Uluru at sunset
The one place I knew I wanted to visit on my trip to Australia was Uluru. Formerly known as Ayer’s Rock - Australia is making a big effort to call landmarks by their traditional names - this huge sandstone monolith cemented itself in my brain thanks to a trippy Japanese cartoon about a dimension-traveling talking koala (the late 80’s were a weird time - kids, ask your parents).
Uluru at sunset
The formation is 1100 feet tall and has a perimeter of almost 6 miles. It has been a sacred location for the local Pitjantjatjara Anangu people for thousands of years, and there are a number of caves and other spaces on and around Uluru that tourists are asked not to photograph for that reason. For decades, westerners have made a sport out of climbing to the top of it. In 1964 a series of chains were embedded into the rock to help visitors complete the hour-long trek. However, the Pitjantjatjara Anangu do not climb the rock due to its spiritual significance and they have been requesting that visitors acknowledge their believes and not climb it for years. This is both practical (Uluru can be challenging even with the chains and it is extremely hot - people die every year attempting to climb) and also just good manners. Imagine how Catholics would feel if a bunch of people showed up at the Vatican, put chains on the front so they could climb it, wrote graffiti all over it, got to the top and had to go to the bathroom so they urinated all over it, then invited 400,000 other people annually to do the same. That’s sort of the equivalent of climbing Uluru. And as of October of 2019, climbing will be forbidden, increasing both the safety of visitors and respect for the beliefs of the traditional custodians of this UNESCO World Heritage Site.
The trail to Uluru
There are plenty of other ways to enjoy Uluru. You can circumnavigate all (or part) of the base on a well-marked trail. You can drive around it, and visit various view points. It is especially rewarding to see it at sunset or sunrise, as the low angle of the sun gives the sandstone an electric red glow. I also really enjoyed seeing it as part of a scenic helicopter flight - Uluru is as dramatic from the air as it is from the ground.
Gotta love that magical orange glow
helicopter view of Uluru
Sixteen miles east of Uluru is another, less-known rock formation. Kata Tjuta (formerly known to westerners as The Olgas) did not feature in any strange cartoon with talking animals, but maybe it should have. The name means “many heads,” and it is a series of 36 sandstone and granite domes that are also spiritually significant to the Pitjantjatjara Anangu people. They are believed to contain a lot of spiritual energy and traditional ceremonies take place there, though very few of the specifics of these beliefs and rituals can be shared with outsiders.
Kata Tjuta at sunrise
Crescent moon over the domes of Kata Tjuta
We went to a Kata Tjuta viewpoint for a beautiful sunrise, and followed it up with a great hike known as The Valley of the Winds. The hike is a 4-mile loop among the domes of Kata Tjuta, traversing easy-to-moderate terrain and best attempted early in the morning as it gets extremely hot by late morning. My helicopter flight to see Uluru also included some spectacular views of Kata Tjuta, for those not keen on trekking.
Kata Tjuta from the air
The Valley of the Winds hiking trail
If you go: all local accommodations (and you will need accommodations, as Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park is hundreds of miles from anywhere, and if you’re bothering to go, you’ll want to see them as sunrise and sunset) are in the gateway town of Yulara, which has a campground, several hotels, a few restaurants and a small grocery store. Always have plenty of water and sun protection, including sunscreen and hats - the desert is unforgiving and temperatures routinely exceed 100 degrees Fahrenheit. Also worth a visit is the art installation known as the Field of Light, tens of thousands of color-shifting lights that cover an area the size of 7 football fields. Photos really don’t do it justice.
A small portion of the Field of Light
