By this point, I'm pretty used to waking up to the sound of our guide shouting like a cockerel and shaking our swags around, but I'm yet to wait up when it's actually bloody sunlight! We were heading to Uluru to watch the sun rise over The Rock.
I could see the sky beginning to warm up on our way there, but as I could see Uluru on my left the bus turns right!? A secret spot Clancy knows about maybe? We keep going and keep going... I soon realised we weren't going to be next to Ayers Rock for sunrise.
We were visiting Kata Tjuta for a hike and we pulled into a viewing spot on the way, granted you could see the rock but it was in the distance which to be fair, gave you a pretty good wide view of the sunrise and the rock. It was ruined by MASSES of people plus a swarm of Chinese taking a plethora of the same photo. I couldn't help but compare it to the sunrise I saw at Monument Valley in America and I have to hand it to our guide, Becca, she knew how to find a secluded spot for sun rises and sunsets! But it was still a beautiful sunrise to watch and something I won't forget in a hurry.
Our walk through Kata Tjuta was the 8km Valley of the Winds hike... I soon realised how it got that name!!
It was beautifully scenic hike through the valleys, but it did have a serious wind at some points which was bitterly cold so you'd wrap up, but down in the valleys it was flooded with sun and warmth, so you were constantly dressing and undressing to fit in with the temperature!
We stopped at one point so Clancy could explain to us the Aboriginal story of how Kata Tjuta came to be. Any aboriginal story we learn will only ever be the children's stories version. In their culture you learn these stories as children and as you grow up you learn more of the story in detail as it developed into the adult version of which we are not allowed to know. So the children's story of Kata Tjuta goes as so:
Two aboriginal boys were heading north from South Australia to partake in the initiation ceremony. On their travels they come across a huge mud pile, they decide to take a break and play in the mud. They gather this mud up and make the pile bigger and bigger (Ayers Rock) until it gets so big they stand back, look at it and decide that it looks fun to climb up on top, so that's what they do and slide down it which created the channels in the side of The Rock. Whilst building their mud pile and sliding they would come across large rocks which were in their way so they simply threw them over their shoulder and where they landed created Kata Tjuta.
After lunch at our camp we drove back to Ayers Rock to finish a small walk which we didn't do yesterday, however whilst driving past we noticed people climbing up. The Climb had actually been closed for a long time as the weather has to be just right for them to open it - and it was open today!
Now I hadn't wanted to climb it because of the aboriginals wishes for tourists not to climb because in their culture it was a path only certain aboriginal men would take and they feel it disrespects this. It was however part of the agreement of the council (made from 4 Australians and 4 aboriginals) that when the land was returned to the aboriginals and rented off them for tourism that the climb remained open. There were 7 other on the bus who really wanted to tackle it and it already had a stream of people heading up, so I thought 'how many times am I going to get this chance?' And I vowed I would say yes to everything while I was away, so I just had to climb it!!
Standing at the bottom all I could think is 'Shit. That's steep.' I also believe I haven't mentioned that all helping you up is a single chain... ALL THE WAY UP. With sheer drops either side. Well they never said it'd be easy!
We start climbing and it's all good as long as you keep looking forward AND DONT LET GO OF THE CHAIN! I kid you not, I've still got marks 3 days later from gripping that chain so hard! We stopped in parts on the way up for water and the view from half way was already just amazing. I wasn't expecting much because there's nothing around, but seeing the curvature of the earth and Kata Tjuta in the very far distance it was just something else. Another thing that gave me inspiration was seeing people of all ages going up and down, kids as young as 8 or 9 to people easily 65+!
As we begin again, there's quite a few people heading down not holding the chain as it was a slightly more flat bit, I'm still gripping it and not letting go, but a guy passes me and his foot scuffs and slips a bit then here goes me, putting my hand out instinctively to catch him!? WHAT AM I PLAYING AT!? The bastard will take me with him! KEEP YOUR HANDS TO YOUR GOD DAMN SELF JAMES!! Anyway he was fine and my hand never slipped again!
After making it to the top of the chain and thinking we'd made it... Oh no, we were only half way!! We'd made it up the steepest and hardest part but we now had to go up and over the rock to the highest point! Bloody hell!... Thankfully this was a lot easier - flatter, marked and stunning photo opportunities!
It took us maybe about 20/30 minutes to make it to the monument which marks to highest point on Ayers Rock and the view from up top was just ridiculous! You could just see nothing but nature for miles and miles - Kata Tjuta on one side, mountain ranges to the left and Mt Connor (fake Ayers Rock).
Now we'd got all the way up, you always kind of forget you have to then go all the way back too. This was probably the worst part! Not only because it was technically more difficult and you were very weary where you were putting your feet but because it was so hard on your knees and then there was the whole fact of the steep fucking slope right in front of you which you just can't escape! Although I had an air of caution, it didn't seem to phase these two crazy Aussies, one of which actually slid past me lying on his back!? Trust an Aussie...
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