uluru / kata tjuta

still in the land of oz. haven't been in the mood for writing - or when i have been i haven't had time. main thing i want to mention now is the trip i took to uluru and kata tjuta national park in mid australia. click on the title to link to the govt official web page. i took few photos there. it was truly awesome in the real sense of the word.i just wanted to experience it.
imagine desert, red earth, intense blue skies, 37 degrees in the shade but there isn't any and that still goes nowhere to describing the experience. i think it was one of the most intense experiences of my life. i felt energised walking on the land there, wanted to weep at the scale and wonder of both uluru and kata tjuta, felt humbled in their shadow. and felt stunned by the changing shape and colour of both.
we spent more time at uluru as that is nearer to the resort which is the only place you can stay near there. as we approached it looked different in different lights, its size and shape changed as well as its colour. i really felt i was in a timeless place, especially in the few snatches of time when we weren't surrounded by tourists clicking cameras. great thing was that at sunrise or sunset the viewing spots would be pretty packed, especially at uluru. then literally ten minutes after the sun had risen or departed the great majority would be in their buses and off they would go leaving subhavyuha and i and perhaps a few others to watch the sky's wonderful display of changing colour. and the rock changing dramatically - from dull brown to glowing orange to deep red. extraordinary.

and driving through the desert was pretty great as well. i'd love to come back and do a longer trip of that. straight road through blood red earth, few scrubs and trees by the side and sand dunes in the distance. mythic. and fighting the desire to speed. 100k seems little when theres miles of nothing in front or behind you and no other cars on the road. but there are signs everywhere reminding you that kangaroos and other animals might suddenly hop in front of you. so i stayed in the limit!
was sorry not to see kangaroos but one night driving back in the twilight after seeing kata tjuta at sunset, 4 camels crossed the road in front of us. shubhavyuha was driving and stopped in good time. we got out and just watched them cross the road, watched their outline against the sunset sky and then they faded like magic into the night.

talking of the night - the night skies were spectacular. one night we went to the observatory for a lecture and explanation of the southern sky. funny to see familiar constellations upside down - something that had disoriented me right from arriving in new zealand. we also learned how to find due south from the southern cross but seemed complicated, think a compass is a better idea. had a great look through the telescopes at the observatory. at the lesser magellan cloud and also at some new stars. i love looking through telescopes.

so the sense of spaciousness from earth and sky was magnificent and just what the doctor ordered. i felt myself slow down and the pace of my breath changing. i would love to keep that sense. i have been experiencing big changes in myself anyway while on this trip though i couldn't articulate quite what those changes are. uluru feels part of that. also i have been so happy to learn from the sense of aboriginal culture here. shubhavyuha and i did a dot painting workshop at uluru which i loved.

on the topic of aboriginal culture i was delighted to be in sydney for the sorry speech that the new prime minister made in february. but that deserves an entry all to itself.