red center

First of all, the Uluru trip was fucking awesome. There was the fucking awesome guide Glenno, the fucking awesome food that we cooked and ate around the campfire, and of course, the fucking awesome girls I spent the whole trip with: Aline and Marjolein. Uluru was freezing cold but we had so much fun.

The first day we spent hours and hours in a very uncomfortable bus. I plugged in my ipod for everyone so we could enjoy some good 'ole hip hop on the way. We passed Vuluru which was NOT Uluru, the geographic center of the continent, a place with camels, several bars in which we were encouraged to buy snacks, and a whole lot of nothingness. The red center of Australia is indeed the middle of nowhere. We drove for FIVE HOURS in the outback until we finally reached Uluru. Thank god Aline and I packed cookies and lamingtons and chocolate to tide us over.

Our first official stop was at Kata Tjuta, otherwise known as the Olgas. These are 36 big lumps of round, red rock. They are bright red. Like you walk through the middle of some of the lumps, and your skin looks reddish because of the reflection. The wind was crazy here. Kata Tjuta is where the men have their initiation ceremonies. Several areas are off limits to regular white folk because of this.

Our next stop was at Uluru, where we watched the sunset. Uluru is in fact, big, red, square, and radiates a brilliant orange in the setting sun. Everyone took about a million pictures, because after all, we drove for 25 hours to see this rock. I did not feel an overwhelming spirit or magic or whathaveyou, but it was very peaceful. Plus, Aline and I ate our second sandwiches from lunchtime, so there was that. Aline and Marjolein and I tried to take a jumping picture and failed quite spectacularly.

Dinner! Was a tasty vegetarian Chinese noodle stir fry. Aline and I were the only vegetarians on the trip, so we got to cook our own food together. And eat it all ourselves. And after our delicious meal, we all sat around the campfire and roasted marshmallows! An American treat! Plus hot chocolate! We had a walk around and looked at the stars, and they were spectacular. Just as bright and shining as in Kakadu. The Milky Way was incredible again.

Unfortunately, the weather was AWFUL and stepping just two feet away from the fire was like entering the Arctic tundra. We slept in sleeping bags inside swags completely zipped up, and I wore my alpaca hat, and I was still so cold that I woke up several times in the middle of the night. Finally I realized that I should flip my sleeping bag upside down so that I could pull the headpiece over like a hood rather than sleep upon it, but it was so hard to do in the middle of the night that I just woke up tired and grumpy. And cold. Because do you know what time we woke up? 5:00 am.

As the sun rose, we walked around the base of Uluru, and this was a bit disapointing as I thought we would be right up against it but we were about 50 meters away for most of it. It looked the same from that distance as it did from the car park, plus there were only three signposts the entire way around with stories or information. Uluru was used as a sacred place for the women in the area. Near the end, we got to walk closer and touch it and see an area where the Aboriginals gathered to eat together. Up close, Uluru is still bright red, but the most striking aspect of the rock are the holes in it, from where smaller rocks popped out due to expanding and shrinking in the changing seasons. The holes have been smoothed over from wind and rain erosion. As we walked, we sang our own national anthems, songs about sunshine, Kol Haneshama round, and other songs we all knew, like Die Moldau. We are all music dorks, which was awesome. The cultural center at the end of the base walk was meh, although they did have tons of pictures of bush tucker, the bugs and plants and fruits that Aboriginals ate. So we sat in the sun outside and ate our own bush tucker: Belgium mint chocolate.

One interesting thing I learned about Aboriginals from Glen our Amazing Guide is that there are still many, many clans living in the outback, living life the traditional way. Those who do bad things, like become alcoholics, are kicked out of the community. Those are the Aboriginals that you see at the bus stations and gas stations in Alice and Katherine, the ones who hang out yelling at one in the morning, the ones who are clearly drunk or on drugs. Glen told us that sugar and flour were not a part of the traditional diet but were given as presents from German missionaries in the 1800s. So much crap food has made many Aboriginals diabetic.

On our second night, we had a tasty pasta dish, and some tasty custard and fruit concoction, and some tasty hot chocolate, and popcorn cooked in the fire. We went to see the stars again with Glen and they were again, amazing. Glenno gave us some good tips for our sleeping bags in swags, and I slept soundly for 5 hours. Because we woke up again in the dark. WE PAID GOOD MONEY TO DO THIS.

The third day activities were hiking in Kings Canyon and driving back to Alice Springs. Kings Canyon was a nice hike, not very strenuous compared to Kakadu. It was filled with red rock formations that looked like Dutch ovens, round lumpy things, and included the Lost City which looked like Angkor Wat when it was first discovered. Aline and I ate muesli bars, chocolate, and gluten-free cereal that Glen was giving away. The driving home part of the trip SUCKED as the bus had the most uncomfortable seats ever, and the road was amazingly boring, and we only passed three road trains, so I ate a whole bag of cereal and finished my 7th book of the trip, this one about a girl who goes to retrieve some shoes her ex-boyfriend sold on e-bay. Quality literature.

Red Center Highlights: One girl thought I was “19 years old, pushing 20,” three people thought my red hair was natural, the dingos I saw in the wild, and most definitely wearing the same outfit for three days and three nights in a row. While hiking. And sitting in the campfire. And sleeping. And I wore all of it at the same time on the third day – running shorts, sweat pants, sports bra, tank top, t shirt, sweatshirt, jacket, snow hat. This was the best outfit because the running shorts have built in unders and the tank was a built in bra kind, so in effect I was wearing 2 pairs of underwear, 2 bras, 2 bottoms, and 2 shirts. When you embrace the dirt, wearing the same outfit over and over is actually quite cozy. Also have I mentioned our guide, Glen? Quite a highlight. Although he smoked like a chimney, he was super nice and funny and used the F word a lot and seemed to enjoy being a guide. He even had a competition in the bus on the way back in which we had to tie a gummy worm into a knot using just our tongues. I did not win, sorry boys.

Red Center Lowlights: I lost my beloved mini Mag flashlight somewhere between the Milky Way and my warm swag.

Australian thing of the past few days: One big red rock and 500ml of chocolate.