4 ESCAPE Monday, January 21, 2013 THE PRESS, Christchurch

Spiritual heartof

Australia

It’s a place where theheat will leave youdazed, where the nightsky could overwhelmyou. One thing loomsabove all else, writesNAOMI ARNOLD.

Standout: Probably Australia’s best-known natural landmark, Uluru is asandstone formation (9.4 kilometres in circumference and 348 metres inheight, penetrating the ground by 2.5km). In the southern part of theNorthern Territory, it is a holy place for Aborigines. Photo: FAIRFAX

Not alone: Some of the 36 domes of Kata Tjuta at sunset, 25 kilometres from Uluru. Photo: FAIRFAX

It has rained only once in the pastfew months, and the air is aswarm as blood. There are nomountains or coast to bringmoisture to this Red Centre ofAustralia; from the plane window,

only three things interrupt the desertand salt lakes spreading to the horizon.They erupt from the earth like gappyteeth: Mt Connor, Kata Tjuta, and, ofcourse, Uluru.

It is nearly noon when we step off theplane, with the shadows of the desertoaks huddling about their trunks and awarm, dry wind blowing. Hot sand, likebrick dust, covers the ground in softmounds.

The desert spills over the borders ofYulara, the five-hotel complex that feeds,waters, houses, and entertains the400,000 tourists who visit Uluru-KataTjuta National Park each year. I’m one ofthem, here to spend four days and fournights sampling the park, a twice-listedWorld Heritage Area for culture and forits environment.

Although I’ve already spied Ulurufrom the plane, all roads to the rocksstart from Yulara, or Ayers Rock Resort,6km from the airport. Established in1976, it’s an ochre-coloured town,dominated by shade sails, rustling gumtrees, and red dunes.

Since last year, everything iscontrolled by one outfit: VoyagesIndigenous Tourism Australia, asubsidiary of the government-ownedIndigenous Land Corporation.

The town and all levels ofaccommodation, from campground toluxury hotel, are arranged around acollection of shops and a ring road, all ofwhich has tourists wandering dazed,stupid from the heat. The middlefeatures Imalung Lookout, a red dunefrom which you can see Uluru hunchedon the horizon like a petrified witchettygrub. Further out, away from the resort,is the star in the crown, the premiumdesert enclave of Longitude 131.

I’m staying at the resort’s premiumhotel, Sails in the Desert, where thelawns are bright green, and local touchesinclude the parched-earth carpet designand embroidered constellation cushions.The staff are wearing spotless newuniforms. Everything is spotless, in fact;there’s been a flurry of freshening-upsince Voyages took over, in a bid toencourage guests to stay longer andbuild up more conference business.

Over the last year, Sails hasundergone a A$30 millionrefurbishment, including several newrestaurants serving spectacular food,which are open to all the resort’s guests;and a new 420-seat conference centre,Uluru Meeting Place. There are galleries,shops, a supermarket, a noodle bar –Ayers Wok – and plans are afoot for a28-hectare, 18-hole golf course. A new dayspa will open soon, and coming soon arebush-tucker tours, theatre performances,and a children’s learning centre. Stafftell me the place has a busy new energy.If there’s a good time to visit Uluru andenjoy some classic Outback hospitality,it must be now.

Free daily guest activities include theindigenous art markets, Wakagetticultural dancers, bush and campfireyarns, boomerang and spear talks andthrowing, and guided walks. Voyageshas committed to an indigenous trainingprogramme, raising the number ofindigenous staff from two to more than170.

The new activities are a quick andrather shallow introduction toAboriginal and the local Anangu culture,

and as the indigenous guides are mostlyfrom out of town, it would be easy todismiss them as fake culturaltransplants, there to provide theindigenous faces and daily amusementsthat tourists complained were lackingbefore refurbishment. But the resort’stransparent good intentions and staffmake up for it.

Mostly young, engaging, and funny,the guides freely admit that they’re still

learning their own customs as well as thelocal Anangu knowledge, some of whichthey have traded for their own.

At typical hotels you’re removed fromthe staff; here, the guides manage thedifficult task of making you feel likethey’re friends, without a shred ofartifice. They do a good job of conveyingsome of the reverence the traditionalpeople of this place hold for Uluru andKata Tjuta, and how they ate and

travelled and lived, managing the landwith fire, living beneath the great domesthat glow daily at sunrise and sunset,whether or not tourists come to gape.

Although it is so hot your ears turnpink, and so dry you get nosebleeds, it’scooler under the gums near the towncentre, at a circle of heavy red stones.

Waylon, a 23-year-old full of veiledmirth, gives a demonstration ofAboriginal law, drawing stories in the

THE PRESS, Christchurch Monday, January 21, 2013 ESCAPE 5

Ancient lands: A map of traditional Aboriginal areas, with the Red Centre highlighted, dispels themyth that Central Australia is an empty desert. Photo: NAOMI ARNOLD

Preciousskill: A

tourist trieshis hand atboomerang

throwing.

Photo: NAOMIARNOLD

■ COVER:Uluru, with the Uluru-Kata Tjuta cultural centre in foreground.

Photo: GETTY IMAGES

‘ From here,the dappledlandscaperesolves intojust ahandful ofcolours.

red dirt. He shows us a selection oftraditional weapons and shields from hishome in New South Wales, hefting aboomerang made of mulga wood, a bluntinstrument aimed to take out a kangarooso you can get closer and stab it.

He gives a demonstration to a coupleof Italian tourists on the grassy lawnnearby. ‘‘If that hit you it’d break yourleg,’’ he says. They are hanging off hisevery word, and he reconsiders. ‘‘It’d besore, anyway.’’

‘‘What if you miss?’’ one asks.‘‘You’ve got to hit something,

otherwise it’d run away and you’dstarve,’’ he explains. She nods seriously,and he says that boomerangs aren’t usedfor hunting kangaroo any more. ‘‘I’drather shoot them,’’ he says to me, andwaits to see if I believe him.

Taine is another young New SouthWales lad, newish here but similarlygood-humoured. He takes me spear andboomerang throwing, and on a gardentour of the grounds, showing me redriver gums, the smoke of which is goodfor calming and cleansing away anger;poisonous cycads, the fruit of whichcan be used to make a man sterile;where to find the high-proteinwitchitty grubs tucked intotree roots; and thetea tree, the

needles of which, early white settlersdiscovered, presumably to their greatrelief, can cure constipation.

The stargazing talks are an exampleof another new, and welcome, initiative.After dinner one night, guide Eddiewalks me and 27 members of a UnitedStates Planetary Club along a dimly litpath to a sandy area out the back of theresort. There’s the Milky Way, dashedacross the great black dome; there arethe Seven Sisters, glittering like a clutchof diamonds. There’s Jupiter, filling thetelescope’s eyepiece with stripes oforange and yellow and its four brightmoons.

Eddie has been fascinated with the

night sky for most of his life, and it isparticularly rich in the middle of theOutback. He treats us to his favouriteconstellations, explosions of lightlooking oddly like sprawling cities, asthough we’re looking back at Earth fromspace. It’s hard to grasp that we’relooking at history, that the stars threwout this light before even the Aboriginalpeople, the world’s oldest continuousculture, were here.

In the dark, an easy intimacy bloomsbetween us all as we stand, mouths openand heads dropped back, staring at thesky.

It takes another few days of skirtingUluru before we finally reach it. Before

we do, we see it, and nearbyKata Tjuta, from all angles:from a helicopter, as raisedred moles on the surface of

the marbled desert; from thedunes, as the rocks warm

slowly through sunrise andglow bright red at sunset; from

the back of a camel; and finally,coming close enough to touch.

From here, the dappled landscaperesolves into just a handful ofcolours: red sand, orange rock, bluesky, green trees, and tawny spinifex.The sandstone surface of Uluru isunexpectedly textured, daubed with

Aboriginal cave paintings and platedwith oxidised iron like a giant,rusting pot, streaked with dried black

algae from the rains that sometimespour from the sky and thunder off itssloping sides, gouging long stacks ofbowl-shaped depressions.

It is beautiful, and confrontinglyhuge; as tall as Auckland’s Sky Tower,longer than five rugby fields laid out endon end, plunging six kilometres beneathour feet. Again our heads drop back andwe stare upwards, trying to comprehendthe enormity of this 550-million-year-oldisland mountain that dwarfs us all.

■ Naomi Arnold travelled to Uluru as a guestof Tourism Australia and Voyages IndigenousTourism.

GUIDE FOR VISITORS

When to visitThe best time to visit Uluru-Kata Tjuta

National Park is in autumn, winter, orspring, when the days are cooler. In summer,temperatures peak at 45 degrees Celcius.

Things to doMost tourists stay about two days, but

that’s not nearly long enough to experienceeverything the area has to offer.❏ You can’t miss viewing Uluru and KataTjuta at sunrise and sunset, when the sunmakes the rocks glow pink, purple, red, andblue.❏ See the rock from the back of a camel, theOutback’s traditional transport, with UluruCamel Tours. ulurucameltours.com.au.❏ Whip along the desert roads on the back ofa Harley Davidson with Uluru MotorcycleTours. ulurucycles.com❏ Visit the art galleries at Ayers RockResort.❏ See more art and learn about traditionalAnangu tjukurpa (law, culture, history, andworldview) at the Uluru-Kata Tjuta NationalPark Cultural Centre.❏ Walk around the base of Uluru, a 9.4kmroute that takes in many sacred sites, bestexplained by a guide.❏ View the vastness of the park from ahelicopter or fixed-wing aircraft. Visitayersrockresort.com/helicopter-flights.❏ Book the unforgettable Tali Wiru, anoutdoor sunset dining experience for just 20guests. ayersrockresort.com.au/tali-wiru/❏ Try the Sounds of Silence dinner, a four-hour, three-course outdoor buffet including atalk by the resident startalker after sunset.ayersrockresort.com.au/sounds-of-silence/❏ Try a dot-painting workshop, a guidedbush tucker tour, or a cave art tour with anIndigenous guide. ayersrockresort.com.au/indigenous-tours/❏ If you arrive during a storm, countyourself lucky and grab the opportunity for arare photograph; the area only receives308mm of rain a year.

Where to stayThere’s accommodation to suit everyone,

situated just outside the national park.❏ Longitude 131: So secluded it doesn’t evenhave road signs, this five-star, all-inclusiveeco-sensitive resort is situated as close aspossible to Uluru, tucked just on the edgeof the national park. A minimum two-nightstay, with sumptuous fittings and friendlystaff and tour guides. To celebrateLongitude’s 10th birthday, a special rate ofA$5274 (NZ$6607) per room is availablefrom now till March 31, includingcomplimentary helicopter transfer. Visitlongitude131.com.au❏ Sails in the Desert Hotel: Soaring whitesails crown this luxury resort, where roomrates start from A$400 per night.❏ Desert Gardens Hotel: A 4.5 star hotel setamong magnificent ghost gums, rooms rangefrom deluxe suites to poolside rooms. FromA$340 a night. Visit ayersrockresort.com.au/desert❏ Emu Walk Apartments: Spacious, four-star self-contained accommodation, cateringfor up to six people. Apartments begin atA$340 a night. Visit ayersrockresort.com.au/emu❏ Outback Pioneer Hotel and Lodge: ThePioneer has a range of affordable rooms,cabins, and dormitories. Budget rooms startfrom A$198 a night. Visit ayersrockresort.com.au/outback❏ Ayers Rock Campground: Poweredcampsites are A$41 a night, non-poweredsites A$36, six-person cabins A$150. Trees, apool, a playground make this a great familyoption.

Getting thereUluru is about six hours’ flying time from

New Zealand. Both Qantas and VirginAustralia fly to Uluru, directly into AyersRock (Conellan) Airport from Sydney.Qantas also offers direct flights from Perth,Cairns and Alice Springs and both airlinesoffer connecting flights from most capitalcities to Ayers Rock airport.

GETTING THERE

House of Travel has Uluru packagesstarting from $1945 per adult, twinshare, with return airfares Christchurch-Ayers Rock airport flying Air NewZealand. Included are two nights’accommodation at Sails in the DesertHotel, Uluru Sunrise Guided Base Walk,

Sounds of Silence Dinner, return airporttransfers, and national park fees. Salestill March 31 for travel April 1-June 30.Phone 0800 838 747, call in to yournearest House of Travel store, or visithouseoftravel.co.nz.