To climb or not to climb, that is the question at Ayers Rock, or more properly, Uluru. I had been asked that question a couple of time prior to arriving in Ayers Rock, most recently by Martin in Melbourne. I knew that it was controversial because the local aboriginal people are opposed to climbing Uluru, and Martin confirmed that yes, it was perfectly legal to do so. I did not yet know my answer to that question, however.
Upon arriving at the Ayers Rock Resort complex (a series of four hotels, including a dormitory-type hostel, all of which are under single ownership and way over-priced), and upon arriving at the Uluru – Kata Tjuta National Park, there were constant reminders that “we do not climb” – we being the local aboriginal groups to whom Uluru was returned in 1985. Immediate upon returning Uluru to the indigenous settlements (I think there are two different groups in the immediate area), they signed it back over to the Northern Territories government in a 99 year lease agreement. Park management is governed by a board that is made up of about 2/3 aboriginal representatives, and 1/3 business and government interests.
They do not climb for many reasons, but the two that came up the most was (1) that the climbing route was traditionally very sacred to the local people, and only a very small number of men on special occasions every climbed Uluru, and (2) people do get hurt climbing Uluru (35 have died) and every time someone gets hurt the local people feel it was their fault for allowing the climbing to continue.
After reading all of the information about why ‘They’ do not climb, I had pretty much decided that I would not climb. I figured that with all of these notices everywhere, that very few people probably climb Uluru.
On the afternoon of our arrival we drove to the Cultural Center, which is mostly focused on the local people of the Uluru area. It is an attractive facility, architecturally designed to somewhat resemble an aboriginal painting (an off mix of symmetry and asymmetry). No photography was allowed, and I did not record any audio there either (which I have been doing on most days during our trip – possibly for podcasting, if I have time to edit it!) We saw a very informative video about aboriginal culture and the return of Uluru in 1985, and the recent celebration of that event in 1995.
So after visiting the Cultural Center we drove the loop around the rock, going in a counterclockwise direction. By going this way, the last stop on our route happened to be the trail up to the top of the rock. At the very bottom of this trail is another sign, in many different languages, about ‘Why We Do Not Climb.’ However, behind that sign was a relatively steady line of people going up and coming down the steep rock face. A chain fence was embedded into the rock to make it easier for the climbers, once they got beyond the first 100 feet of so at the bottom.
In a moment my whole world view on climbing Uluru was transformed. Obviously there was a message here that was not getting across to some visitors. (I heard at least one teenage express surprise when learning why ‘They Do Not Climb’ – after he came down from the top.) And, more likely, there was a huge disconnect between what visitors wanted to do (and what the park management allows, if not encourages, them to do), and what aboriginal populations what visitors to do. I do not know all of the “politics” of climbing Uluru (as out aboriginal range guide put it on a cultural walk from the same spot on the following day.) I did know that I like to climb to high places to take in the view and take photographs, and Chynna likes to climb rocks. So, with her nudging, we climbed a small part of Uluru – or may when one climbs it is really Ayers Rock that they are climbing and not Uluru.
We only went up a short way beyond where the chain fence starts, in part because Mable and Skylan were waiting below, but also because it really is steep and treacherous. It was enough for me to get my pictures and Chynna to buy a hat pin that says “I Climbed Ayers Rock”, and for Skylan to buy a hat pin that says “I Did Not Climb Uluru”. T-Shirts, stickers and other souvenirs with these two sayings are quite common in the resort area shop. The more secular Visitors Center (with the geology and biology of the area) is also located in the resort complex, and outside of the national park boundary. There is also a small grocery store in the resort, which was the cheapest place to buy food from, though still much more than big city grocery stores.
[Just a note on Australian National Parks: there are literally thousands of them scattered all over the country. They are designated and managed by the states of Australia, not by the national government. Most are no where near as well known and prominent as Uluru. Instead, they are more like state parks in the US. I have heard that Uluru is the only national park in Australia that has significant federal government involvment in its management.]
Out ticket for Uluru – Kata Tjuta National Park was good for three days, and we did indeed enter the park three days in a row. The first day was to visit the Cultural Center, drive around the rock, do a short climb up it, and take photos of Uluru at sunset. There is a special parking area of that and there were a lot of people with cameras and standing on cars to take photos of the color changes as the sun sets and the desert shrub goes dark, while Uluru remains bright orange, slowly darkening from the bottom up. It was quite spectacular.
Our second day brought to a free two hour ranger walk in the morning that left from the climbing area and visited some of the most important ceremonial areas along the base of the rock. It included many shallow caves and places of rock art, and ended with trail through a wooded area ended at a perennial water hole at the base of the rock. The ranger was a local aboriginal – from the village adjacent to Uluru that is hidden by trees from the tourist routes and not open to visitation. He told great stories about the traditional men’s and women’s ceremonies (though they tend to be secret, segregated by gender, so it did not really know what women do).
Almost no ceremonies take place at Uluru any more, because of all the tourists. That, along with the relative acceptance of tourists climbing the rock give, gave me some indication of the cultural values of the local population. They seem to indicate a high degree of flexibility, adaptability, fatalism, and concern for others. My impression (I am not an expert on this subject!) was that they were not afraid to speak their minds, but are also concerned about other people’s wishes and circumstances, and seem resigned to situations in which they view some things as just not worth fighting over.
There are some, not a lot, of photos of individual aborigines in the Cultural Center. One of they was covered up by paper and tape, with a note explaining that in their culture when someone dies, all of their photos are covered to help with the mourning of the deceased person’s relatives. In addition, our ranger guide told us that anyone who had the same given name as the deceased person would be required to change their name. I think that this also reflects my comments in the previous paragraph.
Also on our second day, we went to the Kata Tjuka mountains – like Ayers Rock, but a bit taller, broader and more dissected into several hills by erosion. We went on a short, but spectacular (and easy) hike into one of the canyons there.
Curtain Springs Cattle Station
On our third day we drove to Curtain Springs Cattle Station, about 100km east of the resort. It was the nearest place on the map to where we were. There is not much there. A small restaurant and gas station, a free campground, an interesting variety of live birds in large cages, and camel rides. We went on a one hour camel ride where we saw honey ant nests, a wild camel in the distance (which our guide wanted to capture), and a few head of cattle. Our guide has 15 camels, some of which a re work camels, like the ones we were on, and some of which were racing camels. He and his wife, who was breaking in a new work camel on our ride, travel around Australia with the camels – for races and rides like the one we were on.
In general, wild camels that are over 6 years old are shot because they are an unnatural pest in the Australian ecosystems. Those that are younger are captured and tamed for work. I also learned that it was the rainy season now in this part of central Australia. They occasionally get rain coming up from the Antarctic, crossing over Melbourne and into the interior. That was why all the plants were so green that we saw, which was quite beautiful against the red sand and rock. Night temperatures were quite cold, about freezing, though it did warm up nicely in the afternoons (20 deg C).
After the camel ride, which was about 1/3 cheaper than camel rides at the resort, we went back again into the national park to buy a few things at the Cultural Center that we could not find elsewhere. That night we went up to an observation hill near our cement brick “cabin” to check out the southern stars. I found the Southern Cross, the only constellation that I know south of the equator. The Milky Way, however, was very bright, and although there were no other recognizable constellations, there were a ton of stars. |
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