Day 13 – the great outback

Day 13 - Sunrise at Uluru
Originally uploaded by photog larry.

Off for a beautiful sunrise at uluru. It was what it was cut out to be, spectacular. We then headed to the rock to walk around the site, and potentially climb the rock itself. But we were thwarted by bad weather, so no climbing for us. Whether we would have chosen to climb the rock or not (either out of fear, or respect for the aboriginals), will forever remain a mystery. But for the record, the task of the climb seemed daunting, given the worn out rock, and chain that looked like it would uproot at any minute.



After this small disappointment, the tour guide kind of left us with “free time”, since some people wanted to walk the entire way around the rock, while others opted for a condensed route, and some didn’t care to stay out in the heat. Linda and I decided on the condensed route, given our need to be near the facilities. So we did our walk, taking the occasional picture. People were walking at their own pace, so eventually, it became just the two of us walking along the path.

We finally came to the end of the path, which led onto a road. The tour guide had told us that the air-conditioned cultural centre was just “over there”, down the road, close by, a short walk. That is where our bus would meet us.

We walked,
And we walked,
And we walked.
In the blazing heat.
Abandoned.

Honestly, there were times when I thought that we were just going to get forgotten and left there to roast.



Finally, after a 20-30 minute walk, we reached the cultural centre, where we basically collapsed and slept on a bench until the calvary came to get us.

After yet another sweaty meal of bread and cold cuts, we headed out to a campsite near Kings Canyon where we ate a decent hot meal cooked over a campfire and rested for the night. The night was hot, but considerably more comfortable than the night before. We got smarter this time, and slept outside of the tent. I was a little apprehensive at first, given the snake incident from the previous night, but I got over it, and exhaustion prevailed.