rt-motions

We have less than 2 weeks left, lots of unsealed roads and a total of just under 2000 km. Arriving in Perth we will do some house sitting and we will try to find a buyer for the Landcruiser and the Kimberley camper trailer, either together or separately. Then we will also decide what to do with our block of land, to build or not to build, that is the question......

ULURU

No doubt, Uluru is one of the famous icons of Australia, together with the Harbour Bridge (coat hanger) and the Opera House in Sydney and the Great Barrier Reef. It is striking that in Kings Canyon and Uluru we now see so many overseas visitors (since we left Cairns). Imagine, in 1948 the first dirt track to Ayers Rock was constructed.

In 1985 the Uluru (Ayers Rock)-Kata Tjuta (Olgas) Land Trust was handed back to the local Aboriginals (Anangu) and they leased the land back to the Federal Government for 99 years.
In the beginning, there was a camping area just north of Uluru. As a National Park, all visitors are now located some 16 kilometers to the north of the rock in a newly constructed village, which has 5 hotels, a caravan park, backpackers facilities, shops, medical centre, etc.

This place (it is called Yulara) in the middle of the desert (443 km SW of Alice Springs and 265 km east of the WA border) now caters for a maximum of 5000 tourists, any day of the year!
When we watched the sun set over Uluru at one of the viewing areas last night, we were amongst more than 1000 others!

A new airport was constructed another 5 km to the north and every day busloads of tourists arrive. When entering the National Park $25 per person will get you a 3 day pass, including entry to the Cultural Centre on the south side of Uluru; this adds up to a total of A$8.2 million per year just for park entry fees and the Australian Federal Government adds another A$6.4 million funding. Almost all of this money is used to manage and upgrade the facilities.

Tanneke joined a dot painting course ($50), which was very interesting, sadly almost exclusively attended by overseas visitors. There are several guided walking tours or you can walk around the base of the rock (10 km). Already 35 rock climbing tourists have died over the years (heart attacks and falls) and the Aboriginals don't like anyone climbing their sacred site; their culture has a deep understanding of the earth and the creatures that live on it. The management now strictly controls the climbing conditions such as too early, too late, too wet, too cold, too hot, threatening rain or lightening, too windy, rescue activities or cultural events, in fact you could spend a whole week here and find the rock "closed" every day, much to the disappointment of some people who come from far at great expense to see and climb. I think there is somewhere a compromise here, realising that half the tourists would not bother going here if they could not climb the rock. However, the Olgas (40 km to the west and higher than Uluru) are out of bounds for climbers.

The Anangu have incredible inside knowledge of nature, plants and animals. Even these days, Aboriginal trackers will be employed when people get lost in the desert, their eyesight is truly amazing. We experienced this first hand when we visited Tim and Leah in Kalumburu in 2005 when an elderly lady in our boat spotted a sailing ship at the horizon before any of us could see anything at all.

We saw a video in the Cultural Centre which showed how they can survive in the desert using only plants and animals as food, they know where to find water, even if there has been no rain for a long period of time.

It is fascinating to spend a few days camping in the outback, still with creature comforts so close at hand. At night we hear the dingos howling, there is a local pack of about 40 near the rock and they behave similar to wolves. At night the sky is absolutely blazing with stars. In summer temperatures often exceed 40 degrees and the flies become unbearable but we find the nights very cold (near freezing) during winter time, such as now.

For those interested in Aboriginal Art here is an explanation (click on the photo to enlarge):
The central circle represents Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park. The twelve seated figures are the members of the Board of Management: four pairs of male and female Anangu (brown) and four non-Anangu (white). They have surrounded the park with yuu, a traditional windbreak. This is the protection that their decisions and policies provide both for the culture and the environment of the park, as well as for park visitors. Waiting and listening to the Boards's decisions are the Anangu and non-Anangu rangers. The Anangu rangers are barefoot, representing their close connection with the land and knowledge derived from thousands of years of looking after the land. The non-Arangu rangers wear shoes, representing their land management training and knowledge derived from European scientific traditions. Surrounding all are two more yuu (windbreaks) representing the protection and support of Tjukurpa (Anangu traditional law) and the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act, which are working together to guide the management and protection of Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park. Undulating sand dunes and rich bushland encircle the park. (taken from the visitor's guide; Uluru=Ayers Rock; Kata Tjuta=the Olgas).




Have a look at the corrugated road, at times it goes on for hours and it rattles the fillings out of your teeth. Lower the tyre pressures and hit about 80 km/h and it is half bearable.

At Uluru in the Cultural Centre Tanneke did a course in dot painting and here is a sample of images often found on Aboriginal paintings.

Uluru just before sunset. On the right Tanneke's produce! Also pictures of Uluru at sunset and the view from the top.



The Standley Gorge is another impressive waterway cut through the Ranges.
Dingoes roam the country; we hear them at night, howling like wolves.






Driving west of Alice Springs we first see the Simpson Gap where a river took millions of years to erode a gap through the West Macdonnell Ranges. Note the sign behind Tanneke! Many camping areas are supplied with dedicated fire places to avoid bush fires getting out of hand; this family was cooking their meal in a "Dutch Oven", surrounded by hot ashes.












Tanneke is looking at spinifex, a very hardy and thorny plant that grows in large patches through the centre of Australia; it loves puncturing tyres and is infamous for getting caught around hot exhaust pipes with vehicles often burning down completely. The picture is taken after our walk through Palm Valley when we returned on the top of the escarpment.

Rodeo was coming to Normanton, we missed out by a few days; the town's population tripled overnight.

On the way to Lawn Hill we found a prehistoric dig; 500 million years ago this area was an inland sea and huge birds roamed here. In the rock you can see part of a leg bone of this bird.

We are now going to be out of range for a while, could be up to 3 weeks, until we reach Alice Springs, although we should be able to read email now and then.




The Bloomfield track between Cape Tribulation and Cooktown had extremely steep sections (low range, 1st gear) plus mud, fallen trees, gullies and 8 creeks, two of which were deeper than we liked. But all went well with an average speed of 25 km/h over 4 hours.

Tanneke is showing the real hazard of falling coconuts, they can weigh more than 2 kg and when they fall 12 meters, it hurts!


































At Cape Tribulation we ran into this Cassowary, looks like a giant turkey with very strong legs and beautiful colours. They are becoming very rare and we were lucky to spot this one.



From Cape Tribulation northwards, the track becomes strictly 4WD.