Up close and personal
Noona, Ronald and Sophie
One of the ancientsAyer’s Rock resort is a purpose built tourist facility that cost in the region of £60m to build. The first tourists arrived in 1958 and the resort itself was developed in the 1980’s. It can cater for 5,000 visitors at a time and is permanent home to about 550 people. The free shuttle bus from the airport gave me a fine tour of what the resort has to offer. A mixture of modern hotels, souvenir shops, a tourist information office and a very good supermarket.
There appeared to be some form of bee keeper’s convention going on as virtually every other person I saw braving the afternoon sun was wearing thick netting over their head. Those that were not heavily netted were all very friendly and waved furiously as the bus went by.
My own accommodation was very much at the budget end of the market – the Outback Pioneer Hotel. Part hotel, part hostel, it was far from luxurious but had everything I needed and best of all I was given a 4 berth room all to myself for my two night stay. Freedom to snore and no mad Germans to shake me awake.
Having parked my backpack in my austere but functional room I covered myself in sun block and set off on foot to explore the resort. I hadn’t gone very far before I too began to wave my arms frantically, as I was beset by a huge number of flies. I made my way hurriedly to the tourist information office and took refuge from both sun and flies in its air conditioned comfort. 15 dollars procured me a sturdy net to cover my head and shoulders and I was able to step outside protected from winged invaders but feeling pretty stupid. The thick net flapping around my face only marginally less annoying than the constant attention of the sodding flies.
All the guidebooks will tell you one thing about Ayer’s Rock Resort – it’s bloody expensive. Being in the middle of nowhere means two things. Firstly, every commodity has to be transported to the resort, adding to the costs. Secondly, once you arrive at the resort you are a captive with little by way of choice when it comes buying essentials. I made my way to the supermarket braced for a shock and clutching a fistful of dollars. But I was pleasantly surprised. The supermarket was well stocked and had special offers just like any other; I was able to buy enough provisions for my stay for under fifty dollars (about £25). Back at the hotel it was much the same as anywhere else I’d stayed, with very welcome cold bottles of beer costing only five dollars.
I did set an alarm for the next morning – for 4.30 am. Despite the early hour I was quick to get out of bed and full of excitement. I had reached the culmination of my Australian adventure and was about to embark on a trek the most iconic feature in Australia – Uluru. I am not religious, but I do love the atmosphere of places of religious significance. In Beverley, the medieval market town where I live, there is a beautiful minster that dates back to the thirteenth century. It is one of the most peaceful and tranquil places that I know. I had huge expectations of this place of spiritual meaning and that was why I had made it the goal of my travel across Australia.
Before the white man came there were over 500 aborigine tribes in Australia and one of them, the Anangu, have been the traditional custodians of Uluru for over 36,000 years. Historically the Anangu were a nomadic people who lived off the land. A remarkable feat when you consider the harshness of the landscape. Astonishingly, members of the tribe were still living the nomadic life as recently as 1968.
Despite such a lengthy association with Uluru, the rock was formally ‘handed back’ to the Anangu in 1985.
By 5.15 I was waiting outside the hotel, with my daypack laden with water and the sky above still dark. My guide for the morning, Sophie, soon arrived in her well equipped Land Rover. We were being joined that morning by just two others: a lovely couple from the Netherlands called Ronald and Noona. Ronald was a retired lawyer and we picked them up at one of the more luxurious hotels. I doubt you could get a beer there for five dollars.
The resort is about 12 miles from Uluru so it only took about 20 minutes to drive there and park up, ready for our 7 mile walk around the base of the rock, or monolith as it is sometimes called. I had always imagined Uluru to be oblong in shape, a bit like a loaf of bread. I thought this as every image I have ever seen shows the rock from the same perspective. In fact, Uluru is a very irregular shape if seen from above.
There is a very good reason why photographs of Uluru always show it from the same viewpoint, as Sophie explained:
‘Uluru is a sacred place to the Anangu people. It is central to their beliefs and certain parts of it are used for sacred ceremonies.
‘Traditionally, there are areas which only the men are allowed to see and areas that only the women can see. As we make our journey the sacred sites are clearly marked and the taking of photographs is strictly forbidden. The reason for this is so that the aborigines do not inadvertently see images of the forbidden sites.’
There are no sacred sites among the facet of the rock that appears in all the photographs. Of course, another reason that all pictures of Uluru look the same could be that they are taken from the designated viewpoint, to which there is easy access by road. Photographing Uluru from another angle would mean venturing into the unforgiving landscape and risking a meeting with one of those 18 species of deadly snakes.
There appeared to be some form of bee keeper’s convention going on as virtually every other person I saw braving the afternoon sun was wearing thick netting over their head. Those that were not heavily netted were all very friendly and waved furiously as the bus went by.
My own accommodation was very much at the budget end of the market – the Outback Pioneer Hotel. Part hotel, part hostel, it was far from luxurious but had everything I needed and best of all I was given a 4 berth room all to myself for my two night stay. Freedom to snore and no mad Germans to shake me awake.
Having parked my backpack in my austere but functional room I covered myself in sun block and set off on foot to explore the resort. I hadn’t gone very far before I too began to wave my arms frantically, as I was beset by a huge number of flies. I made my way hurriedly to the tourist information office and took refuge from both sun and flies in its air conditioned comfort. 15 dollars procured me a sturdy net to cover my head and shoulders and I was able to step outside protected from winged invaders but feeling pretty stupid. The thick net flapping around my face only marginally less annoying than the constant attention of the sodding flies.
All the guidebooks will tell you one thing about Ayer’s Rock Resort – it’s bloody expensive. Being in the middle of nowhere means two things. Firstly, every commodity has to be transported to the resort, adding to the costs. Secondly, once you arrive at the resort you are a captive with little by way of choice when it comes buying essentials. I made my way to the supermarket braced for a shock and clutching a fistful of dollars. But I was pleasantly surprised. The supermarket was well stocked and had special offers just like any other; I was able to buy enough provisions for my stay for under fifty dollars (about £25). Back at the hotel it was much the same as anywhere else I’d stayed, with very welcome cold bottles of beer costing only five dollars.
I did set an alarm for the next morning – for 4.30 am. Despite the early hour I was quick to get out of bed and full of excitement. I had reached the culmination of my Australian adventure and was about to embark on a trek the most iconic feature in Australia – Uluru. I am not religious, but I do love the atmosphere of places of religious significance. In Beverley, the medieval market town where I live, there is a beautiful minster that dates back to the thirteenth century. It is one of the most peaceful and tranquil places that I know. I had huge expectations of this place of spiritual meaning and that was why I had made it the goal of my travel across Australia.
Before the white man came there were over 500 aborigine tribes in Australia and one of them, the Anangu, have been the traditional custodians of Uluru for over 36,000 years. Historically the Anangu were a nomadic people who lived off the land. A remarkable feat when you consider the harshness of the landscape. Astonishingly, members of the tribe were still living the nomadic life as recently as 1968.
Despite such a lengthy association with Uluru, the rock was formally ‘handed back’ to the Anangu in 1985.
By 5.15 I was waiting outside the hotel, with my daypack laden with water and the sky above still dark. My guide for the morning, Sophie, soon arrived in her well equipped Land Rover. We were being joined that morning by just two others: a lovely couple from the Netherlands called Ronald and Noona. Ronald was a retired lawyer and we picked them up at one of the more luxurious hotels. I doubt you could get a beer there for five dollars.
The resort is about 12 miles from Uluru so it only took about 20 minutes to drive there and park up, ready for our 7 mile walk around the base of the rock, or monolith as it is sometimes called. I had always imagined Uluru to be oblong in shape, a bit like a loaf of bread. I thought this as every image I have ever seen shows the rock from the same perspective. In fact, Uluru is a very irregular shape if seen from above.
There is a very good reason why photographs of Uluru always show it from the same viewpoint, as Sophie explained:
‘Uluru is a sacred place to the Anangu people. It is central to their beliefs and certain parts of it are used for sacred ceremonies.
‘Traditionally, there are areas which only the men are allowed to see and areas that only the women can see. As we make our journey the sacred sites are clearly marked and the taking of photographs is strictly forbidden. The reason for this is so that the aborigines do not inadvertently see images of the forbidden sites.’
There are no sacred sites among the facet of the rock that appears in all the photographs. Of course, another reason that all pictures of Uluru look the same could be that they are taken from the designated viewpoint, to which there is easy access by road. Photographing Uluru from another angle would mean venturing into the unforgiving landscape and risking a meeting with one of those 18 species of deadly snakes.
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