Day 67: 20231129 Wednesday, November 29, 2023- Uluru Arrival
We had a very early start to get out luggage and selves loaded onto the coach at 5am. We had picked up boxed breakfasts the night before which included a chocolate filled croissant, muesli, Apple snaps crackers, apple juice box and milk. We had added some berry hand pies from last nights’s tree lighting ceremony too.
We did have to manage our own luggage once we were inside the terminal and had no trouble getting our large checked bags processed. But then the clerk asked to see our carry-on bags. He said the Fokker 100 jet we were flying in had luggage bins too small for these roll on carry ons. A slight panic set in because we had stuffed extra items into them to reduce the bulk in our backpacks. They were each well over the advertised 7kg limit. But in the end, the clerk said they were getting checked for free to make room on the plane for other carry on items.
The plane from Cairns to Ayres Rock Airport was a Fokker 100 twin jet configured with the jets on the tail. The. Seats were arranged with 2 on the port side and 3 on the starboard side. We got seated with an empty seat between us. After the flight was in the air, Ben discovered there were 3-4 rows of empty seats at the back of the jet if anyone really needed to lay down to sleep. But we just stayed put. This older jet did not have wifi, USB outlets or AC outlets, or built in seat back entertainment. But the seats were good quality and there was plenty of leg room, equivalent to many US carrier premium economy seating. We had to walk from the terminal down onto the tarmac and the up boarding stairs to get on and off the plane.
As the plane made its descent into Uluru, there was a twitter of excitement as Uluru became visible on the port side of the plane after it had dropped below the cloud deck and made it’s terminal descent. We were on the starboard side, and although we could catch a peak or two of Uluru, we couldn’t take any decent photos from the air. It’s interesting to note that although Ayres Rock was officially renamed Uluru, the airport retains the Ayres Rock name.
There were no problems with the coach for our tour group to take us to the Ayres Rock Resort. The Resort has two full service hotels, lots of self service vacation rentals, a glamping Site and campground. All are owned by a single entity which apparently is under Aboriginal control. The Desert Gardens Hotel is supposedly the middle property, but Ivy says they upgraded it a few years ago so it is equivalent to the Sails in the Desert hotel, which was the premium hotel property.
We had to drop our luggage in the lobby and then had some free time to wander around the resort before our rooms would be ready. There is a movie theater that was supposed to have a good presentation on Uluru, followed by an astronomy presentation, but the theatre is closed indefinitely due to renovations or some other problem.
We did attend a presentation on the Digery Doo where audience members got a mini seminar on how to play one. They demonstrator was extremely talented and could get some amazing sounds from his Didgeridoo. Incidentally, although we call it a Didgeridoo, the actual name of the instrument is Yidaki in the language of the NE indigenous people and mako in the language of the more inland tribes. To play a Didgeridoo, you let your lips flutter inside the mouth of the instrument in conjunction with shaping the sound with your vocal cords, and mouth. The basic sound is generated by repeatedly vocalizing digerdoo, didgeridoo, cigeridoo doo in conjunction with circular breathing. It’s a whole lot more complicated than you’d think.
There was also a talk on “Bush Tucker” which is Aussie for foods collected by Aboriginal hunter gatherers. The demonstrator showed multiple examples of two very similar looking plants where one was eaten by Aboriginal peoples, and the other which was toxic at best or downright poisonous. The moral of the lesson was don’t assume you can eat anything in the Australian bush, because there are many plants that want to kill you as badly as the venomous snakes do.
We were able to get moved into our room around 2pm. The room is good sized but equipped with a pair of double beds instead of queen or a single king. The sheets and furniture aren't nearly as nice as the Hyatt Regency or Princess cruise ships.
The tour then met at 4pm to tour Kata Tjuṯa, which is actually larger than Uluru, but looks more like a jumble of giant boulders the size of half dome. As we drove, the sky opened and rain came down along with lightning and thunder. The rain had eased to a light shower when we got to the site, so we got out and walked to the base. The giant mounds rise up on either side of a narrow pathway. During a hot day, they say it’s like walking through a toaster, but today it was like a wind tunnel where the winds were so strong, they nearly blew you off the trail.
The color and texture of the walls was reminiscent of some parts of the Grand Canyon. If it wasn’t raining, and if the wind wasn’t rushing as violently as it was, it would have been interesting to have hiked further into the Kata Tjuṯa formation, but we were on a tight schedule to catch the sun setting on Uluru.
The rain and stopped and there was partial clearing of the sky when we arrived at the Uluru sunset viewing site. The site was full of tour buses and private vehicles. We were supposed to get sunset canapés and drinks, but after we arrived, nothing was set up.
All the other tour buses had disgorged their passengers who were seated around folding tables enjoying their sunset meal, but due to some unknown circumstance, our sunset canapés and drinks got cancelled by the vendor without notifying our guide. While we watched Uluru, Ivy was furiously working her phone to sort the situation. Due to the rainstorm, there were dense clouds on the horizon which obscured the sunset, so we never saw the rays of the setting sun on Uluru. It just got slowly darker and darker.
When we got back to the hotel, they opened up a reception room for our group and did bring out complimentary beer and wine, and several platters of canapés made the rounds including pulled pork sliders, chicken wings and falafel bites. We made do with that for our dinner.
Tomorrow we have to meet at the hotel lobby at 4:45am to go watch sunrise over Uluru, so we’re off to bed early.
