July 29th, Australia Day 158

Like all the others, this day began before dawn as we were going to see Uluru/Ayers Rock at sunrise. Before we made out way to the site, we stopped at the place where we had watched the monolith at sunset just to see its silhouette against the dawn sky. We then drove to the sunrise spot and found a good location from which to take photos.

As the sun rose, Uluru/Ayers Rock once more took on the blood red shade that it had during the waning stages of last evening's sunset. Part way through the sunrise, a dark band appeared across Uluru/Ayers Rock that eventually disappeared as sunrise progressed. I decided that I would call the feature "Kuniya's Trail" and that it represented that path Kuniya took around the monolith as she went to confront her nephew's killers. It was burned into the rock by her anger and anguish and appears when the monolith takes on the colour of blood. If you go to Uluru/Ayers Rock, you can visit the site where Kuniya battled her nephew's murderers.

From there, we proceeded to Kata Tjuta/The Olgas, a formation of domes not too far from Uluru/Ayers Rock. It was here that our tour guide gave an interesting demonstration of the geological history of the area using an apple, some pebbles and the nearby sand. We then hiked through a path in Kata Tjuta/The Olgas, arriving at the entrance to the Valley of Winds where there was a stunning view. From here it was back to Alice Springs where this portion of my tour concluded. My 9-day tour was set up in 3 3-day components, each with a different guide, although some of the people I was with on this tour accompanied me for all 9 days.

As we drove into The Alice, we were informed of the special boat race held in the city as well as the Camel Cup. The boat race is run on the dry river bed that runs through the city and each team has a no-bottomed boat which they carry along the race course. One year, it rained and the race had to be postponed marking the first time in history that a boat race was delayed due to water. The Camel Cup is a lot like a horse race, except with camels and is supposed to be quite hilarious. That night, the whole group went to a local restaurant for dinner to farewell our tour guide as well as those of us who would not be continuing on. I went to sleep early as, again, my day would start pre-dawn.

Photos now available at: http://australiaday158.blogspot.com/