Uluru and Kata Tjuta

We do not inherit the earth from our ancestors, we borrow it from our children.

After I saw enough of Coober Pedy, I was ready for Uluru. I started hitching on wednesday (14/09/2009) morning but it turned out to be much harder than I'd imagined. Only few cars were passing by and drivers didn't want to pick me up. Finally after five and a half hours (my longest time so far) I got a lift by a guy named Kingsley, who was going to work at a titanium mine somewhere in the desert. We quickly found out we had lots of things in common so we spent the ride with great conversation. Unfortunately he dropped me off only about 80 km further at a place called Cadney Park (just a petrol station, motel and a campground).

It was already around 5pm but I still kept on hitching. Of course I was unsuccessful so I stayed at the campground. But it was great! I joined a friendly group of people that were on their trip from Victoria to Alice Springs on small red motorbikes! Very funny company! We had dinner together, I played some card games with kids...

There was a couple of cars supporting the bikers so I got a lift from them next morning. The only problem was that they were a bit too slow and they didn't go too far. So at the next stop, in Marla (just another station), I tried to find somebody else. And I bumped into one of the most interesting people I've ever met!

Jayle and Kayla, a young aboriginal couple on their way from Coober Pedy to Alice Springs. I first thought they were spanish - they really didn't look like typical aboriginals but after they made it clear and Jayle started talking about their culture I quickly realized that it was an exceptional opportunity to get to know a bit of the aboriginal culture from inside. I got pretty excited and asked all sorts of questions.

Maybe you are wondering - as well as I was - how aboriginal people live today (and whether there still are some tribes living in completely traditional way). Unfortunately, the aboriginals you can see most often are actually lying on the streets, drinking, yelling at each other, begging for money or cigarettes and making lots of troubles. You can see them rather in central and northern parts of Australia. The problem why this is happening is mostly because first, they can't deal with alcohol like white people - they were introduced to it only about 200 years ago and so they're not used to it; and second, aboriginal people are supported by government (sort of positive discrimination), so they get lots of money through wellfare. For me, it sounds a bit familiar - we've got similar kind of problems in Czech Republic with gypsies.

There are many aboriginals living in cities that accepted western life-style completely. They work in a city, often got married to white partners and most of the time you (as a tourist) can't really recognize that they are aboriginals.

And then there is a part of aboriginal population that lives in communities. They live in bush (in reservations) and to certain extent they live traditionaly. Well, there are no aboriginals traveling across the country, wearing no clothes and hunting with spears anymore. The people in communities live in houses, were clothes, travel by cars, buy food in supermarkets and hunt with rifles. But the interesting thing is that they still try to keep their traditions - they teach their children their legends, language, rituals, medicine, magic, hunting techniques and all the extensive knowledge of nature they've got. There is also a lot of white people working or volunteering for them but for a tourist, it's pretty hard to get to a community. And that's good, I think...

I felt very comfortable and happy in the car and I wanted to share a bit of european culture as well. So when I found out I can connect my phone to their radio, I played them Gogol Bordello and some Czech and French music.

Jayle kept on talking about his culture and the aboriginal life. One of many interesting things he told me was that he was a witch-doctor, a shaman, and he'd been taught traditional healing techniques. I was really excited about that and wanted to know as much as possible but unfortunately aboriginal people have very strict rules about who can know certain information. Even within their community. And since I'm just a white-fella, he couldn't give me much details. But it was extremely interesting anyway and I felt very happy being around them.

Finally we arrived to Erlunda where they had to drop me off. I was really sad I couldn't stay longer with them. Before I left the car, Jayle really surprised me - he took a wooden fight-stick from beneith his seat and explained me that it's a traditional weapon and that he'd made it by himself. Then he gave it to me. I was shocked! I wasn't able to say more than "Thank you". It was such a strong moment! One of the moments that always convince me how interesting and exciting hitching (and traveling alone in general) can be!

I got a lift by two dutch women, Corry and Rian, all the way to Yulara, which is a tourist resort just about 20 km far from Uluru. They even promised to take me to Uluru next morning, which I was really happy for because the whole place is very touristic (400 000 visitors every year) and really expensive. If I didn't get the ride, I would have had to take a bus ($45 return!) or rent a bike ($20/day).

There is a few tour operators located in the resort and you can book various tours. I hate tours and any kind of organized sightseeing/traveling but one seemed to be quite interesting. Anangu Tours is a company run entirely by local aboriginal people and they offer a few different tours with an aboriginal guide explaining the legends connected to this place and then showing for example how to make a fire etc. But as I said, I hate tours and it was pretty expensive, so I decided to explore Uluru on my own.

Uluru is an important sacred place with spiritual and cultural meaning for aboriginal people so there are lots of restrictions about what you can or cannot do. You can only walk on marked tracks and you can't take pictures of some parts of the rock. Surprisingly, you can climb up but aboriginal people ask you not to do it. Moreover it's also really dangerous - 37 people have already died while climbing it!

An important part of the whole experience is the Aboriginal Cultural Centre. It's very valuable source of information about aboriginals - it's trying to explain what Uluru means for them and you can also read some of the legends connected to the place, although I found it pretty difficult to really understand them. For me, a lot more interesting were information about their everyday life - what they eat (I'd love to try witchetty grub, hehe), what kind of tools and weapons they use etc. You can also read there that in 1985, australian government handed the land back to aboriginals, they leased it back to the government in return for 99 years and since then the whole place is looked after by aboriginals and Director of National Parks together.

I must say that Uluru is really beautiful and definitely worth seeing but the whole place is way too touristic. It's exactly one of the places that always make me think again about the balance between exclusivity and accessibility. The whole infrastructure and so many people destroy a big part of the magic of the whole place. It would be much better if there wasn't sealed road all the way to the rock, the airport and the whole Yulara resort and you actually had to make lots of effort in order to see it. That way you could really feel it and appreciate it. Instead, all you have to do is pay for a tour, sit on a bus that takes you all the way to the rock, make a couple of pictures and go back. But what's that for? I really wanted to experience the place fully - to enjoy the view, walk around, get to know it as much as possible, try to understand it etc. But in fact, it was quite hard - the only source of information was the aboriginal cultural centre - there were no local aboriginals around you could talk to and ask your questions... So in that sense, I was a bit disappointed. But it still remains one of the most interesting places I've ever visited and one of the most memorable experience.

So I spent all day walking around Uluru (I was lucky - there were almost no people at all at that time!) and getting information in the cultural centre. On one of the walks, I bumped into Romain, a french guy travelling around australia in his van. In fact it was the third time we met each other (first in Erlunda when he refused to give me a lift - he wanted to travel alone, then in Yulara resort earlier that morning) so we made the rest of the walks together.

We found out we suited each other pretty well and we had exactly the same plans for next couple of days so we decided to travel together (I was surprised he didn't want to travel alone anymore but I guess it's because of my irresistible charisma, hehe). In the evening we went to see Uluru in sunset. If you forget about all the people around (there are special sunset and sunrise viewing areas and they're always packed), it's magic and definitely worth experiencing!

Next morning we got up early to see Uluru in sunrise. Again, beautiful but too many people around. At least you were looking at the rock from less usual angle so you didn't get the most typical pictures of it. Funny was that I met Matthias there again! After we said goodbye to each other in Port Augusta, he drove back to Adelaide to hand in the car, then he went by train to Alice Springs and from there he took a tour to Uluru. We couldn't talk too long because he had to rush to follow his tour group. Poor boy, he hates tours as well as I do but he hasn't got so much time for Australia, so taking a tour was necessary.

Kata Tjuta

After sunrise we drove to Kata Tjuta. The name means "Many heads" - look at the pic and you'll know why! It's a rock grouping just about 30 km far from Uluru. Again, it's absolutely spectacular place! The highest rock is even 200 m higher than Uluru which makes it the biggest monolith in the world! It's quite strange that Uluru is so famous while nobody knows about Kata Tjuta but maybe it's because Kata Tjuta is apparently a lot more sacred and all the information about it (like aboriginal legends etc.) is secret. But the good thing is that at least there is a lot fewer tourists.

We walked the tracks - they're all pretty nice and after a quick lunch, we left the whole place (by the way we saw three hitch-hikers on our way - the first hitch-hikers, I've ever seen in Australia!), heading to Kings Canyon.