- October 3-4, 2022, Monday to Tuesday.
- One of the highlights of my great Australia sojourn is this trip to Uluru. I can't stress how meaningful this was because I never knew that I'd ever get the chance to see this sacred site in my life! Uluru is a giant red rock in the middle of an unearthly nowhere. It is a sacred site of the Anangu people. This is so sacred that the Australian government finally agreed to stop letting people climb Uluru in 2019. Today, people can only do an Uluru base walk, which I think is more than enough to see the beauty of Uluru!
- Before I go to the main details of my trek around Uluru, here is a list of places to get that PERFECT shot of Uluru:
1. Sunrise viewing area
2. Sunset viewing area (don't just stay near the parking area since lots of people congregate there; go to the short walking path at the side.)
3. Liru Walk (a 2km walk from the Mala Carpark to the Cultural Centre)
4. There are some random spots during the base walk where you MIGHT be able to get a photo of the whole of Uluru, but it will greatly depend on the lens of your camera/phone. Otherwise, the first three options are the surest spots for a nice photo of Uluru.
**Remember that the Uluru is HUGE so these spots a bit far from Uluru. It is incredibly difficult to get a photo of Uluru as a whole if you're doing the base walk.
- Directly after my morning hike at Kata Tjuta (see previous post), My Uluru Hop On Hop Off Bus took me back to my hotel, with around an hour to freshen up. I was later fetched from my hotel - after a costume change - to proceed to my Uluru base walk. Upon entering the bus, I was surprised to see a friend! In the middle of nowhere! We both did the Uluru base walk together, and honestly it was nicer to have someone to talk to during the long and hot walk around Uluru. It does make one forget a bit of the exhaustion and heat.
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| I met Jackson in the middle of nowhere in Australia. What a coincidence! He now lives in Sydney. |
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| Walking in the heat. |
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| so many curves and holes! |
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| Senior cave of men. |
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| In the cave. |
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| Some caves also show ancient Anangu petroglyphs! (Try enlarging the photo to see the cave drawings!) |
- Uluru is sacred and is connected to many myths and legends of the Anangu people. Some areas of Uluru did not allow people to take photos as they were more sacred. All the photos I am posting here are photos that I was allowed to take, at least based on the arrow signs around Uluru.
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| There are puddles of water on Uluru, and sometimes they overflown or get blown by the winds. When they flow down the side of Uluru, they often look silver (almost like Mercury!) because of the sun's reflection. |
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| That's normal water. The Anangu people in the old days would get water from Uluru as well. |
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| There were lots of crested pigeons! Too bad I didn't see wild kangaroos or wallabies though. |
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| A random full view of Uluru during the base walk. |
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| A tumbleweed!! Have you ever seen tumbleweed in your life? Yes, it's that ball of grass that gets blown around by the wind! Tumbleweed actually grow on land and that ones like this that get blown by the wind are the dead ones. It is during this stage when the seeds get spread around because it moves around. |
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| More alien-like holes. |
- The walk around the base is around 10km. Fortunately, there were some resting sheds and water stations along the walk, though not a lot. It was generally a more pleasant walk since it was flat, unlike Kata Tjuta.
- After finishing the whole base walk, Jackson and I proceeded to go through the 2km Liru Walk to reach the Cultural Centre. The Cultural Centre has a small museum, a souvenir shop, a cafe, a drinking station, and toilets (no photography allowed.) The Liru Walk gives a nice full view of Uluru from the side.
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| Its looks too perfect. |
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| Saw this random spot (and random logs??) during our Liru Walk. |
- Finally, our HOHO bus fetched us from the Cultural Centre and went straight ahead to the sunset viewing area. The HOHO bus always proceeds to the sunset viewing area during its last round for the day. If you do not wish to see the sunset, well, you really don't have a choice as that is part of its route before taking everyone to the hotel. Although I saw the sunset the day before, I was eager to see it again because I wasn't sure if Uluru would show other colors compared to the day before. Also, two beautiful sunsets is always better than one, right?
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| HOHO bus. |
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| Uluru turned gold again! |
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| Can't have too many sunset photos. |
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| Another sunset photo of Kata Tjuta. |
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| Photo from the bus; Uluru has turned into a deep red-orange color. |
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| Dinner at the hotel! |
- Apart from taking nice photos, another goal I had was to see Uluru to the point that I don't want to see it again (who am I kidding, this isn't possible). Since I didn't know if I'll ever have the chance to visit Uluru again in my life, at least I could say that I maximized my (very expensive) stay in Uluru. SO....to cap off my trip to Uluru, what better way than to see the sunrise?
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| Uluru with the stars of dawn. |
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| It's been here for millions of years. |
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| One final photo with Uluru. |
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| One last look before my plane takes off! |
- My flight back to Melbourne was midday so I had to hurriedly fix my things and check out of the hotel. The free shuttle bus took all of us to the airport. Sooner than I knew it, I was already back in cold cold Melbourne. I am not overselling it when I say that my experience in Uluru was magical - because it was. It is still one of the places that seems impossible to reach because it is in the middle of nowhere. To finally see it from dawn to dusk (literally!) is an experience of a lifetime!
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