Day 18 - AM - Uluru Sunrise

It is no use traveling so far and not seeing the sunrise which so many people describe as a beautiful sight when the sun hits The Rock and shimmers in many shades, so this I thought is definitely not to be missed. Unfortunately for Chalk this meant rising at 4.15am and he was obviously weighing up the possibility of talking us out of it. Although this is one of his strengths, I often think of him as Perry Mason Oldfield, strangely enough he gave in quite easily so off to bed!

We were actually at the Reception before the mini bus collected us, (can you believe that).
As we approached the Rock it was hard to think of how to describe this enormous rock which in the darkness of the morning looked quite eerie. William Gosse, the first white man to see the Uluru described it as “an immense rock rising abruptly from the plain ….
this Rock is certainly the most wonderful feature I have ever seen”. Gosse named it after Sir Henry Ayer, the then Chief Secretary of South Australia. I have to say, when one gets up early to see this event (there are many others, mainly Japanese) it is quite exciting the only problem was the 90% cloud. Still we then filled the morning with visiting the Cultural Centre, which at the point of time, was Closed! Undeterred, we went back to the Rock for guided tour Our guide was really good, a young girl (for my English friends and family, the image of Kate, Prince William’s girl friend) very interesting and knowledgeable, many stories with humour with regard to how the aborigine’s think. One story was, the boomerang they use is more like a hockey stick than the conventional ones we see in the shops, this is because , quote: they are stupid, if you use those, they come back and bloody hit you!!

I have to tell you the Japanese intrigued us at one point as when they approached the Rock they were all wearing white gloves, this was due to a wind up in The Lonely Planet Guide, telling them this was a mark of respect, I think the person who started this story must have had shares in glove manufacturing!

After the tour, we then walked round the Rock! Lesley asked me if the Rock was big?
My reply was, it takes three hours to walk round the base of it, her reply has been banned!

I am not going to go into great detail here, let me just say, by this time (actually I was ready to go back for coffee or lunch or even breakfast!) the heat was intense, there are interesting points to look at with their drawings and caves etc but there are lots of areas which you are not allowed to photograph, as they are sacred. There are some areas for the women and some for the men, I am not sure how much they got together, I could think of some of my friends that would quite like this idea.