Outback humor: termite mounds dressed up as people along the side of the road.
The Australian outback is BIG.
Our trip through Australia included a 10-day “safari” through the outback: 3 days touring around Uluru (previously known as Ayers Rock), 1 day in Alice Springs, 3 days driving up highway 1 to Darwin, and the final 3 days taking in Kakadu National Park to the east of Darwin. Total mileage: over 2000. Mostly along the Stuart Highway, which runs from the North Coast to the South Coast (and is mostly straight!).
Uluru is the most famous (and most visited) spot in the outback. It truly is close to the center of the continent; a monolithic rock pushed up out of the earth during one of the geological upheavals that created Australia. Although on the map it looks close to Alice Springs, it is actually a 4 hour drive from Alice. Because of a dust storm, we didn’t see it until we were quite close, but later we could see it from miles and miles away.
The rock (like most rock outcrops in the outback) is sacred to the Aboriginal people because it is part of the “dreamtime” — a story of creation that is inextricably bound up with the landscape. The Anangu people believe that everything in the landscape was created at the beginning of time by the travels of great ancestral beings. For over 10,000 years, they have considered Uluru one of the sacred spots for gatherings and initiations. But in Aboriginal culture, the dreamtime stories are multilayered, containing not only explanations of the landscape, but wisdom of how people are to relate to one another and to the landscape.
We were shown areas that have rock art that indicates these were some of the “classrooms” for youngsters to learn the stories. Aboriginal people only pass on the dreamtime stories in the place where they belong, and only to people who are ready to receive the wisdom of the stories.
As such, since the national park that contains Uluru is run by the Anangu people, they have agreed to share only a few of their stories with tourists, and only in their own words. So tour guides must go through a training to learn the stories, and must explain to the tourists that, as outsiders, we are hearing only the infant’s version of a story–something simple like the story of an ancestral being who broke the rules about proper punishment and was chased by another ancestral being in the form of a snake from one side of Uluru to the other, thus leaving a snake-like scar on the side Uluru. Only tribal members or those whom the tribe deems worthy of learning more can learn the deeper meanings of the story. I (Marsha) was torn between the desire to honor the indigenous people by abiding by their decision not to share the stories, and my curiosity to learn more about this incredibly complex web of stories that have been handed down for thousands of years and helped shape this marvelous culture that was nearly wiped out in less than 100 years of western colonization. In this case, curiosity has to go unfed.
During our trip we also visited Kata Tjuta, Kings Canyon, and the “Devils Marbles” – various other glorious geological experiences that photos cannot do justice to.
Kata Tjuta — another great outcrop of rock, as seen from the area around Uluru.
Kings Canyon
Devils Marbles, north of Alice Springs
One of the learnings of these visits was just how much water you need to drink in the outback — with temperatures pushing 100 degrees, and topping out at 107 on one day, we were drinking anywhere from 3-5 liters of water each day and still feeling dry!
And we didn’t have air conditioned rooms to return to — we slept under the stars in “swag” — a canvas sleeping bag with a foam mattress into which you slip your own sheets or sleeping bag. With a canvas flap that can pull back over your head you are (sort of) protected from rain, dust, and bugs. (In actual fact, the one night it rained, we all moved our swags into the tents that are thoughtfully provided by the tourist companies, and which you would normally pay extra for!)
The view from my swag as dawn breaks.
Green Edges 