Ulur-who?

Uluru before the sunrise

My favorite outback explorers are Robert O'Hara Burke and William John Wills. As far as explorers go they are the Laural and Hardy of Aussies explorers. They set out from Melbourne in 1860 in a race against John McDouall Stuart to collect the 2,000 pound reward to be the first explorers to cross the 143 longitude line. Burke was selected as expedition leader, even though he had no experience in exploration and was a policeman that had no knowledge or skill in bushcraft (survival in the outback). Rather than take cattle to be slaughtered as the expedition traveled, it was decided that dried meat would be taken instead. The meat required three extra wagons and slowed the pace of the expedition down exceedingly. Among some of the other more useful things that Burke and Wills took with them were a cedar-topped oak table, rockets, 80 pairs of shoes, beds, a vast assortment of hats, and a Chinese gong. All told, the equipment weighed about 20 tons. (It took them two weeks to travel from Melbourne to Menindee, a trip that was regularly accomplished in one week by the Australian Postal Service.)

Among some of their wiser decisions were to feed the camels Rum in a belief that it prevented scurvy, yet to lighten their load they left behind the majority of their guns and ammunition. At this point two of the expedition's five officers resigned and thirteen members of the expedition were fired. Impatient with the slow pace, Burke and Wills took fifteen of the strongest horses, seven of the fittest men, and a small amount of the supplies and pushed on to Cooper Creek. The plan was to wait there for the expedition and the majority of the supplies to catch up, but Burke was impatient and the desert was hot. So it was decided that Burke and Wills with two other men would push on to the Gulf of Carpentaria and return to Cooper Creek when the rest of the supplies showed up. Travel was easy as it was the rainy season, but the swamps near the Flinders River slowed them considerably. They never made it to the gulf before they ran out of supplies. They turned back, but the rainy season was over and the trip back was much worse. The remaining camels were shot and eaten along with their only horse, Billy. As they traveled they left a line of dead camels, equipment, shoes, and hats, like a morbid trail of death and Chinese gongs.

The supplies and men waiting for their return at Cooper Creek had been waiting 18 weeks at this point. They decided to depart back to Melbourne on the morning of April 21. Burke and Wills arrived in Cooper Creek on the evening of April 21, missing the departure of their supplies and salvation by only nine hours. So Burke and Wills set off again following the small Cooper Creek down river to Mount Hopeless (sounds promising right?) They left a note in the buried cache of supplies that their party had left at Cooper Creek, but neglected to change the date on the mark left at the campsite. Meanwhile, the supply wagons that had departed Cooper Creek, decided to turn around and come back in hopes that Burke and Wills had returned. They arrived on May 8, just missing Burke and Wills by only a few days. Since the mark was never changed the party just assumed that Burke and Wills had never returned and went home. Predictably, Burke and Wills were never seen again.

Uluru after the sunrise

Burke and Wills expedition was made up of five Englishmen, six Irishmen, four Indian sepoys, three Germans, and one American. My little group was made up of Germans, French, Swiss, Australians, British, Canadians, Chinese, and one American. Following in the spirit of Burke and Wills, we made our way to Uluru (basically that big rock that is on every postcard you have ever seen of Australia.) Uluru also known as Ayers Rock, is a large sandstone rock formation in the southern part of the Northern Territory. It is sacred to the Aṉangu, the Aboriginal people of the area. It has many springs, waterholes, rock caves and ancient paintings. Uluru is listed as a World Heritage Site. Uluru is an inselberg, literally island mountain, an isolated remnant left after the slow erosion of an original mountain range. The remarkable feature of Uluru is its homogeneity and lack of jointing and parting at bedding surfaces, leading to the lack of development of scree slopes and soil. These characteristics led to its survival, while the surrounding rocks were eroded. Uluru and the Kata Tjuta mountains are unlike any of the surrounding landscape or rocks. More to the point it is believed that what we see of Uluru is nothing but the top of a much larger and intact rock formation, kind of like an iceberg.

Uluru is a sacred place to the Aboriginal people as it basically the crux of their entire creation story. There are many stories that are told around it, which help explain the workings of the earth and formation of the rock. Among one of their beliefs is that one of the Great Snakes that formed the continent is resting underground and Uluru is its back. That is why they do not like people climbing on it, because their beliefs say that when the snake wakes up, the world is over. So in hopes of preventing Armageddon they try to discourage the tourist population from climbing the rock. However, if the world is going to come to an end, it  seems pretty likely that it would be through tourism.

As for our own experiences we spent nearly two days exploring the great rock, learning about its history and culture. I declined to climb the rock as somehow it did not feel right to do so. It felt kind of like walking into a Jewish temple eating a ham sandwich. Just because some people may look down on the beliefs of the Aboriginal people, that does not mean we should not respect their wishes. So even though you can climb Uluru, doesn't mean that you should. There is an undeniably holy feel to the whole area, which also added to my decision.

I found the sight of the rock as one of those things that is hard to absorb. It is hard to stand in front of it and actually be able to wrap your mind around the fact that you are standing where you are. Many of the pictures I have taken look fake even to me. They look photoshopped, and even though I was the one standing behind the lens it is hard to think that they are authentic. We watched the sun both set and rise over Uluru. It is an indescribable sight to watch the rock change colors as the sun moves. At night it turns deep shades of red and purple and in the morning it is only a silhouette on the horizon until it is brilliantly illuminated by the rising sun. The only thing better that cold morning was the cup of hot chocolate I was drinking and a sense that I was looking at something truly wondrous and ancient.



My expedition party



It is hard not get almost spiritual as you look at the rock. There is a theory that the rock is actually part of the meteorite whose impact caused the continent of Australia to violently separate from Africa a few hundred million years ago. Though this can't be substantiated the rock does have a measurable electromagnetic field around it, which may be partly why so many people are affected with a sense of almost divine awe when they behold it or stand near it. It is as if it draws the eye and the mind. Whatever it is, it is hard to not feel like you are looking at something more than just a rock. It is an experience I was glad that I did not have while I was alone. Like most defining moments of any trip, (or bad movies,) it is better if you are with people you can talk about it with.

I was with a great group of people and I was very thankful for their presence, not only at Uluru, but for the entirety of the trip. The group was comprised of myself, a Canadian, two Brits, two French, two Germans, a Swiss, two Chinese, a Taiwanese girl, and an Aussie girl, and our guide. It is amazing how different people can be, but how similar. I will not sit here and say that there was not some tension, including a heated debate about the virtues of American culture and its impact of our younger brother to the North, but for the most part we found a lot of common ground. We struggled, slept, and ate as one. We even all did the dishes together. I tried my hand at speaking French and German (with very little success). We shared drinking games and political debate, and by the end we were a small family. We kidded and joked with one another, and shared more than a bus. I find that I will miss them all in one way or another. As I travel I have met many people but the people I stood next too as we watched the sky grow dark around the great rock of Uluru are the people and faces that will stay with me. I wish them all the best in their travels and maybe one day we will meet again.