Ayers Rock: tourist trap or mystical place?

Ayers Rock is a resort in the middle of the desert, and by resort read the worse meaning of the word. A circular road with less than 5 hotels and one camping/backpacker place. All owned by the same company. All incredibly expensive. People go there for one reason only: to see Uluru. And when you come from far far away of course you won't say no and go back to where you came from without seeing "the Rock". They know it and they take advantage of it.

On the other side has to be said that the place is indeed spectacular, and because of the big open spaces everywhere even if there's so many tourist around you you don't feel too close or oppressed. Even more controversial is the fact that the Aboriginal people are indeed the owners of the place, but only a fraction of the entrance charge goes to them. And to add more their belief says that people shouldn't climb the holy rock, still climbing it is possible to everybody (for a price of course). All this controversy adds somehow to the myth and fashion of the place. It is indeed one of those "must see in your lifetime" places. More is discussed on the excellent Real Australian Outback Guide.

So what did I do? Climbing? not really. Of all the ways of disrespecting a culture this is indeed the most "tiring" one. I went instead for a camel ride at sunset, followed by glass of wine and camel salami (ride them then eat them could have been the company motto). I've learnt how camels were important in the old days to travel the desert, how they were imported and then when they were no longed needed released, with the consequence that now that are more than 800K wild camels roaming free. I've learnt how they are quite clever, they say like a 7 year old child. I would add they are also a lot more quieter and well behaved than a a child at that age.

After a night spent in a classic (but still recreated for tourists) outback bar listening all night to "A home among the gum trees" the next day I went for one of those tours that will guide through the base of the Rock, explain aboriginal legends and then bring you to see Uluru from a distance at sunset.

The good thing about this tour is that was managed by Aboriginal people, so at least a bit more than the small fraction of the park entry charge will go to them. And speaking of sunset, there are two specific sunset areas (and same for sunrise); one for cars, one for buses. Nowhere else in the park you can just stop and admire. The sunset areas are basically huge carparks, with people sipping wine or barbecuing while "admiring" the view. If the images below revealing the "behind the picture" reality didn't spoil it for you yet you can always check out the video. Not ideal, but still a great view, plus as I said plenty of space, so you can find your little corner to take your picture of the rock in peace or simply savour the moment.



And even with all the crowds, the smell of bbq, the hundreds of cars or coaches parked behind you.. when the sun goes down and you see the reflections on the rock, well for a second or two you forget all the rest, and I suppose that makes it worth it.

While you're there check out related stories:

The Colours of the Desert: Alice Springs

Cairns, Rainforest and Fight for Life

More Posts about Australia

The colours of the desert: Alice Springs

I always loved deserts, the idea of a road going straight for miles, nothing on the left, nothing on the right. So it's no wonder that while in Australia I decided to stop in Alice Springs and Ayers Rock. From the plane you could see the vastness of the red desert in its majesty, and when you land.. the red of the desert and the blue of the sky is all in front of you.

Plenty to do in “the Alice”; parks, museums, reptile centres, and western movie style saloons. I particularly enjoyed the School of the air: A school that teaches children in the outbaack in a radius of more than 1000kms; the old days it was done via radio, nowadays by internet. I guess the trainer in me is still alive and wanted to know more about “distant learning”. The idea was inspired by the Royal Flying Doctors; doctors that will fly in an “ambulance plane” to remote destinations in the outback, or sometimes just giving instructions by radio.

Nature is indeed different here from other places in Australia, and definitely from any other part of the world. Instead of pigeons you have all kind of colourful parrots flying around, some pink ones called Galahs are particularly common everywhere (like pigeons in some places sometimes too common). The best was however the Thorny Devil, a cute little lizard that looks like.. well a thorny devil.


The word “river” here means actually “dry bed of a river” as you can see here. They even have a boat race every year, on a boat with no bottom and the racers just running in it. I believe it's the only boat race in the world which gets canceled where there is water. The river actually runs under the bed, and aboriginal people judging from the plants on the surface will actually be able to tell where the water actually is. If some explorer would have consulted them they wouldn't have perished trying to find the inner lake in Australia.

To learn about how to find water, which plants are edible, and tons more info on desert life the best place is the Desert Park, just outside Alice. As the very informative Real Australian Outback Guide mentions: ”If you have time for only one attraction in Alice Springs, visit the Alice Springs Desert Park. If you can spend only one day in Alice Springs, make it a day at the Desert Park. And if you have all the time in the world? Well, lucky you.” I rented a bike and off I went through Alice and the desert road outside it, and spent a whole day in the Park learning about and watching reptiles, kangaroos, birds, plants, and the red red ground contrasting with the immense blue sky. To top it off I went biking on my return on the "river", and i was luck enough to bump into wallabies in the wild coming out at sunset.

A final note talking of new animals. Not only I've seen them, but being on top of the food chain I got to eat a lot of them. Well here's my review:

Crocodile: A mix between fish and chicken. Nothing special to tell the truth.
Emu: Lovely sausage, somehow with some "venisonish" taste
Wild Buffalo: Beef after all, bit more "smoky" if you want
Camel: I was looking forward to it but no. Definitely not recommended. Incredibly chewy. You'll chew for hours and it's still there in your mouth (untill when nobody's looking you'll spit it away).
Kangaroo: the best ever! Rigorously cooked very rare (the old days that's how Aboriginal people would get some moisture) it's a fantastic meat and incredibly tasty.

Did I make you hungry or angry at me now? Bon appetit either way!