Ayres Rock Australia
Tonight I was staying at the Crown Plaza Alice Springs. This hotel is home to Hanuman Thai Restaurant where I had the most delicious Thai meal in lovely surroundings. It’s very popular and gets busy so reservations are recommended.
Alice Springs itself is set between the Macdonnell Ranges and is well equipped for a town in the middle of nowhere. It is home to the Royal Flying Doctors and the School of the Air. Both organisations have been set up to help people who live in the outback. At the Royal Flying Doctors you can see how they go about helping sick and injured people in the most inaccessible places and at the School of the Air I sat in on a lesson that was being conducted over the airwaves (and today with webcams) to a number of children living in the remote Australian outback.
The town has a few hotels, a pleasant shopping precinct, a conference centre, a casino, a small zoo as well as a number of bars and restaurants. It did feel more Australian and less touristy with the locals going about their day to day business. In the evenings in some of the bars I did feel a little uncomfortable and unwelcome. The River Todd runs through Alice Springs and is usually dry, but once a year they have the annual boat race called Henley on Todd. The difference is, they run down the river carrying the boat! Whilst in Alice Springs I was fortunate enough to take a helicopter flight up and over the town and the Ranges and from here you fully appreciate the remoteness of the town. There is nothing but desert and few Kangaroo’s as far as the eye can see.
The next morning I checked out and joined a guided tour heading for Kings Canyon. We drove through the desert and only passed 2 other vehicles in 3 hours. We eventually reached Kings Canyon where we did a rim walk. It takes about 2-3 hours to complete the walk and apart from the original climb to the top of the rim it’s fairly easy. The views and the rock formations make it worth the effort. I stayed overnight at the Kings Canyon Resort and this was the first time I had ever seen a night sky without any light pollution. I even saw a shooting star. Back on the road and through the desert we headed next to Ayres Rock. Not a car or a bend in sight, just a straight track going on forever in the distance. On route we saw what we thought was Ayres Rock in the distance, but this turned out to be Mt Connor.
As we got ever closer I was on lookout for the famous rock. Then there it was in all its glory. At this point we were still about 50 miles away! That just goes to show how huge Ayres Rock is. When we finally arrived at Ayres Rock we went straight to our hotel, Voyages Sails in the Desert. The hotel is beautiful, and Ayres Rock can be seen from the roof terrace.
After unpacking we wasted no time and began the sightseeing. First we headed to Kata Tjuta (the Olgas) for the Valley of the Winds Walk. Please be prepared for flies. According to the locals there were hardly any about but I found them to be quite annoying and I was constantly removing them from my face. I would advise wearing a fly net.
Later that evening we watched the sun set over the Olgas and Ayres Rock before having a barbeque in the desert. The sky was clear and again we marvelled as a million stars sparkled above us in a perfectly clear sky. It was so good that I could easily see the Milky Way with the naked eye.
The next morning we had a very early start. Today we are about to see the sun rise over Ayres Rock. We drove into the national park and took our places on the viewing gallery. As the sun began to rise the rock changed colour. There was perfect silence and an eerie, mystical feeling as everyone watched. After taking more photos than I can count we had breakfast in the desert with Ayres Rock in the background.
We then drove to the base of the rock and did a walking tour around it. On closer inspection it was not what I expected. Hidden in the rock is a semi permanent watercourse. I never imagined I would see water actually nestled inside the rock. The guides told us the history of the rock and pointed out the rock art which is still significant in Aboriginal teaching. You can climb the rock but it has a very severe gradient and is not encouraged.
That night we experienced the Sounds of Silence dinner. A gourmet dinner set under the stars with a lone didgeridoo filling the air. Before we sat down to eat we watched the sun set over Ayres Rock. Again every hair stood on end as the rock changed colour. After a delicious meal we did some star gazing and had a talk from an astronomer who pointed out the stars in the sky. He even set up telescopes so we can get a closer look. He pointed out Saturn with the naked eye and then showed it to me through a telescope. I couldn’t believe my eyes. It was so clear; I could see every ring around the planet.
After a very long day we made our way back to the hotel to get some sleep as the next morning we were making the 6 hour journey back to Alice Springs for our flight to Darwin.