01 Jun NT Australia: Uluru & the field of lights
A 5-hour drive brought us nearer to the place where we had planned, Uluru. But first, let us admire the “sister” mountain, Mount Connor! Most of the rocks are sacred to the aboriginals and Mount Connor is no exception. I mean just look at the scale of it still standing magnificently from a far distance. It is no wonder this is called “Fooluru” by the locals because it has fooled many tourists to think that this is the legendary Uluru or Ayer’s rock.
Mount Connor is really one of a kind… sight. How nature (erosion) worked its way through this rock to form this perfect flat-top is just amazing. The entire land leading up to the rock revealed layers of beautiful colours. The different hues of orange, brown and greens reminded me so much of a kueh lapis cake. I guess the desert really makes one hallucinate of food and water… hehe. Since Mount Connor is located on private land, we can only admire it from afar.
Mount Connor
Petermann NT 0872, Australia
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The sun was about to set when we reached Uluru and we were really excited to be greeted by what seemed like the rock is about to reflect a vibrant orange. Thankfully, we were in time to get to the sunset viewing platform and witnessed the rock turned from the usual dull brown to an extremely vibrant orange and red hue. It was like magic! The vibrant glow however ended within minutes. At least I had it documented in my camera… phew~. But to truly be awed by its beauty, you’ve got to see it for yourself.
Uluru / Ayer's rock
Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park, PO Box 119
Yulara, NT 0872, Australia
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TIP
I would recommend staying for at least 3 nights or better still, a week if you can spare more days. Because you might just not be lucky enough to catch the orange sacred rock due to bad or cloudy weather. In the day, it’s scorching hot so be sure to slap on the sunscreen. When the sun sets, the temperature dips extremely low so remember to pack warmer clothes for the nights.
We managed to catch the glowing Uluru rock on the evening we arrived but unfortunately for the next 2 days, it didn’t happen. The trip would have been incomplete and a huge disappointment otherwise so we were super glad that we at least caught it once!
We spent the next entire day exploring Red Centre. We waited for the sunrise in the morning and hiked around Uluru base walk in the noon. The Uluru base walk is a 10km plain track around the circumference and we took about 4 hours leisurely to complete the entire round.
Uluru is a sacred place for the Anangu aboriginal and we respect that so we didn’t climb up like the other tourist did. We grew up to be law-abiding citizens in our own country, so it comes naturally that we follow the rules of the places we travel to. It has been reported that Uluru is higher than the Eiffel Tower and people have died trying to climb it…eeps. Let’s just avoid any possible casualties and admire the sacred rock as it is.
There were parts of the rock that were meant to be sacred so I didn’t take many photos. Also, they encourage people to visit Uluru in person to really experience the greatness of Uluru. PS: Mouse over the photos below to read the description.
Uluru base walk
Valley of the Winds
We headed to the Valley of the Winds in Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park next. The crazy couple, A & E picked the level 4 difficulty route, as usual, that took them about 3 hours to and fro from the starting point to the Karu lookout area. My legs were traumatized by the previous hike in Ormiston Gorge a few days back so we opted out and volunteered to wait for them.
One thing for sure is that it is EXACTLY how it’s named, Valley of the Winds. You can’t tell from the photo but it was soOoo windy and loud we couldn’t hear each other. We definitely missed out the amazing view according to what the buddies shared with us when they got back but glad they enjoyed it on our behalf.
Petermann NT 0872, Australia
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Kata Tjuta / The olgas
The sunset at Kata Tujta / The Olgas looked so amazing with streaks of our shadows. *We haz long legs!*
Here’s a short clip of the places we visited around the Red Centre. Again, because there were too many sacred places, we refrained from showing too much. But check out the moving sun rays on the rock already… stunning!
Field of Light Uluru
We ended the night staring at a vast field of glowing colourful lightbulbs. The weather had been so kind to us during the day while exploring Uluru. We got to watch nice sunset and the perfect light show to end our last night in Uluru. It has been nothing but Perfecto!
Stay tuned for our trip back to Darwin where we visited the waterfalls in Litchfield National Park. To be continued…
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