A journey to the center

Yesterday, 21^st March I got to the center of Australia and to my own center in certain way. Emu run tours started at 6 am the one day trip to Kata Tjuta and Uluru. I’d like to have done the 2 days trip which included Kings Canyon as well, but 500 bucks was a little bit too much to spend in 2 days. And that way I have a reason to come back …

Soon it was clear that we would have good fun with our tour guides Tic and Kevin, typical Aussie fellows with a pretty naughty sense of humor. After 4h and a bit on the bus with several stops for loading and unloading coffee and an educative movie about the explorers who discovered the way from south to north Australia and sated up the Alice Springs telegraph station, we had our first preview of THE ROCK. Actually during the 450km ride we stopped to take some pics of Mt. Connor a big rock too, but right now I don’t even know if it’s a monolith too… anyway, from far away and with a little bit of imagination it looks like a giant tooth brush

About 50k before actually hitting Uluru we had our first sight at it, majestic already. But we still had to wait to get there, first was Kata Tjuta, the Olgas. Sincerely I’ve never heard of them before and can’t tell if they are monoliths like Uluru. There are 36 big rocks in the middle of the outback, standing there, upright and proud like the big one, but with an interesting appearance…

We’ve been dropped off the bus for a 40min walk into one of the valleys, between Mount Olga and the one just next to it (I forgot the name), despite the nasty annoying flies sitting in your face every 2 seconds it was a quiet and peaceful experience. Again, so much green around I haven’t expected. Walking into the valley I was really impressed by the beauty of this place, a red rock on my left, Olga, 546m high, and another on one the right, a footpath in the middle you are required not to leave because of the sacred aboriginal land you’re walking on. And you can feel it. If there wouldn’t be these flies… I felt like a horse or a cow maybe, using a little scarf as a tail to keep them away. Or these religious thing where they walk  punishing themselves hitting their backs with a kind of a stick, must have looked really funny… if you get your picture taken it is really means exercising your patience and self control, they are everywhere!

this las pic: with a bit of imagination you see Homer and Marge Simpson ;)

Kata Tjuta was an amazing experience already and a preview to the big rock, Uluru in aboriginal language, Ayers Rock in Australian. They have built an interesting educative visitors center, where you are told the traditions and skills of the aboriginal tribes, about their food, their way to hunt, to live. There’s also placed the so called sorry book: The only things you can leave on these sacred places is your footprint. The only things you’re allowed to take are memories and photographs. There are people that have taken a stone or something of Uluru as a souvenir, but even after 10 years or more they send them back with a letter, apologizing for their fault. I’ve read some of them. Some have experienced cumulated bad luck, diseases, losses… you can’t tell if it’s because of the rock, but at the end they feel sorry about having violated the aboriginal will. And at the end they feel that they have to give their piece back to where it belongs.

We went on, on our journey to the rock, dropping one of the girls off for the climb, 1,6km up the rock. I’ve thought about it but I’ve read so much about it and it I’s again against the aboriginal will to climb it and I’m really interested in the tjukurpa, the aboriginal stories about the rock we are told about by our 2 guides.

So we’re starting our immersion in the old stories about the rock, how it was created and how it got all its scares, holes and injuries, being scenery of huge fights between Mala, a wallaby creature, Kuniya, a snake kind of creature, a dingo (of that I’ve forgotten the name), able to change its appearance….

A special for my andalusian followers:

Para los andaluces entre vosotros: sí, mala, cuñá, yo tambien me he reido, aqui una foto de un sitio de iniciación de mujeres:

More pictures:

a waterhole

the wave, sight of aboriginal "parties"

aboriginal paintings

 they tell that this is a scarf from a fight between Mala and Kunya

I have to admit that I’ve been distracted by our so called team Russia, 2 girls, one of them living in London the other one from Moskow, fulfilling all the stereotypes. The younger one, my personal favorite, posing for the photographs in her best way, old school style, like advertisements posters of the 50ies (she’s a professional photographer, she tells the Italian guy, that’s why she knows….). On one of the walks back to the bus, she struggles and screams, oh my god, a tragedy, her glitter flip flop is ruined, the strap between the toes just snapped … It was really funny, at least to me, to her obviously not.

After recollecting our climber we headed to the sunset spot, where I went up a dune for a quiet look to the rock and some tourist photos. We were we were served with a nice dinner, despite the flies, protein supply for the salads and bbq sausages and sparkling wine.

After dinner I decided to take some time for myself with this amazing view, I’ve been surrounded by people the whole day and haven’t had a moment to experience some quiet moment in this magical place.

So I sat down and looked at it. Asking myself or perhaps asking the rock if he really is as magical and energetic as they say. He lays there, in front of me, a deep orange color with dark lines on it, mostly shadows and some of them water signs. It’s a giant stone, 4/5^th of it under the surface. I kept looking at it, waiting for an answer or something to happen. And then, after a while I got it. I felt relieved, sad, happy and overwhelmed. Facing my past and my future; my very own center. A bunch of heavy emotions hitting me at the same time. I was looking for a meaning of it, if I was afraid of the future? Sad about the past? Frightened because I don’t know where I’ll live, where I’ll work, the possibility to start over at a place I don’t know at all …

But I just felt okay. With all my defects, craziness, debilities and strengths. Sitting there, looking at the massive rock, I knew that my decision was the right one. That I’ve done well in facing the reality and that my place wasn’t in Spain. I remembered that it was heavy 2 ½ month before I started to travel.

And somehow I felt that I’m doing just right. I felt confident thinking about my future.

When we drove away on the bus I was looking at him for some more time, and I wanted to look back for longer, but I remembered, turned my head and looked ahead.

PS: it is true what I’ve read about it: even if you have seen a million pictures of it, they can not represent the real one.