The next morning we were up at 4:15 to go see sunrise over the Rock, which proved to be amazing. We picked our spot on the side of the road and ate breakfast (Weet-Bix again) with some very hot tea to try to warm up some on the very chilly morning.
This is the Rock from a distance, shrouded in mist, with the sun about to rise behind it. Amazing.
There were clouds on the horizon, so the Rock never turned red, but we did get to see the brush go golden as the sun came up.
In the far distance you can see Kata Tjuta
From there we headed out for a walk around the Rock
The temperature dropped quite a bit when we went into the shadow on the west side
On the picture above you can see the most controversial part of the Rock - the climb. The grey streak going up the ridge is the chain (attached to a series of poles drilled into the Rock) that climbers hold on to while they go up. The climb is sort of an embodiment of the relations between the Anangu people and the Australian Government.
For a very long time, Aboriginal people had no rights in Australia. As Europeans moved west, they took what land they wanted and killed whoever stood in their way (not unlike European interactions with Native Americans). Australian - Aboriginal relations have been very tense, perhaps coming to a head with The Aborigines Protection Amending Act of 1915, which allowed the Australian Government to separate Aboriginal Children from their families, resulting in "The Stolen Generations" of Aboriginal children raised by the state without any access to their parents. The government continued to do this until 1969.
Sometime in the 1970s new laws came into effect that allowed Aboriginal communities to petition the Government to return ancestral lands, and the Anangu began a decade-long legal battle to reclaim Uluru. The Australian Government was reluctant to give up their most prized tourist attraction, but finally in 1985 a compromise was reached. The ownership of the land would be transferred to the Anangu, who would in turn lease the land back to the Australian Government for 99 years. One of the terms of the lease was that the climb would remain open, despite the protests of the Anangu. They took the deal in hopes that, as time went on and the old racist policies of the Government died out, they would eventually be able to negotiate a deal that would close the climb for good.
Why do the Anangu want the climb closed? There are several reasons. For one, the first section of the climb (up to the top of that rocky bit in the picture above) are part of a sacred path, climbed once a year by two Anangu elders as part of an extraordinarily important ceremony, and by boys as part of the ceremony where they attain manhood. As part of Aboriginal law, nobody is supposed to climb Uluru otherwise, and certainly not meant to climb any higher. Second, the Anangu believe that they are responsible for the protection of any visitors on their land - you are their guest, and they must look out for your safety. And the climb is not safe. High winds can come up out of nowhere, and there are no harnesses. Each climber is secure only as much as they keep a firm grip on the chain. Many people are killed and injured each year attempting the climb, and the Anangu feel responsible for every death or injury that occurs on their land. Thirdly, as Greg put it: if you are a guest in someone else's house, and they say to you "you can go wherever you like, go in the kitchen and make yourself a sandwich if you want, watch tv, do whatever, but just please don't go through that door there - that's my private area", you wouldn't immediately go open that door. You would respect the wishes of your host. When you are in Uluru, you are a guest and the Anangu are your host - and you should respect their wishes.
As things stand, you are legally allowed to climb Uluru, but the Anangu ask that you please do not. The climb was closed the day we were there due to high winds, but our group had discussed it and we were not going to climb anyway.
After our walk we bid farewell to Uluru and set off back to Alice Springs. Our first stop was a lookout for Mount Conner, an 859m mountain often mistaken for Uluru, as it is visible from the highway on the way there.
There was also a "lake" on the other side of the highway - a wide salt flat
"On the road again..."
Our next stop was a camel farm, where we got to ride the camels around the paddock, and learned just how uncomfortable it is to be on top of a galloping camel. I suppose it takes some getting used to...
Not the prettiest animals, but they seemed pretty friendly
An emu
When we got back to Alice the whole group went out to dinner to celebrate Greg's last tour (after a nice hot shower), then it was back to the hostel for a good night's sleep.
The next day we flew back to Adelaide, spent the day wandering around, and then finally returned to Sydney the day after that, after a great spring break.
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