Red Desert

On the fifth day of our trip we finally reached Uluru, which is the world's largest monolith and Australia's most recognizable natural icon.
It looks very beautiful on pictures, but trust me, in real life it's even more impressive. Uluru is notable for appearing to change color as the different light strikes it at different times of the day and year, with sunset a particularly remarkable sight when it briefly glows red.


Sunset was easy, but getting up at 6 AM to see sunrise was not! I had to make big efforts to get out of my designer tent in the morning...



...but the change of color was spectacular, despite of the cold and lack of sleep!
This is sunrise...





...and this is sunset










Uluru is sacred to the Aboriginal people of the area, the ones that lived there for thousands of years. It has many ancient painting in the caves and many sacred sites for the Aborigines. Here is their "kitchen", pretty high tech isn't it?











Actually, the whole rock has a spiritual meaning to Aborigines, so they ask visitors not to climb Uluru. After a few moments of hesitation, we started our climb, feeling guilty and insensitive to beliefs of indigenous people. We drove soooooo far, this is once in a lifetime experience and we just couldn't settle for walking around Uluru. The climb is very very steep, so you can see on the photo, that you have to hold on the chains all the time, the way I'm holding on. It's definitely an experience!





Due to some fitness problems, we had to make occasional stops and sit down, relax, enjoy the view and listen to the silence. As stated in the brochure: "An above-average level of fitness and a high tolerance to the extreme hot desert conditions is required"



In about an hour we reached the top, took traditional group photos, ate a traditional snack, took a traditional nap and headed back.
The formation you see in the back is Kata Tjuta, also called Mount Olga or The Olgas.
In about an hour we reached the top, took traditional group photos, ate a traditional snack, took a traditional nap and headed back.




The 4 hour hike there was our favorite!







White and green Gum trees, clear blue sky, red soil and salmon
color rocks. Fantastic!







Our next target was King's Canyon, I think it's the one of the oldest formations in Australia. It was another very beautiful 3,5 hour hike.








This masterpiece is called Lion King on Titanic...or something like that.



We got so deep in the heart of Australia, that we had to drive on unpaved roads for a while to get to the town of Alice Springs. Our car looked kinda like this.






On our stop at Johannesburg, I found something I couldn't resist. Now I'm a proud owner of the latest model of a 2 door sports car and charming, spacious 3 bedroom cottage.






After 15 days my Australian journey was coming to an end. It was very nice that my dad and Liz organized such an
impressive tour. It was sad to finish the first major step of my trip,
but I was also looking forward to adventures that I was about to experience.