It is the day to go to the rock; we both had a great night sleep much of it owed to the blanket we bought yesterday. We loaded our car up with the necessary stuff for a day out in the desert and headed to Uluru.
We had decided to walk around the rock which is about ten kilometres but we did all the side shoots as we went. On one of these side trips there was a cave of original Aboriginal cave paintings, this was the first I have ever seen and it was worth the trip alone.
The day got increasingly hotter and the flies were constantly licking your nostrils, ears and eyes looking for moisture. We really had to pick the flies out of our faces as they are immune to the great Aussie Wave here.
We were constantly amazed at the things people were wearing, the over-dressing done to avoid the sun and flies. Of particular note were two Asian women, I think they were Japanese.
They were both dressed in long trousers, strong shoes and socks and long sleeve shirts over a t-shirt and then tied around the waists a flannelette shirt. Clothes suited to below zero and not 28 degrees celcius. On their heads they both wore huge wide brim hats with netting hanging down tucked around their necks to keep the flies out. The clothing looked like it was more suited to bee keeping than hiking.
The walk was fabulous, the contrasting colours and shapes gave wonderful photographic opportunities. Unfortunately there were big chunks of it you were not allowed to take photos these areas considered sacred by the Aboriginals.
When we finished our walk we decided just to drive the fifteen minutes or so back to the camp ground to have lunch, rather than find somewhere at the rock as it was getting late in the day. Good job as when we got back and unpacked we realised we hadn’t even taken the esky with us in the first place, oh well the best laid plans etc.
Our German mate on the bike had finally turned up and was in his normal place the bathroom. We had noticed this habit of his of spending large tracks of his day in the toilet block last time and he was back a-washing and a-cleaning. I suppose all day in the dust in the sand does that to you, specially on a pushbike.
Tonight is the camel ride and we headed off to see the sunset from the back of a camel at around 5.30. The sun was due to set around 6.30pm. Knowing how cold it gets after the sun went down we contemplated taking a back pack to carry our jerseys . I’m pleased we didn’t as the camel handler told us to leave bags behind because the camels knew there were usually good things to eat in a backpack and they would chew them. He also advised against the straw hats that a couple of the girls were wearing as he said they would just plain eat them. They explained a few things about the camels, a couple of facts that stood out to me were that camels eat over 80% of Australian flora (and tourist backpacks) and they could drink up to 200 litres of water at one time.
Waiting for us on return to the camel farm, is a treat of a few drinks and some nibbles, including a taste of camel meat. This is really a worthwhile experience.
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