Australian Outback: Destination and Journey

After three weeks of whirlwind tourism with my family in Australia, we suddenly found ourselves on our own. My mother and sister were on their way back to Canada and Matthew and Haylee had to get back to their jobs and their daily lives. We had a week or so left before we were off to New Zealand, so we had time for at least one more adventure. What to do? We had seen so much in three weeks, but Australia is such a big country that we really only scratched the surface. We looked into it a bit and narrowed our choices down to Sydney and Uluru. Sydney had its famous opera house and bridge along with all of the trappings of a modern city. A short flight, followed by a few relaxed days spent exploring a new city, an easy wind down to our Australia trip. Uluru, on the other hand was in the middle of the Australian outback, Miles from anywhere, difficult to get to, few modern conveniences, etc., etc. Of course we choose Uluru. 



Sunset at Uluru

Uluru (sometimes called Ayer’s Rock) is perhaps Australia’s most iconic image. The massive red orange rock / mountain in the middle of a red desert stands along with the kangaroo and the boomerang as being synonymous with the land down under. There are other beautiful natural rock formations in the area like Kings Canyon and Kaya Tjuta, and we did some day hikes to explore them, but Uluru is definitely the star.

Walking around teh rock

I’ve never seen anything quite like Uluru. It isn’t that tall, but the surrounding desert is flat for miles, so its rounded surface really dominates the landscape, and it is that very unique surface that makes Uluru so special. Unlike other maountains or hills, it has no sharp edges, corners or fractured rock, rather its surface gently curves from one shape to the next in sort of a smooth wavelike flow. The shapes in the rock are unique as well. Strange vertical furrows, wavy stratification and curvy gullies lend it an air of the supernatural. The effect is even more beautiful close up where minor undulations give it even more character. We did the 10 km walk around its base, and while the mid-day heat almost killed us, it was worth it to see the rock close up. We were also able to get a feel for the surrounding desert, see and learn about Aboriginal holy sites at Uluru (the entire mountain is sacred to the Aboriginal people, but certain areas have special significance), and see centuries old rock art painted on the rock under small overhangs. It isn’t just the shape of the rock that makes Uluru so special though, the colour has a lot to do with it too. Put it this way: if the shape of the rock at Uluru is the cake, the colour is the icing. Its fantastic red orange colour changes throughout the day as the sun’s position changes, and the 30 minutes at sunrise and sunset put on a show that people line up for. I have seen countless photos of Uluru, but as with places like the Taj Mahal or the Serengeti, seeing it in person was very different. Like so many places we’ve seen on this trip, it would fall in the category of living up to, if not exceeding expectations.



Freedom at last

Uluru itself was great, but If we’ve learned anything on this trip, it is that the destination is only one part of the equation, the journey can be just as important if not more so. This was certainly the case with Uluru. I used the term “in the same area” above. That may have been a little misleading. Distances are vast in the Australian outback. For example from Alice Springs (where our flight landed) to Kings Canyon was 475 km, and from Kings Canyon to Uluru was 310 km. It’s a good thing we like road trips. Actually, it was great. We rented a car, bought our groceries, and had a tent we borrowed from my brother. After 6 months of being herded around in buses trains and planes, it was nice to be in control for a change. An open highway (there is no traffic in the outback), beautiful scenery, camping, and cooking for ourselves, was as much fun as seeing Uluru. The scenery couldn’t be beat. The area has had an unusual amount of rainfall this year, so parts of the surrounding desert were actually green and relatively lush with vegetation, apparently a very rare event. We also saw wild kangaroos and camels (who knew there were wild camels in Australia?), and had a close encounter with a 2 metre long snake at a lizard shelter in Alice Springs. We even enjoyed the camping. Sure it was ungodly hot, infested with flies, and we almost killed each other the first time we tried to set up the tent, but sleeping under the stars in the outback was an incredible experience. Cooking for ourselves was another treat. After all the restaurant food we’ve had in the past few months, it was nice to have something home cooked, even if it was pretty simple stuff. I even got Colleen to try grilled spam. She won’t admit it, but I’m pretty sure she liked it. 



The open road

Sydney vs. Uluru – I would say we made the right choice. I’m sure Sydney is a great place to visit, and it will definitely fit into our travel philosophy of “you always have to leave something to come back to”. However Uluru and the Australian outback, journey and destination, embody so many of the things we love about travel: freedom, new experiences, the outdoors, and getting off the beaten path, that we couldn’t pass it up.

After our trip to the outback, we came back to Melbourne for a few pleasant, but relatively uneventful days in Melbourne with Matthew and Haylee before leaving for New Zealand. I have to say thanks to Matthew for letting us stay with him and being such a good host, and thanks to Haylee for putting g up with us for a month and introducing us to ANZAC cookies, veggiemite and Tim Tams. We had a great time in Australia, and I can’t wait to come back for a second visit.

Michael

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