Blog 20 Uluru

After a relaxing morning in Alice Springs, we flew to Yulara, the airport and town that service Uluru.  It was a very bumpy takeoff due to the heat, but thankfully it was only a 50 minute flight.  As we neared Yulara, we could see large dried salt beds that resembled a geode rock split in half.  We also saw Uluru for the first time.  The pilot flew a 360 circle near the rock so everyone could see.  As we neared the airport we saw a large fire burning in the brush.  We asked out guide if it was a controlled burn and he thought it was.  Wrong – it was an out-of-control brush fire that had come very close to our hotel – Sails in the Desert.  When we landed the pilot told us the temperature was 41 C or about 1046 F.  And again, the little black flies were everywhere, especially in your face.

We made a short stop at our hotel and then drove out to Uluru National Park.  Driving into the park you could see the fire burning and at one point a Willy-Willy – the Australian term for a fire tornado – formed.  It was a little frightening but also awe-inspiring.  

Willy-willy from the bus

Once in the park we visited the Cultural Center to learn a little about the Anangu, the indigenous people who own and look after the rock.  Then we took a 40 minute hike down to Mutitjulu Waterhole near the rock.  Our guide (who was also our driver) told us the story of Kuniya and the Liru and point out the features of the story on the Rock.  Here is the story as it was passed down by the Anangu:

Kuniya, the woma python, and Liru, the poisonous snake.

The Kuniya and Liru story occurs on different sides of Uluru, but their deadly battle took place near Mutitjulu Waterhole.

The Kuniya woman came from far away in the east to hatch her children at Uluru. She carried her eggs strung around her neck like a necklace and brought them to rest at Kuniya Piti on Uluru’s north-east corner. There she left the eggs on the ground.

Kuniya camped at Taputji and hunted in the nearby sand hills. As she left and entered her camp, she formed deep grooves in the rock. These grooves are still there.

One day, Kuniya had to draw on all her physical and magical powers to avenge the death of her young nephew, also a Kuniya.  He had enraged a group of Liru, or poisonous brown snakes, who travelled from the south-west to take revenge on him.

They saw him resting at the base of Uluru and rushed upon him, hurling their spears. Many spears hit the rock face with such force that they pierced it, leaving a series of round holes that are still obvious. The poor Kuniya, outnumbered, dodged what he could but eventually fell dead.

When news of the young python’s death reached his aunt on the other side of Uluru, she was overcome with grief and anger.  She raced along the curves of the rock to Mutitjulu Waterhole, where she confronted one of the Liru warriors, who mocked her grief and rage.

Kuniya began a dance of immense power and magic. As she moved towards the Liru warrior she scooped up sand and rubbed it over her body. Her rage was so great that it spread like a poison, saturating the area at that time.

In a fearsome dance she took up her wana, or digging stick, and struck the head of the Liru. But her anger was now beyond restraint, and she hit him again across the head.

He fell dead, dropping his shield near Mutitjulu Waterhole, where Kuniya herself remains as a sinuous black line on the eastern wall. The blows she struck are two deep cracks on the western wall, and the Liru’s shield, now a large boulder, lies where it fell.

He also showed us a small cave where there were cave drawings.  They have been dated from thousands of years ago to fairly recently.  However, the heat was overpowering and the flies (even with our nets) were very annoying, I just wanted to return to the air-conditioned bus.

[Sorry, I do not have any pictures of these features on the rock.  Bill accidently dropped the camera in the dirt, and now I get a "Systems Error (Zoom) whenever I try to turn it on.  Hopefully when we get home a camera shop can help me retrieve the pictures.]

After our walk we drove to the Sunset Viewing Area where our bus driver had arranged for a table with champagne, orange juice (anyone for a mimosa) and some snacks – chips and dips, veggies, smoked salmon.  There were also small groups of indigenous people selling their art work.  I bought a picture that showed Uluru at night with the Seven Sisters (Pleiades) constellation.  And we had a clear view of Uluru.  What a setting for watching the sun set on Uluru.  The day had turned cloudy (thanks to Cyclone Trevor that hit the northwest coast of the Northern Territories) and we were unsure whether we would see anything.  But all at once the sun broke through as it set in the west at 6:57 PM, and Uluru changed from a drab orange-brown into a glowing reddish rock.  What a sight!  And the actual sunset was itself was magnificent.  Since most of us were tired and hungry and had dinner reservations for 8 PM, we all hurried to our bus and where one of the first to leave the park.  We arrived back at the hotel at 7:30.  However, many of the tours were not so lucky.  The fire had intensified and the park rangers closed the only road out of the park.  They were stuck at the Rock until about 11:30.  We shared a fish and chips dinner and then went to our room for some much needed sleep.  Tomorrow will be a very early day.

Uluru before sunset

Uluru at sunset

Actual sunset (just opposite Uluru

Art work I bought

The wake-up call came at 5:15 AM!  We quickly dressed and joined 6 other of our tour to drive back out to Uluru to see the sunrise.  As we entered the park, you could see a mile-long line of fire.  And at one point we had to drive through the line with the fire only a few feet from the bus.  Sunrise was at 6:55, and while it was very pretty, it was not as spectacular as last night.  By 7:05 we were back on the bus to the hotel for breakfast and to get out bags out of the room by 8:30.   We were supposed to visit the other major attraction in the National Park – Kata Jtuca (meaning “many heads”), a group of 36 large, ancient rock domes about 18 miles away from Uluru, where we were going to do the  Walpa Gorge Walk.  But with the uncertainty of the fire, Ben was afraid to risk getting trapped at the Park (if they closed the road again) and missing out flight to Port Douglas and the Great Barrier Reef.  We all agreed with that decision and spent a mostly quiet morning in the hotel.  Our bus driver did take us a short drive around the little town of Yulara, but there is not much here – just some staff houses, a primary school, a small library, a police and fire station, and several backpacker campgrounds.  There is not even a church.

Fire burning in the morning

Brush fire very close to our bus

Uluru at Sunrise

Burned field very near our hotel

Galahs outside our hotel

At 1 PM we left the hotel for the airport and our flight to Port Douglas.  It was goodbye to the outback and Uluru.  It was a spiritual place, but we were all glad to be leaving the flies!