Our last day of the trip, we got up at the luxuriously late time of 5:45, then made it to the park for the classic sunrise view of Ayer's Rock. After the sunrise and sunset of yesterday, I was initially a little blasé about yet another viewing, but sure enough, once there, Ayer's Rock was stunning as always.
Alas, we had to share the view with the hordes of other tourists this time, but it was still pretty special...
After climbing Uluru yesterday, today was our chance to wander around the circumference, which was pretty fascinating. There are sacred sites all over the rock, including a 'waiting cave' for boys wanting to become men, where as a test of supreme patience, they have to wait days until called.
Aboriginal DreamTime stories say that the four formations are the bodies of four boys who waited, literally forever, for word from their elders, who had been tragically killed earlier in a far-off accident.
Another spot took us to some communal cooking and painting areas... with up to 16 hours a day spent in just finding enough food/water to survive, art wasn't a huge priority beyond a means of communication. So the paintings weren't incredibly ornate, but still had a vibrant energy and feel to them. In this case, each cross marked a successful kill of a relatively scarce large animal, to be shared by all.
… more recently, the cross represents the Aboriginals' sighting of a plane in the 1920's, showing their awareness of Westerners a full 30 years before they were 'discovered' by the Aussies.
After a stop at the very informative cultural center, owned and operated by both Aboriginals and modern Aussies, we had to hit the road, with at least six hours on the road.
Fortunately, just like little kids, we had the trip broken up a bit, with lunch stops at Mt. Connor:
… and some fun bus games, including bowling down the aisle to knock over 10 cups, and the dreaded Wheetabix challenge where it was a race to eat a very dry biscuit as fast as possible.
Another highlight was learning to sing a classic folk song... "Among the Gum Trees":
Once we got back in town, it was mostly laundry and a truly much-needed shower for me, then another pizza at the same pizza place I hit coming in. I had some beers at a cool bar called Bojangles – a locals/tourist common watering hole, and done in an Aussie/Country vibe. Good time, and while waiting for the rest of the group, I had beers and chats with some pretty hammered Alice Springs teachers, blowing off steam on a Friday night. They had some interesting stories of the challenges of trying to teach Aboriginal students who might get dropped into class at age 14 with no experience of school or reading/writing. I have no idea how to solve this problem, but seriously hope the Aussies do a better job than we've done in the States...
But to end on a lighter note... for all the ultimate frisbee players out there - here's a cool tagline I found on an Aussie camper van:
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