Uluru, Ayers Rock, the huge red rock over there

Lire l’original en français

After driving for more than 1500 km in the Outback, we finally arrived at the Rock. Three days of driving where the immensity can’t be described and even less be photographed. There are some places you simply have to go to in order to understand their vastness and immensity. Apart from the Great Canadian North and Siberia, I don’t believe there are many other places on the planet so deprived of human beings and their buildings, which they cherish so much. I can understand how this kind of place can seem far from inviting for many (one of the rare places where cellular connection can’t reach! Oh no!), but for us, it’s exactly what we were looking for in Oceania.

Driving for 1500 km in the desert, gives you lots of time to think. To ponder about where you are in the World, where you are in your life, where you fit on this wheel in perpetual motion. So we arrived at Uluru, our hearts filled with the Aboriginal Romance. The one where only native occupants of the Sacred Land can understand the delicate fibre binding every rock together, every bush with the repeated rhythm of Ancestral songs. We knew all about this culture and the importance of forbidding anyone to climb the sacred monument.

When we arrived at the National park, we saw a notice: Park Open; Climbing Open. Hum, are they talking about another mountain? Surely, they must forbid climbing the knoll to all park visitors? We continue towards the native interpretation centre. Over there, we meet two elders, well defrocked. One of them reminds us, slouched on his plastic chair, with a monotone voice and in a slurred speech, how important it is for his People that no one climbs Uluru. The giant snake, which created this place in the beginning of times, has forbidden it. When came time for his companion to enlighten us with her Aboriginal wisdom, she was nowhere to be found. “She’s gone walkabout!” says the park warden, a nervous smile on his face.

So we spent the day on a 10 km hike around the base of Ayers Rock. We can observe it from all angles, but at some places, we see notices forbidding photographs for cultural sensibility reasons. For example, two huge rocks where the magical snake of yesteryears left its eggs a million trillion years ago. I can understand the physical impact of 10,000 visitors walking on a sacred land, but here, it’s censorship, pure and simple.

Hiking for 10 km in the desert, gives you lots of time to think. To ponder about your principles, your own vision of the World. This first real contact with Aborigines was one of censorship and restrictions. But why? Good question, because they too don’t seem to know better than “It’s always been that way, so why change it?”

So I came back from hiking with the firm intention of climbing the Rock on the next day. I believe that mountains are there to be climbed. And if it’s done with respect, it just enhances the spiritual value of the site. Anyway, I seriously doubt that we’ll face the ancient Aboriginal spirits wrath.

We arrive the next morning, eager and ready to climb the Beast. The notice greats us at the front desk: Park Open; Climbing Closed due to high winds at the summit. Damned stubborn Aboriginal spirits…

See HER View
See His and Hers Pictures