The Magic Rock In The Middle Of Nowhere

Index

The Heart Of Australia

Alice Spring

What Else Is There In Alice Springs?

Expectations

But….

Original Inhabitants

European Name Still Used

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The Heart Of Australia

Alice Springs, that is where I have to be, in the heart of Australia. The nearest city to Uluru, still more than 300 km apart. But that’s near to Australian standard. I am ready for a 21 hours bus ride from Palmerston (near Darwin) to Alice Springs to play tourist for a few days!

Alice Spring

And indeed as the bus gets further and further from the coast, the green gets replaced by the typical red sand of the outback. And then I am in Alice Springs a small little town, known only by tourist for Uluru.

What Else Is There In Alice Springs?

Well it’s one of the headquarters of The Flying Doctors and they have a museum about The Flying Doctors there that is quite interesting and apparently there was a big cricket test there between the Aussies and England, but I didn’t see it. Because I decided to take the tour to Uluru and the Kata Tjuta.

Expectations

I read and see pictures of it. I can’t go there without expectations. After 4 hours of driving I get the first glance of Uluru, what a beautiful rock standing there in the sun. The nearer I get, the more impressed I am. I was on a tour with 18 people and 2 guides. After driving around it, seeing the Kata Tjuta and read and hear at the information center about the history of the place. I get to walk around it. It was magic being so close to it, see it change colors with weather condition changing and sun position changing. I have never seen a tourist group of 18 people go quiet at the same time because they were so impressed by the magic of it! I truly feel I am on a special place on earth.

But….

There are somethings I find strange around the place. People are still allowed to climb the rock, although a lot of people died climbing it through the years and with every dead the sacred place has to be cleaned of bad spirits. It’s a risky business climbing it and not respectfull to other people’s culture. More and more people decide not to do it and just walk around Uluru, which is the respectful thing to do in my opinion.

Original Inhabitants

Another thing I find strange is that although the place is given back to the original inhabitants, aboriginals. They are not the ones showing people around and sharing the history of the place with me. I get to see the place all through the eyes of other Australians.

European Name Still Used

The last thing I was annoyed with although I can get it that the pronunciation of the local name of the rocks can be difficult is that on tourist demand they still use the European given name instead of the local name. Uluru is still called Ayers Rock and Kata Tjuta is called the Olga’s. But still it is worth visiting, it is truly a magic place!