluru - I got a sore neck from looking to the right the whole way!

The rock was so different from each new perspective as we made our way around the base.

It was a super windy day and this section just seemed to funnel the wind through - our hats all got blown off.

Some of the rock art we saw along the walk.

The changing colours of Uluru at sunset that evening.

Saturday 28^th October

After getting up early we got to Kata Tjuta by 8am, so we could do the Valley of the Winds walk before it got too hot. The 7.4 km hike took us to several lookouts and right through the middle of the many rocky domes that make up this amazing place. The texture of the rocks were very different to Uluru with some sections made up of lots of small rocks (conglomerate). It was a really interesting and beautiful walk. After that Jackson, Daniel and I did the Walpa Gorge walk, where we walked deeper into the gorge until we reached a narrow crevice where an abundance of plants were growing.

That afternoon Jackson and Emilia took me to the yidaki (didgeridoo) session and I watched in amazement as the instructor showed us his skills. Jackson improved heaps and was able to make a few different sounds.

We spent another evening at the Sunset Viewing area, soaking in the magic of this special place in Australia. On the way back the previous night we had seen some of lights from the drone light show and I had worked out a lookout where we could watch it from, so we headed there. We managed to see half of the show and even got it explained to us, as there was a tour group up there watching too and their tour guide gave a running commentary- it was really good (and we didn’t have to part with several hundred dollars to see it).

At the start of the Valley of the Winds walk

Some of the conglomerate rock pieces along the walk

The view from the Karingana lookout

Photos from the Walpa Gorge walk that Jackson, Daniel and I did. Emilia stayed back and watched a group of small finches playing in a bowl of water.

Jackson did so well on his second attempt at the didgeridoo.

Sunset no.2 - this time we had dinner while we watched Uluru change colour

The kids had the perfect spot to get a great view of both Uluru and the setting sun.

Some of the drone light show we were lucky enough to see from a lookout on our way back from the sunset.

Sunday 29^th October

Daniel and I got up at 4.45am to get to the sunrise viewing area, where we brewed a coffee in the carpark before settling in to watch the rock change as the sky grew lighter. We couldn’t believe how many people were there, especially considering the ‘season’ is coming to an end and the resort didn’t seem to be too busy. There were 9 huge coaches full of overseas tourists and there were people everywhere. There wasn’t much of a sunrise as it was too cloudy, but it was still a beautiful morning.

After breakfast we did our first activity of the day – indigenous art. We all got some wooden animal cut-outs and a guide to traditional symbols, then we spent an enjoyable hour using the ends of skewers and chopsticks to paint our animals. I must say the kids ones are so much better than mine!

Next up was the didgeridoo lesson again – this time just Daniel and Jackson went (as it wasn’t much point Emilia and I going a second time as we were not permitted to use the instruments).

After lunch Jackson and I went to a talk on traditional bush foods of the area where we learnt about the grey and chocolate senna bushes (grey for making flour for damper, chocolate for a laxative (‘you make chocolate’ we were told!!). There were heaps of the grey senna bushes around the resort so Jackson picked a bag of seed pods so he can attempt to make his own ‘flour’ and then use it for damper.

In the afternoon we’d planned to take advantage of the air-conditioning and watch a movie in the theatre (they were playing free movies twice a day). The movie, Brand Nue Dae, was meant to be rated PG but after a few very questionable scenes and some explicit language we decided to leave!!

We had been holding off leaving Yalara as we were going to camp just up the road from the resort and it was too hot to get there too early. We ended up heading to the camp spot Daniel had scouted out the day before in the late afternoon – gosh it was incredible. We could see both Uluru and Kata Tjuta. We spent an enjoyable evening sitting at camp basking in the beautiful surroundings. We got to watch the sun set right over Kata Tjuta, watch Uluru change colour as dusk descended and then we got to watch the full moon rise over the dunes behind us. It was stunning. The next morning Jackson, Daniel and I got up early (Emilia likes her sleep these days!) to sit on a nearby dune and watch the sunrise while we had our coffees – it was so special.

We left early, before it got too hot, satisfied with the many memorable experiences we’d had during our time at Ulura- Kata Tjuta National Park.