Bike Ride Around Uluru

The trail at the base of Uluru is about 10.5km long.  There was no way we were going to be able to walk that with all of our kids, so we opted to take our bikes.  The trail is not at all strenuous and most people we saw that day were walking with just a few others on bikes. 

The kids were anxious to touch Uluru, they’d been asking if they’d be able to before we even got there.  So they took the first chance they could to get close to the rock.

Up close Uluru has so many magnificent features.  I’ve seen pictures before but it was hard to imagine how it all fits together. 

This is one of the spots where after a rain water spills over in a series of cascading waterfalls.  Unfortunately in the dry season, the most popular tourist season, you are unlikely to see any water here.  There are several of these spots around Uluru, they must be just beautiful after a rain.

More magnificent scenery…

Another place where the trail goes close enough to touch Uluru!

You can see some rock art along the way.

There are a couple of waterholes, not much water in them this time of year.  This was a spot where you had to walk in a little way, we waited for a school group to go first.  We’ve seen quite a few school groups doing tours of the region.  At the campsite we saw several come and go.  They are easy to spot because they set up dozens of identical tents all in neat little rows. :)

One of the very few benches along the way!

The kids saw this and immediately thought of Wave Rock in Western Australia that we hope to visit later in our trip.

So of course they had to surf it.

Again with the magnificent features…

Another spot to touch Uluru!

When you get around to the back the trail is further away from the rock.  There’s little shade along this part of the path.  I wonder why the path strays so far.  There are certain parts of the rock that are more sacred than others, maybe that has something to do with it.  Everyone we saw was dutifully sticking to the trail. :)

Then we rounded the end and came closer again.  During the wet season this particular spot features a waterfall, there was a tiny bit of water at the bottom when we were there.  We hung out in the cool shade for a little while before moving on.

More rock art and another wave rock.  And a gazillion pictures!

All the kids had to get up here for a picture.  Blame it on TurboBug (2), he was first.

Another cascading waterfall.  There are certain parts of Uluru that you aren’t supposed to photograph, there are signs indicating these spots and stories behind why.  They are sacred sites to the traditional owners.  This waterfall was right at the end of one of those sites.

More rock art!  I wish there had been more information about the paintings.

I had never heard of the marsupial mole.  According to this article, sightings are very rare at only 5-10 per decade.  They have a backward-facing pouch like a wombat and they can ‘swim’ through the dirt, having slightly webbed back feet.

They apparently made these holes in the rock.  Amazing!

So what about climbing Uluru?  It seemed like everyone we met had the same question: Is the climb open?  It wasn’t open the day we did our bike ride.  This is the trail, see the lighter section of the rock?  That dark line going up the lighter line is a handrail.  Climbing Uluru takes about an hour but they close it during windy conditions, or when they have to make rescues. 

Signs nearby explain that the Anangu do not want anyone to climb Uluru.  Over the years nearly three dozen people have died attempting the climb.  It’s also an incredibly sacred site to them.

In fact, the park is working toward closing the climb permanently.  I have to wonder how old this sign is, though.  In the 1980s the government agreed to hand ownership of the land back to the Anangu and agreed to forbid climbing, the land would be leased back to the government and jointly managed with the traditional owners.  The agreement was broken and allowing people to climb Uluru ended up being a part of the lease.  I guess the government wasn’t quite willing to give up the lure of the climb and all the tourists it brings in.

The climb was not in our plans for this trip anyway.  It’s steep, it’s an hour-long hike, and it’s very hot.  Did I mention we have young kids?  So the climb being closed wasn’t really an issue for us.  Our bike ride was a perfect way for us to experience Uluru as a family.  It’s so different up close and it’s one of those lifetime experiences that I’m so glad we were able to do.  We’ve been to Uluru!!!

Aboriginal Rock Art at Split Rock

Does this count as a roadsign for my collection?  Not exactly what you think of as Australian animals, but we see a lot of these signs!  So far up this way we’ve seen wandering cattle, but no sheep yet.

After Cooktown we spent a night in nearby Lakeland so that we could make a quick visit over to Laura to see the Aboriginal rock art at Split Rock.  (I never know whether I’m supposed to capitalise Aboriginal, I see it both ways and have yet to figure it all out.  So I’m capitalising it, just in case.  I also don’t know when to use Aborigine vs Aboriginal.  Maybe by the end of this trip I’ll know!)

We didn’t bring many picture books with us, but this one had to come along!  This is by a well-known Aussie children’s author, and it’s about a family taking a trip around Australia in a caravan.  Ahem.  We also have the audio and we listened to it in the car that day.  At the beginning is a map showing their route and it’s fun to see the places we’ve yet to go.

This guy was veeerrry quiet.  Turns out he was just very interested in his book.

Tangent…Once when I was stopped for a breath test I had my three older kids all lined up in the backseat next to each other.  (Breath tests are random and common here, this one was in the middle of the day in the middle of town.)  Each kid had a book open on their lap.  The officer saw them as he was administering my test and asked ‘How do you do that?’  I laughed, but from the look on his face he was serious.  He asked again, and I laughed again.  Three kids, all lined up and quiet in the backseat, happily looking at their books.  How do you do that?  The answer is, you give them books.  Lots of books.  From a young age.  (Insert spooky whispers: If you build it…) But back to our story…

This far north we pass a lot of bananas, and a lot of sugarcane.  This day it was bananas.  Not sure whether the bags protect from the elements or the animals, but this far north in the middle of winter I’m guessing animals.

Our first stop was the Quinkan and Regional Cultural Centre in Laura.  The display there is really very good and worth visiting.  There was a small fee to enter.  The kids loved this display on guessing the animal tracks.

And this one with the grinding stone and information on how they made paints.

And I loved all the information on the signage.  They were really well done.

Then I realised some kids were missing and I found them inspecting the termite mounds out back.

Which are very interesting also, especially if you find a broken one.

Some of them are quite large, which makes them especially fascinating.

But, back to the museum!  Of course there was information on interpreting the rock art.

And on how the paintings are made: the paints and tools.  We also watched a video that interviewed some of the Aboriginal guides in the area. 

Laura is famous for its Aboriginal Dance Festival.  We missed this year’s by a few weeks.  I loved this room with the giant pictures and mirrors, we tried out the various dance poses.

The spelling of kangaroo came from Captain Cook and Joseph Banks.  They did their best to interpret the Aboriginal word into English.  They originally spelled it kanguroo.  Aboriginals in the area spell it gangurru. 

Something I’ve never imagined before: the first car to make the trek to the tip of Cape York.  I would not have guessed it was as early as 1928.

Part of the rock art is free to view, you just have to be able to walk up to it.  You can also pay for a tour which will take you to even more rock art and engravings.  The site is about 11km outside of town.

There were three different galleries to view.

The flying foxes were my favourite.

There was a bit of a walk up to the sites with a couple of steep spots but otherwise not too bad.  It gave a good view of the surrounding area so you could see why Aboriginals would spend time up here.

This was our first viewing of rock art on our trip, we hope to see more in the Northern Territory.  We’ll be heading back down the coast then inland to Longreach and eventually Alice Springs and Uluru, then north to Darwin.  We can’t wait to see more of this great country!