Several years ago I decided to make a Bucket List so I could start planning trips based around the places I wanted to visit and explore. What I quickly realised was that I’d seen more overseas than I had in my own backyard, so I started rectifying that.
While Australia has some incredibly beautiful and diverse landscapes, the red earth of the outback seems to be the most unique and iconic so it’s no surprise that Uluru was the first ‘local’ destination to get ticked off. Despite its desolate and isolated location, the Red Centre is such a popular tourist destination that it warrants its own airport, making for one of the most spectacular arrivals I have ever experienced.
Prior to this, the only desert I had seen was on the plains between Texas and California, including New Mexico, Arizona, and Nevada, so I thought I knew what to expect. I was wrong. The sun is relentless and unforgiving. The desert trees look more like overgrown twigs and don’t provide any shade or respite from the searing heat. And I have never seen such an expanse of flat earth; Uluru and Kata Tjuta are all the more striking because of their oblate surroundings.
There are plenty of tour options for the big red rock but we didn’t want to climb it out of respect to the traditional owners of the land so we opted to explore it ourselves. It meant we could: choose a spot for the sunrise which wasn’t overrun with tourists; loop back to the viewing spots in the middle of the day and have them to ourselves; and trek around the base at our own pace. The walk is about 10km and took 3-4 hours. Halfway through, we started feeling the sun and the last half hour was a real struggle. But there is something incredibly humbling about standing at the foot of a monolith which is hundreds of millions of years old and whose artwork predates written word.
The heat is stifling. The flies are relentless. Prices can be astronomical. But there is nothing quite like seeing that vivid red sand for the first time. Or seeing the sunrise over Uluru. Or watching the sunset over Kata Tjuta. Or gazing up at the blanket of stars and constellations strewn across the inky night sky. This is a trip that everyone should experience at least once in their lifetime.
Nancy Navigates 