Red Center Series: Uluru

So, here we are, Uluru, or, to give it its English Name, Ayers Rock. Firstly, its HUGE. The base walk around Uluru is 10K! It really is amazing. From far away it looks like one thing, the pictures that you see in brochures or on documentaries, and then, when you get up close, it looks like something else entirely.

The Anangu people, and culture has always existed here, from before European explores came in the 1870's. Until the 1930's Anangu continued to live a traditional nomadic life, travelling in small family groups, hunting and gathering from the land. The people worked the land in seasons, allowing the lands to die and the regrow burning certain parts to allow this process. They lived and performed ceremonies passing on and teaching knowledge and skills to young people. Many of they're ceremonies remain private to the culture, and are not allowed to be passed on or told to anyone outside the culture. As with Kata Tjuta, many places are sacred in Uluru, and not allowed to be photographed, out of respect for what they represent.

Although, over time, the land was taken over by others, in 1985 it was handed back, and now many of the Anangu people are keepers of the park, and are working with Australians to bring it back to how it used to be.

Now, I may have gone a little bit snap-happy, but, I defy anyone not to, so, I've broken down the photo's in 4 groups

From Far away . . .




From Up Close
















And its when you're up close, walking around the base that you can really imagine people living here. There are cave where people cooked, ate, slept. There are classrooms with Uluru where there are still marking and teaching, there are sacred places, some only women are allowed to know about, and some that only men can know about. Its a fascinating place, where you can definitely imagine the spirit of the people who lived there before.

And of course, a trip to an Iconic place wouldn't be complete without the sunset pictures. However, due to Uluru facing east, these weren't the best

But don't worry, the sunrise pictures the next morning more than made up for this, as you can see

What a way to start the day!

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Red Center Series: The Vally of the Winds

Morning!

Well, it was when these photo's were taken anyways, half asleep due to a fairly paranoid night of camping. Because the tour I went on aims to give you an authentic Outback Experience, so, we spent the night in swags. Basically a sleeping bag with a slight mattress on the bottom and a flap you can pull over your head to protect you from the element. The downside is that they are very very warm with the flaps pulled over, so its a choice between being able to breathe and being eaten by beasties. . . or possible dingoes!

I joke, dingoes don't eat you!

The bugs sure as hell do though!

Anyways, on the way to our next destination, Kata Tjuta National park, (pronounced Ka-ta-choo-ta) and our walk through the Vally of the winds we had our first viewing of. . . . Uluru

But, you don't really want to see that one, and if you do you'll have to wait until the next post! So, here we are at Kata Tjuta, which means "many heads' in the traditional Aboriginal Language. Its also known as the Olgas

There are a few walks you can take around Kata Tjuta, and this time, due to the early morning start I managed the longer one, which I'm really glad about, due to the really stunning scenery. Its one of those places where, I feel I just can't do it justice with photo's, its so much more amazing than I can show you. Also, A lot of the places are sacred to the Aboriginal people, so out of respect at they're request you can't take photo's of certain area's, which are either sacred or still used in ceremony. However, here's what I ended up with.

Where you can see the black lines on the photo below, this is where waterfalls happen, in the very rare occasion that it rains enough here for this to happen.

And here, at the end of the walk is the Kalpa Lookout, its pretty amazing!

And so there you go, end of day two!

Back soon with more really big rock photo's!

Thanks for Reading

Red Centre Series: Kings Canyon

Welcome to Kings Canyon, situated within the Watarrka National Park, and is a huge canyon 270m high. This was my first stop during a 3 day tour of the outback, which left from Alice Springs, involving lots of hiking, camping, red rocks, more green than is usual for this time of year. When arriving in Kings canyon you can do the rim walk, or do the creek walk. Due to my general lack of fitness and the fact that it was mid afternoon and 36 degrees, the following photos will talk you for a leisurely stroll along kings creek.

The Canyon

And the Creek (you know, just in case you got them confused)

While relaxing within the lovely bus on the way to our camping destination, we saw some wild horses, or, to be aussie about it, Bush Brumbies, an apparently really rare sight. . .

And finally, lots and lots of SKY. These photos are taken on Halls Creek, a station (or really large farm), which is where we camped. And when I say really large, I kidd you not 1,028,960 Acres of working farm. Its unreal!

Alright, so that was day one, day two up next!

Thanks for reading

Darwin

Humid thy name is. Seriously, it makes it hard to breathe! The best explanation I have for you is how it feels when you get out of the shower, when there's no fan/air con! But it was soooo green, such a change from what I'm used to know. On the shuttle from the airport I was staring in shock at the greenness! It felt very tropical, and its defiantly nothing I've ever seen or felt before. Sadly, due to a combination of the rain and me being disorganised I didn't get to see as much as I would have liked. But, here's what I found

And always a plus. . . REALLY big skies. . .

Will be back soon with more, they're about to get interesting

Thanks for reading =)