This evening we walked at the base of Uluru – it was stormy and raining heavily to begin with. This is rare here where there is only 30cm of rain a year.
Our guides were very excited and taking photos – the ephemeral waterfalls were streaming down all sides of the gleaming surface and forming a moat around the base.
The caves that sheltered the Mala people at Creation time had rain cascading over the entrance
It wasn’t cold – for us Brits it was refreshing – but I did see some Italians and Aussies shivering. Notably we were among the very few who had their own coats.
Then the sun broke through and we were rewarded with a rainbow
The Mala story is all about refusing someone’s invitation and them getting angry and sending a dingo devil ghost to revenge the insult. This has left evidence on the rocks.
The waterfalls are caused by the indentations and collecting pools at the top of the rock overflowing spectacularly down the vertical sides. We felt privileged to see Uluru in such magical circumstances.
The next morning we walked the easy, flat 9km all around the base.
Firstly we were shown cave art and told the story of the snakes. The cave art here is not as sophisticated as at Kakadu but probably older. Like elsewhere one picture is drawn on top of another.
The round circles mean water holes or camp stops, the lines in between mean a journey or track
This is a ghost- I was struck by the universal shape of ghosts!
Here is a handprint and 2 boomerangs – the hand is exactly my size
We also saw the evidence of when Kuniya, the python woman slayed Liru, the brown snake. She struck him on the head twice: you can see the short first blow on the right, the long fatal strike down the middle and the closed dead eye of Liru on the left:
And this is where the python sat to plan her revenge for the death of her nephew: the C or U shape in aboriginal painting means someone sitting down, the round hole in the middle is where she put her digging stick & there are marks top and bottom where she scooped the sand over her to protect her from her own poison.
All the parallel lines on Uluru are the marks she left when she slithered angrily in a frenzy to revenge her nephew.
We also saw the pool where the female python’s spirit resides and where aboriginals come to ask for rain in the dry months. They certainly got it!
Walking all the way round was a good way to get a perspective of the size of Uluru and see the many different undulations and rock falls.
I’m pretty sure this one must relate to a lizard story – you can even see the tongue sticking out!
We also saw the climb site where you can see the slippery exposed trail to the top and the scar it has left on the rock. There are plaques to the first 5 who died climbing – 40 have died & many more injured.
We are not allowed to take photos of the sacred side because it’s not appropriate for young Anangu to see it and when photos get posted on the internet it’s hard to ensure this doesn’t happen. I was quite relieved because I do now have rather a lot of pictures of rocks!
I did spot a beautiful common bronzewing pigeon- again a very dull name for a pretty uncommon bird as far as I’m concerned. No photo but I’m sure you can find one on google – they have amazing shiny colours on their wings – many more than just bronze!
Back at the hotel we saw more flowers coming out and evidence of the tiny mole who gets active after rain
These are monitor lizard (perentie) tracks – they look just like this in aboriginal art
We enjoyed the beautiful sunset over Kata Tjuta and the vast plains.
I have really enjoyed being at the red heart of Australia.
Now we are putting on our trousers and jumpers to head South to Melbourne.
This people have very rich history, which everyone should observe in person.