Thursday 17th July 2014

We had another early wake up call, hello 3 am once again! We were on the road by 3:30 am, luckily we both slept most of the way, uncomfortable as always!

Derek stopped along side of the road as the sun was coming up and it was beautiful! We took hundreds of photos! Derek got Stu, me, Catherine and Noel on top of the trailer (a little unsafe) and he took some awesome photos! In-fact they were much better than my pictures I took!

We stopped off at the official South Australia and Northern Territory border for a few photos and breakfast! It was pretty chilly though!

We were back on the road about 8:30/9:00 am for another long drive till we reached our camp for the night. We finally did arrive at our camp at Uluru at 2 pm. I was so excited as I have been waiting to do this part of my trip since I have arrived in Australia.

Derek made us a quick lunch as we had our first encounter with Uluru with our base walk! We drove to the Uluru - Kata Tjuta National Park and we finally got our first glimpse of Uluru and it was pretty awe-inspiring! Something so huge in the middle of nowhere and so red! It was everything I had expected and more.

Derek couldn't take us on a tour round base camp as he isn't from the area and the elders of the local Aboriginal tribe haven't initiated him to walk around Uluru. Its hard to understand the culture of the Aboriginals but it is what it is! Luckily we had a Trevor who is a trainee tour guide but he is also from the area so he is allowed to take us around Uluru and tell us some history.

Uluru is sacred to the Anangu, the Aboriginal people of the area. The local Pitjantjatjara people call the landmark Uluṟu. This word has no further particular meaning in the Pitjantjatjara language, although it is used as a local family name by the senior Traditional Owners of Uluru.

The Aṉangu also request that visitors do not photograph certain sections of Uluru, for reasons related to traditional Tjukurpa beliefs. These areas are the sites of gender-linked rituals, and are forbidden ground for Aṉangu of the opposite sex to those participating in the rituals in question. The photographic restriction is intended to prevent Aṉangu from inadvertently violating this taboo by encountering photographs of the forbidden sites in the outside world.

It is sometimes reported that those who take rocks from the formation will be cursed and suffer misfortune. There have been many instances where people who removed such rocks attempted to mail them back to various agencies in an attempt to remove the perceived curse.

Uluru is sometimes referred to Ayers Rock, due to the surveyor William Gosse sighted the landmark and named it Ayers Rock in honour of the then Chief Secretary of South Australia, Sir Henry Ayers on the 19th July 1873. Since then, both names have been used.

The sandstone formation stands 348 m (1,142 ft) high, rising 863 m (2,831 ft) above sea level with most of its bulk lying underground, and has a total circumference of 9.4 km (5.8 mi). Uluru is notable for appearing to change colour at different times of the day and year, most notably when it glows red at dawn and sunset.

On 26 October 1985, the Australian government returned ownership of Uluru to the local Pitjantjatjara Aborigines, with one of the conditions being that the Aṉangu would lease it back to the National Parks and Wildlife agency for 99 years and that it would be jointly managed. An agreement originally made between the community and Prime Minister Bob Hawke that the climb to the top by tourists would be stopped was later broken. The Aboriginal community of Mutitjulu, with a population of approximately 300, is located near the eastern end of Uluru. From Uluru it is 17 km (11 mi) by road to the tourist town of Yulara, population 3,000, which is situated just outside of the national park.

The local Aṉangu do not climb Uluru because of its great spiritual significance. They request that visitors do not climb the rock, partly due to the path crossing a sacred traditional Dreamtime track, and also due to a sense of responsibility for the safety of visitors. The visitors guide says "the climb is not prohibited, but we prefer that, as a guest on Aṉangu land, you will choose to respect our law and culture by not climbing."

It was an impressive sight from all angles! It was a great walk and we really enjoyed it, we unfortunately missed the sunset due to Luca the Italian being Italian! But I did see the Olgas in the distance during the sunset which was fabulous!

We had a well earned shower back at camp, and sat around into the evening talking and drinking. We had our first night in our swag, Stu and I had a double swag which was awesome! I warmed up the swag with a hot water bottle plus we were right next to the fire.

We snuggled down and enjoyed looking at the stars while falling asleep!