Australia, Here I am! : Uluru ROCKS!
Uluru or Ayers Rock is a massive sandstone monolith forming more than 550 million years ago. Uluru is sacred to indigenous Australian. For us, Uluru is the overwhelming presence of the majestic rock. I highly recommend visiting this Australia’s spiritual heartland–it is truly once-in-the-life-time experience.
Among a number of available tours, we chose “The Field of Light Star Pass”, and “SEIT Uluru Trek” to experience Uluru by night and day respectively.
The Field of Light Star Pass experience begins with a convenient hotel pick-up and transfer to the remote desert location with majestic views of Uluru. The tour started around 6 pm and arrived at the site before sunset. We were welcomed at an exclusive dune top just after the sun set on the horizon. We were being served with a selection of outback canapés with sparking win or beer. We tried Kangaroo meat for the first time. As darkness falls, 50,000 glasses spheres gently come to life. The Field of Light art installation was one of the idea that Bruce Munro, a London-born artist, had in his sketchbook and kept on negging at him to be done. His art installation became sell-out success in 2016 and has been extended until 2020.
For all Voyages outdoor activities during the night including the Field of Light, long pants and enclosed shoes are strongly recommended.
A SEIT Outback Australia vehicle picked us up from our hotel around 4am to commence a half day Uluru Trek tour. The tour includes pick-up and drop-off service, drinking water and a picnic breakfast, but not the entry fee to Uluru Kata Tjuta National Park–it costs AUD25.00 per person. Starting at sunrise, trek around 12 kilometre base trail of Uluru and embrace the culture, geology and environment that is the essence of this amazing monolith. Along the trail, we witnessed the sunrise, visited water holes and the rock art sites of the ancients and learned of Uluru’s cultural significance to the Anangu (local Aboriginal) people. Our tour guide told the cultural stories (Tjukurpa); stories of Liru (poisonous snake) and Kenya (python), as we as many other Aboriginal creation stories associated with this central Australian icon. Our tour concluded around 10am because of the heat. We arrived at our hotel before noon.
To be continued…
Tags: Australia, Ayers Rock, Oceania, Travel guide, Trekking, Uluru