Wednesday, August 10, 2005
We set off towards Uluru in the morning. On the way we dropped in at the Henbury Meteorite craters. The 4-5 craters were formed by a meteorite which broke into a few pieces before it hit the earth. They are ancient and some had trees growing in them. One of them was like a lovely garden. A creek drains into it and the bottom is wet and supports plenty of vegetation. They could be mistaken for extinct volcanoes. We'd read that many iron rich stones were found in the vicinity. At the Natural History museum in Alice we'd seen some of these stones sliced and polished. They were almost entirely of metal, and very shiny. Some of them had a pattern, because of the way the metal had crystallised.
From the craters we decided to take the dirt road to Uluru, which ran for about 100km before joining a paved road. This was shorter than the highway. Bu the road was very heavily corrugated and sandy. The sand didn't bother us, but the corrugations took their toll on the vehicle. The welding job in Alice that had fixed the muffler gave up and we're back to having the muffler rattle around.
One often thinks of Alice Springs and Uluru
being close to each other. Looks quite close on the maps too. We just found out how far apart they were! There's about 450 km of road between the two and it took us most of the day to get there, including stops at the craters and for lunch. On the way was Mt. Conner, a mesa, which is very large and often mistaken for Uluru. It had a flat top, and the top half of the sides were vertical, and the bottom half sloping outwards. It was a dramatic sight in its own right, but I guess not afforded much attention because of Uluru nearby. We kept a watch for Uluru, and our first sight of it was only of its top. It was very late afternoon by then and we decide to go straight to the rock and watch sunset there. Hundreds of people visit the rock every day. But the entry fee is really steep at $25 per person to see a rock! Of course this allows you access for three days, but that was small consolation.
There is a car park from which sunset can be watched.
We were early and got good spots to watch from. It filled up later. The rock which was purple when we first spotted it from a distance was orange brown when we got to it. As the sun sank low towards the horizon the colour kept changing, to a glowing orange, a fiery red, and then a dull glowing red, like an ember. Finally, when the sun sank below the horizon, it dramatically became a dull brown, like the life had gone out of it.
There is no camping in the national park within which is Uluru and the Olgas. The nearest camping is at the resort just outside the national park. The only other choice is Curtin Springs which is 85 km away. We thought we might not get any place at the resort. We did, and at $26, it was the most expensive campground we've been in. Moreover, there are no designated campsites, just lawns. When we got to the one assigned to us, there were already tents all over the place. we got a spot for ourselves, but it was pretty cramped camping. Anyway, hope to be up to watch sunrise tomorrow monring and then do a few walks around the base of Uluru and the Olgas.
