The Red Centre

(Written 04/01, 17.27)

I think 'The Red Centre' is a great name for this place. I feel it captures both the danger of the heat and the sacred significance. 

I have just awoken after a beauty of a nap. It's a really nice long day when you wake up at 4am for sunrise! This morning I got the bus in the dark to the viewing point at Uluru (traditional name for Ayers Rock), and they were not joking, the change in colour of The Rock across sunrise is dramatic! My mind was further blown during the 10km walk around the base of Uluru that followed. I believe the base walk gives one more of an educaion and more opportunity to absorb the setting than the climb would have. I decided against it because it is disrespectful to the Anangu (the traditional owners of the land), and to reconfirm my decision, it was closed due to "Strong winds at the summit". This made me chuckle reminiscing about the madness at Tongariro Crossing!

The Anangu Law is called Tjukurpa, and though there is some education of this during the walk, apparently it is very private and so not much information can be disclosed to the public. This also included many sites around the rock that you could not photograph. There was a sign saying "It is inappropriate for images of this site to be viewed elsewhere", which I actually like a lot. It makes it more special to actually be there if you can't just Google Images it! Maybe this should have been applied to more places around the world? Maybe not?! 

Similar to religions and other cultures they have simple stories depicting the laws of Tjukurpa. Such laws include he who does wrong must be punished, but the punisher has the responsibility to look after the criminal until he is well enough to look after himself again. I guess that is the purpose of prison too in a way: to punish by taking away time, and to make the human correct in mind again ready for the real world.

I am quite a fan of tribal living I must say! Having walked ridiculous amounts across the last two months, I like the Anangu's emphasis on traversing land. They also have a great admiration for wildlife despite hunting being a big part of their lives (e.g. the boy's transition to man is largely based on hunting skills). This from afar seems to make little sense, but their hunting feels more natural and like it fits into the foodchain better, given the lack of advanced weaponary. 

Anyway, I was impressed at Uluru today in several ways, and I loved the warning signs everywhere about dehydration and 'extreme temperatures'! But at least with this one, it is pretty much in your control to stay safe by drinking water every 15mins, etc. Tomorrow I'm heading to Kata Tjuta, the other significant rock formation in The Red Centre, to do a couple of walks. Apparently it is even more spectacular and, interestingly, many of the evil characters in the Uluru stories came from Kata Tjuta!

(Written 06/01, 12.40pm)

Another 4am start yesterday to see sunrise lighting up Kata Tjuta, and that it did! I also saw sunset at Uluru yesterday, but sunrise is much more impressive. Effectively you are waiting for the colours of The Rock to fade with sunset, but at sunrise, the sun suddenly pops up and the rusty red of the rock begins to glow! 

Valleys of the Wind (7.5km) certainly lived up to its name! Kata Tjuta (meaning 'many heads') is a series of domes separated by valleys and gorges. It apparently used to be the same as Uluru, but cracks formed and eroded into the valleys it exhibits today. It actually allows a very different walking experience, because rather than walking around the massive rock, you walk through and are surrounded by towering (200-300m) redness. I forgot to mention before, but the surface of both Uluru and Kata Tjuta look exactly how I expect Mars to look close up! 

The valleys have a tunnel-effect with the wind. Standing in the valleys being feeling the cool breeze, looking out at lush greenery between the massive red domes was magnificent, and continued to remind me how we are all small packets of energy in a universe of energy. "We're all the same person when you turn out the lights" - some rap song I can't remember. 

The Valleys of the Wind was more challenging than the base walk, with some steep sections and the track primarily being loose rocks. It gave rise to awesomely unique views with the bright red and green as mentioned above, but unlike Uluru, there was no educational side. Apparently it is so sacred that no one outside the Anangu can be told what they believe about it! I did one more walk at Kata Tjuta (the Walpa Gorge walk) in the evening before going to Uluru for sunset (made the absolute most of my two-day shuttle bus pass!), but this had nothing on the first two. It was still spectacular to walk between the humongous domes, but beyond that it was neither challenging nor picturesque. 

I have one more day to chill out in this place that I have fallen for so hard, and then onto Thailand via Sydney. I'm sure it will be a little different to Australia and NZ, but will it compare?

For me:

During this walk I experienced I think my first lapse in two months - the first time I got annoyed at anything since beginning the travels. But encouragingly, I recognised that I was getting annoyed and stepped back to witness how silly I was being - getting annoyed at the incessant flies on my face, a couple of the people walking nearby, and the fact that I seemed to be getting a cold! (I believe I did well to be mostly unphased by the flies up to this point!) I literally chuckled when I realised that there was nothing to get annoyed about and continued calmly and happily! Being witness to yourself is the key!