Yesterday morning we were up before the sun again, this time for an excursion to Uluru. This time it was only our small group of people watching Uluru appear and change colors as the sun rose and the sky became gradually lighter. It was beautiful!

We had a quick breakfast on the viewing platform, then took a short hike to the Mutijulu Waterhole. Wow! Uluru is so unique and so beautiful–even more so up close than from afar. It is easy to see why it has been considered a sacred place for thousands of years.

After our hike, we were driven around the base of Uluru. Much of it is a photography free zone, respecting the wishes of the Anangu people, so we don’t have any photos of the rest of our tour.

We learned two more traditional stories during this tour. One involved the blue-tongued lizard man who lied about killing (and taking the meat of) an emu that had been speared by another hunter and therefore belonged to that hunter. He tried to hide in a cave high up on Uluru, but the hunter smoked him out and he fell to his death, leaving green spots (his skin) on Uluru as he fell. In addition to explaining the origin of the green spots, that story teaches children two lessons–not to lie or steal, obviously, and also not to climb Uluru, which is something that is not permitted in the Anangu culture. It was permitted by the Australia government, however, until 2019, when pressure to respect the indigenous people’s wishes, the environmental impact of the climbers, and the deaths of 37 climbers finally put an end to it.

The second story we learned is a longer and more complicated story involving a python woman avenging the death of her nephew, causing battle scars on the face of Uluru. Google Liru story if you are interested in the details. Our guides have emphasized that the versions of these stories we are allowed to know are the very basic, children’s stories. Since I learned about myths and folk stories as a kid, I have been amazed at how similar the lessons of the traditional stories of cultures across time and places are, and these stories are no exception.

After our tour, we had some chill/blog writing time, after which we took advantage of some of the free activities offered around the resort. We watched a didgeridoo demonstration and then saw two movies–one about all-sky astronomy and one about the making of the Wintjiri Wiru drone show. We also went to the Gallery of Central Australia, a gallery of art by local indigenous artists. I bought a small piece of art to bring home to remind us of this amazing place.

Oh, and here is a photo of me sitting on a bench that (allegedly) Princess Diana sat on when she visited Uluru. There are a bunch of these benches around the national park, which are made of ironwood from trees that were downed by a cyclone a few decades ago.

Last night we attended a stargazing session with an astronomer. The sky was totally clear and just a short walk from the resort there is almost no light pollution, except for the moon, which was quite bright. He gave an interesting talk, showed us how to find the Southern Cross and use it to navigate south, pointed out various constellations, and then let us view several things with his very powerful telescopes, including Saturn, the moon, and the Butterfly Nebula. It was a very well done presentation, made all the more enjoyable by the extremely precocious girl, about 7 or 8 years old, who absolutely loves space and told her dad breathlessly that this was best holiday ever. I’m sure he will remember that for a long, long time, and hopefully it will get him through her preteen years, because on our morning tour we had a girl of about 11 who made it clear to her poor mother that seeing a stupid rock was not her idea of a holiday. That reminded us of when we took our kids to the Grand Canyon. Love you, kids!

The Anangu have an all-purpose word (a bit like aloha) that means hello, goodbye, please, thank you, and you’re welcome. Palya, Uluru!

Next stop: Alice Springs, a five hour drive south through the Outback!!