Day 101 - Sunday 14th April 2024

This morning I was awake well before the alarm. I contemplated whether or not I was going to see the sunrise this morning, then gave my rear the kick it needed to get into gear.

I left the hotel with an orange glow along the horizon, and made my way into the park and to the sunrise viewing area at Talinguru Nyakunytjaku. I parked easily, and joined the masses on my way to the lookout; the top levels were looking a bit busy, so I went to the lowest level and found a great viewing spot with not too many people down there.

As the morning became lighter, the rock slowly came into focus, and when the sun rose at 07:01 it painted Uluru with it's light.

It was a joy to be able to witness this, and there was a total absence of flies this early in the morning. I enjoyed the show for a while, with Uluru and Kata Tjuta in the background seeming to come alive in the light. I then had to chuckle as I noticed the mass exodus of people from the site returning to their cars and busses. I hung around to enjoy the show a bit more before having an explore of the now empty site as it seems to be a good spot to try to get a sunset as well. I've earmarked a spot that may be good for a timelapse.

Back to the car, and the next plan for the morning. I drove to the Mala car park with the intention of doing the 10km base walk right around the rock. This car park is the site where they used to climb up onto the rock, a practice that has thankfully ended as the rock is a sacred site for the indigenous peoples.

Hat and insect net on, I set off in a clockwise direction around the rock at 08:00. The first detour was the 800 metre return path to Kanju Gorge, and on returning to the base walk there were large sections where signage asked that photos weren't taken due to the sensitive nature of the site; I was more than happy to comply although others on the path took little notice.

The temperature was now rising, so I had the juggling act of removing my fleece (which was covered in flies) while not letting any flies into the netting. Mission successful, I resumed my walk around Uluru until I was on the return leg of the journey.

 

There is a waterhole at Uluru that I've seen a lot of, and I found this three quarters of the way round; a pathway took me to the Mutitjulu waterhole where water collects when it rains. There was water there today providing a wonderful reflection for me to capture. There was an extended family on a birthday celebration with lots of kids who arrived there shortly after me; as I was reading the information board I noted that this was the perfect place to listen to country ...... not with the din these kids were making it wasn't!

I high tailed it out of there to find some tranquility, and completed the walk at 10:30 with the temperatures reaching 25 degrees. Rehydrate, replace the sugars in my blood, and I set off back to my accommodation to take shelter from the temperature. On the way, I had a bit of an explore of the sunset viewing area to find a good spot for when I returned later in the day.

An early dinner was taken at 15:30 before leaving the hotel again at 17:00 for the 18:31 sunset in the thirty degree heat. I was hoping to be able to set up my GoPro to capture a time lapse, but this proved to be not possible with the kit I have on my travels. It's the first time I've regretted not having the full tripod I jettisoned when packing for the trip.

The sunset was beautiful (notwithstanding the plague of flies that surrounded me), not from the colours in the sky as I wasn't looking in that direction, but from the changing colours of the rock. As the sun lowered the washed out browns that it started with slowly took on warmer hues, ending up as a bright orange before the sun sank below the horizon.

Back to the hotel in the gathering dusk to gather my thoughts for the daily blog, and to review the masses of footage that I've gathered today.