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Australia 2011
Day 4 - 1st August - Ayer's Rock (Uluru) (Part 2)
Finally we reached Yulara, an artificial town near Uluru created for administrative reasons.
Outback Pioneer Hotel + Lodge - our lodging
We asked the guy at the counter what the best strategy for viewing the sunset was, and he asked if we had a car. What, he thought we were going to walk?!
Then we drove to Ayer's Rock.
Sign at entrance
In the distance
Getting closer
"Watch for wildlife" (Gecko Edition)
There was a series of these signs. I didn't manage to get snaps of all of them, unfortunately.
More gratuitous shots. As you can tell, I wasn't driving at this time.
Drive by Ayer's Rock
They gave us a handout about not climbing Ayer's Rock:
Notice the nonsense about it being dangerous that they bandy about. "Over 35 people have died while attempting it".
When you consider that more than 100,000 climb it every year, and that 36 people have died climbing it since 1958, that's pretty pathetic.
Making the generous assumption (the climb rate has decreased over the years) that a million people have climbed Ayer's Rock and only 36 people have died, we get a mortality rate of 3.6 x 10^-5, or one in 28,000.
Here are some activities which are more dangerous than climbing Ayer's Rock (Source: National Safety Council):
- Exposure to excessive natural heat (1/12,517)
- Exposure to electric current, radiation, temperature, and pressure (1/9,943)
- Air and space transport accidents (1/7,032)
- Firearms discharge (1/6,309)
- Exposure to smoke, fire and flames (1/1,177)
- Accidental drowning and submersion (1/1,123)
- Being a motorcycle rider (1/770)
- Being a pedestrian (1/649)
- Assault by firearm (1/306)
- Riding in a car (1/303)
The visitors' centre said that they feel sad when people get hurt or die when climbing it, but the only reason that they don't want you to climb it, of course, is that it is sacred to them. Anyhow, the main reason not to climb it is that it is damn xiong, and unlike other xiong hikes, there isn't much space to rest and recuperate when you're tired.
If you're wondering why the aborigines don't just ban people from climbing the rock (it is their land, after all) the answer is simple: the government only gave them the land on condition that people continue to be allowed to climb it!
The visitors' centre is in the middle ground.
The visitors' centre mentioned that there were women's and men's sacred sites (structural violence!). And that there were some aspects of their law that they couldn't share with outsiders: I hope they wrote them down somewhere, or they might very well disappear one day. The information inside was in English, German, Italian, French and Japanese - impressive.
3 red cars. The facial recognition thought 2 of the wheels were faces. FAIL!
Long side of Ayer's Rock
Side view. You can see that there are a lot of holes in the rock, a fact which doesn't strike you in all the classic shots
Drive around Ayer's Rock
In the sun
There was a sign: "No stopping anytime", so we just went veeeeeeeeeeeeeery slowly.
Route up
We then went to the sunset viewing point. Apparently the bus viewing point was better than the one for cars. Ah well.
Start of sunset
Viewing the sunset on top of cars. I wondered if I'd damage the car if I sat on its roof.
Leftovers from a picnic. I thought alcohol was not kosher here.
"ATTENTION ASSHOLE 8th commandment 'thou shalt not steal' God is watching you you thieving bastard. It's a wicked culture, you'll be cursed by it"
The whole van was very... decorated. Wicked Campers has character. They also have a special offer for pot smokers and gays (cannabis is illegal in Australia, so I don't know how that works).
Group chillin' with wine and cheese
Next to Australians, the French were the most represented nationality. This was because it was August - the month of vacations. Then again perhaps there were hordes of PRCs at the tour bus spot.
As most people had scooted by then, we also left (the last photo was taken at 6:33pm). In the last 15 minutes, everyone had filed out. It was quite probable that everyone was in rented cars, so we should all have been under the same conditions - no driving from dusk to dawn in the Northern Territory.
These were taken at 6:44pm. In the background should be Kata Tjuta (more of that in the next day).
Abstract art efforts
The shadow of sunset
Our dinner options were a little limited. There was a A$54 buffet option, or a grill-your-own-meat 'restaurant' (with $10+ for one meat and the buffet salad bar and $27+ for a sampler with Emu, Crocodile, Beef and Kangaroo). We went to a burger/wrap/pizza kiosk which cost A$10-14.
Here you can literally draw the short straw
Menu
My kangaroo wrap. Kangaroo has a very bland taste and a beefy texture.
I meant to order the combo but we got the order wrong. Fries alone were >$4 so it was worth it.
The shuttle bus stops only for 30 minutes. Very good.
We then headed to an attraction which was rated as #12 of 20 things to do in Yulara - Yulara IGA Supermarket.
No paint for you
Korean Kimchi
There were many 4kg bags. I theorise that Korean tour groups call here often.
Tons of bread (there was another rack behind me). There was a lot of bread from the previous day.
This is really marked down. I tried it and saw why - the bush honey and vanilla was not sweet (and I tasted neither - maybe the cultures had consumed all the sugar and flavour). No wonder it was marked down so much.
What's the difference between Singapore and Hokkien noodles?
Vegemite in tubes (to squeeze on people's faces), Marmite ("the original"), and a pirated version of vegemite.
The pirated one isn't much cheaper. They tell you the price per 100g. That's great.
Honeycomb!
Yet another exhibit in my "Bad Australian English" series
So much for it being their First Language
"Do not buy glue for other people unless you are certain it will not be used for sniffing"
The REAL Grinning Gecko
Amusing circular on bugs: "Most insects and animals do not present any danger to our guests, however if you come across any centipedes, please do not attempt to remove them yourself and call reception immediately"
Some performance at the hotel
I wonder what the racial hierarchy (of perceived/actual discrimination) in Australia is like. Aborigines are probably at the bottom, but after them do we have black people or East Asians?
A lot of places in Australia (or the Northern Territory, at least) had credit card surcharges. Apparently there was no credit card culture there.
My rule about local soft drinks not tasting very nice (and so staying local) held: Lift tastes like the kick has been lifted from it and is a very hollow drink.
