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Dwarfed by Uluru
Uluru / Ayers Rock rises up 348 metres (1141 feet) from the flat red rocky sands in the centre of Australia. The path around the base is 10.6 kilometres (6.6 miles) – giving walkers plenty of time to admire the rich variety in the surface of this amazing red monolith.
At a distance, it made me choke up with emotion. Close up, it was simply awe-inspiring!
Uluru. Ayers Rock. The heart of Australia.
It sits almost dead-centre of a very large land mass, a long way from anywhere else. Formally recognised by UNESCO World Heritage for both its natural and cultural values, it has been home to the Indigenous Anangu people for as far back as they can remember – back to the arrival of their mythical ancestors, the Mala (rufous hare-wallaby) people. Anangu creation stories, called Tjukurpa, tell how each feature of the rock was formed and explain how the marks on the landscape that are still seen illustrate these stories, and lead to laws to live by.
Uluru feels older than time – and is as old as the Australian continent itself. The origins of the rock date back more than 500 million years, to around the same time the whole continent was forming. The sand that became the arkose sandstone of Uluru was dumped at the bottom of a pre-historic mountain range, and resurfaced from under an inland sea some 400 million years ago.
Today, it rises 348 metres (1,142 feet) out of the surrounding plain, sitting 863 metres (2,831 ft) above sea level, and extending for at least another 2.5 kilometres (15 miles) under the surface. The rock is about 3.6kms (2.2 miles) long and 1.9kms (1.2 miles) wide, with a circumference of 9.4kms (5.8 miles). The Uluru Base Walk skirts wider, to keep people away from the most culturally-sensitive places; although it is listed as being a 10.6km (6.6 miles) walk that will take about 3.5 hours, if you detour into the waterholes (as you should!) it will take you longer.
This is desert country, where temperature extremes are to be expected. My SEIT Uluru trek started very early on the easternmost side of the rock at Kuniya Piti. As much of the north side of Uluru is sacred to Anangu men under Tjukurpa, the Anangu religious philosophy that links the people to their environment and ancestors, we were not allowed to take pictures of the rock there. So, it was ideal to finish this section of the walk in the low light of dawn.
Join me on a counter-clockwise walk around the sacred rock that is the very heart of Australia:
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Sunrise in the Trees
Our day started early! We left the resort in the dark, and the sun was just breaking over the horizon and through the desert oak trees when we reached the approach to our walk.
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Approaching the Rock : Kuniya Piti
It is not yet 6am on an October (mid-Spring) morning. The air is chilly, and that magnificent rock is bathed in red light. A small covered stand exhorts us to drink more water: dehydration and heat exhaustion are real risks in this area any time of year!
Long Morning Shadows
Photographs of much of the north rock face of Uluru are are not allowed, as this area is culturally sensitive to the Anangu people. I kept my eyes – and camera – on the track, and into the rising sun.
The Mighty Rock
Our path skirts wide around the rock until we are out of the most sacred sections. The tall, long-tap-rooted desert oaks (Allocasuarina decaisneana) scatter across the flat ground in front of us, and black algae marking on the rock show us where waterfalls race down the face during the rare rainfalls.
Kulpi Minymaku
Just before 7am, our track meets up with the Mala Walk, and we stop to explore the ‘Kitchen Cave’.
Kulpi Minymaku – Kitchen Cave
There is something surreal about knowing that women have been grinding grain here more than 10,000 years.
Rough Surface
Even more surreal is the age of the rock itself! How does one grasp the concept of 500 million years? Contrary to my expectation, most of the surface was not smooth: it is flakey with bits of rock left behind after water and oxygen have decayed minerals in the rock. While the underlying rock is grey, the distinctive red outer layer is due to iron oxidation.
Outside the Caves
The textures have another-worldly feel – as if we are on the moon, …
Cave Textures
… ore even Mars!
Pathway
This section of the Mala Walk takes us to Kantju Gorge, the site of one of Uluru’s semi-permanent waterholes. You can just see the black stripe where less than a week before my visit, rare rainwaters were rushing down the vertical drop.
Kulpi Minymaku Boulders
The path to Kantju Gorge takes us in and back the same way, giving us a different perspective on some of the caves we have already seen – like the kitchen cave.
Mala Walkway
The Mala Story in Stone
Inside the Kulpi Watiku – the mens’ cave – the story of the Mala (rufous hare-wallaby) people is illustrated in the stone: this is where they camped when they first arrived at Uluru, and where the senior men prepared their ceremonies.
Kulpi Nyiinkaku – The Teaching Cave
Since time immemorial, boys on the brink of manhood, or Nyiinka, spent time here with their grandfathers and away from the rest of their families, learning hunting skills, self-reliance, and discipline. The elders illustrated their lessons on the cave walls.
Red Rocks and Flakes
Like a Another World
The rock-shapes we pass as we continue around the base, are just incredible!
Home of the Marsupial Mole
Only very resilient plants and animals survive in this rugged environment.
Crested Pigeons – Ocyphaps Lophotes
It is almost eight in the morning when we reach the Mala Carpark, where benches allow us to stop for breakfast. I enjoy watching the pigeons almost as much as I enjoy my morning coffee.
Please don’t Climb!
Back when people climbed the rock, with the aid of a chain-link hand-rail, this is where they did it from.
Climb Sign
It was a year to the day that climbing had been officially stopped: the scars on the rock were still visible.
Pock-Marked Rocks
Continuing around the base, we pick up the Lungkata section of the walk.
Rock Markings
According to the Anangu people, the various markings on the rock face show the journeys of the ancestors, and in many places around the rock, markings are part of complex creation stories.
Lungkata
Tjukurpa, Anangu law, tells the story of Lungkata, the blue-tongue lizard man. He found and stole someone else’s kill, and lied about it. Of course, he was found out. “Lungkata, the greedy and dishonest thief, choked on the smoke [of a fire set by the rightful owners of the kill] and was burnt by the flames. He rolled down, leaving strips of his burned flesh stuck to the rocks he touched. As his flesh came off, Lungkata got smaller and smaller, until eventually he became a small solitary stone.”
Admiring the Paintings
Kulpi Mutitjulu (the Family Cave) is where generations of Anangu families camped.
Kulpi Mutitjulu Cave Paintings
Anangu families told stories around the campfire, illustrating them on the rock using paints made from ochres, charcoal, and ash.
Mutitjulu Waterhole
An absolute hush falls as we contemplate this spot, home to a wanampi, an ancestral water snake.
Hearts at the Waterhole
Everywhere I look, I can imagine my own stories in the rock markings.
Split Stones near Kulpi Mutitjulu
Kuniya
As we come back around to our starting point, we pass formations whose name I couldn’t find, and learn the complicated story of how the battle between Kuniya, the python woman, and Liru, the poisonous snake man, helped create this landscape. Kuniya is still here, somewhere, protecting and avenging her family, in the rocks.
View of the Rock
On our way back to the resort, we stop at the viewing area for a last look at the giant rock we have just circumnavigated. It looks so different from here – as it does from the air (see: Over the Red Centre).
Kata Tjuṯa from the Bus
It truly is a living, breathing landscape.
Full of stories!
I’d go back.
Until then,
Happy Walking!
Pictures: 26October2020
