The Outback

The Red Heart
of Australia

The center of Australia is an vast sandy red desert with sparse and scraggly vegetation. The region is relentlessly baked by the sun and almost always parched, except for the large paradoxical lakes which are hidden away underground. It is a harsh formidable place, which has only partially been tamed by modern conveniences. However, hidden within its hostile expanses are some amazing gems to behold. The crowning gem among them is the resolute and silent red giant Uluru [LEFT TOP: Me in front of the glowing Uluru at sunrise].

Uluru is a soaring tower of solid sandstone which has defied the elements while everything around it has eroded away. The result is that the rock shoots up out of the middle of the barren flat desert with stunning abruptness. It has a wide solid base and reaches up from the ground an impressive 348 meters towards the sky. Its vibrant red escarpments glisten in the blazing sun [LEFT MIDDLE: The Northern pocketed face of Uluru in the morning sun].

Uluru has lorded over the center of Australia for untold ages (around 500 million years) and ever since the first humans laid eyes on it (10,000 years or more ago) it is has been a source of amazing spiritual power and energy. The aboriginal people of the region have long viewed it as being a key spiritual place with powerful links to the formative Dreamtime [LEFT BOTTOM: Intriguing formations in the Northern face of Uluru]. One look at Uluru glowing majestically in the first morning rays and it is hard to doubt its spiritual significance and silent power. Uluru truly is the Red Heart of Australia.

My journey to the heart of Australia started with a flight from Brisbane (which is just North of the Gold Coast) to Adelaide on the Southern coast of Australia. From there I took an overnight Greyhound Australia bus into the vast emptiness of central Australia. For hours and hours on end the bus just plowed on straight ahead due North into an endlessly flat horizon.

I chatted idly with a couple of my fellow traveling companions, Gazzel and Scott, to pass the time [BELOW LEFT: Scott and Gazzel on the Bus]. Both were local guys on their way back to their respective homes of Darwin and Alice Springs. They afforded me some insight to the workings of central Australia and the paradoxical condition of the Aboriginal people of the region. Some of them are holding to their traditional values and culture, and are surviving in much the same was as they did for thousands of years. Some have adapted well to the western society and have succeeded in that realm. But, many others simply languish in the quicksand traps of drugs, alcohol, and homelessness. Large numbers of them simply spend all day sitting around in the parks or on sidewalks doing nothing. It is a very sad state of affairs [BELOW RIGHT: An artistic interpretation of the current Aboriginal condition].



It is depressing to see that a people who so ingeniously mastered survival in such a harsh place have largely succumb to the evils and vices of western society. It is as if their much of their spirit has been crushed into oblivion by the years of destructive abuse by the western invaders. Things like the Aboriginal Protection Board have wrecked untold damage on their culture through such unthinkable practices as the removal of children from Aboriginal families to be placed in White families or foster care. While the government is no longer trying to assimilate the Aboriginal people into western society, the damage has been done. One can only hope that they will eventually find a way to rebuild what has been stripped away from their spirit and culture.

Anyways, it was a long restless night on the bus and unfortunately in the morning I had come down with a sore throat. It would eventually evolve into a cold and stick with me for the next several weeks. A little before noon the bus pulled into the tiny desert town of Erldunda. I said goodbye to Gazzel and Scott, and disembarked there to spend the next 24 hours waiting for a bus to Yulara. The entire town of Erldunda consists of just one complex of buildings. The gas station, bar, diner, convenience store, and hotel reception are all combined in one building. Then there are several smaller building housing the various hotel rooms, laundry room, and backpacker accommodations. It population was listed as 50 people in the Lonely Planet guide book, but I think it was less than that. It was very reminiscent of some of the small bar only towns in Montana. Since I was feeling under the weather, I spent almost all of my time there trying to sleep [BELOW: Sunset in the desert].

The next day the bus to Yulara stopped to gas up on its way through Erldunda. I was not on the passenger list and had to talk the driver, who was initially very resistant, into letting me buy my way onto the bus. From Erldunda the bus drove due West through more of the same barren desert for several hours to reach Yulara (Ayers Rock Resort).

Yulara is a spacious and well manicured tourist town that survives in the middle of nowhere purely on the wallets of the droves of tourist who come to see Uluru. It is a conglomerate of several desert resorts and a small town of locals who service them. I stayed at the Outback Pioneer Resort, which is the only one to offer even remotely budget accommodation besides the campground. It was an expensive place to stay, but the quality of the accommodation and facilities was excellent.

The next morning I got up at 4:00am to catch a 4:45am shuttle bus into Uluru National Park to watch the sunrise light up the sleeping red giant. It was very early and my body was not happy, but it was most certainly worth it. While the desert below remained dark the towering Uluru reached up and captured the first beams of sunlight making it glow a majestic red against a brightening morning sky. It seemed to fluoresce it own soft red light and had a magical feel about it. I only wish I could have experience it on my own, and not in a crowd of tourists.

After sunrise I went about exploring the area. I walked all the way around the 8 kilometer base of Uluru taking in its many impressive facets and features. The surface of the rock is riddled with many interesting scars, fissures, and fractures; which interrupt the large flowing faces of red rock [RIGHT TOP: A large overhang in the rock face]. Along the way I took in several areas of ancient Aboriginal rock art and lingered by some of the life giving water pools at the base of Uluru [RIGHT BOTTOM: Aboriginal rock art]. Then I went to the nearby cultural center and read up on the Aboriginal myths and legends regarding the formation and importance of Uluru. All totaled I spent 8 hours absorbed in the shadow of Uluru. It was amazing and by far the most moving and impressive thing I saw in Australia.

That night when I was returning from a solo sunset walk in the desert my eyes happened a cross a giant swath of light cutting though the night sky. I was instantly awestruck with this large glowing path of light and at first unable to determine exactly what it was. However, upon noticing a bright dot at the center of its lowest end I correctly deduced that it must be a comet. Considering that within hours my Mom would be going in for surgery I was very happy to see this glimmering light from above (the surgery went fine and she is recovering nicely now). When I made it back to the resort I found out that it was the McNaught Comet, the largest one to grace the skies of Australia in 30 years. It was beautiful [BELOW: The McNaught Comet over Yulara].

Then next day I took a rest day to try and recover from my cold. I spent most of the day reading "Into Thin Air" by Jon Krakauer and finished the last half of the powerful book. Other than that I just lounged around watching tennis matches from the Australian Open and drinking lots of hot tea even though it was roasting hot outside.

The following morning I intended to get up early and and take a bus tour to Kings Canyon and then on to Alice Springs. However, my body rejected the idea of getting up at 3:45am an I soundly slept though my alarm. My mind jolted me awake at 4:30am, but I was 10 minutes to late to catch the bus, so I missed out on seeing Kings Canyon. Fortunately though I could still catch a later bus midday and tie in with the first bus which would take me on to Alice Springs. So I just overpaid for transport to Alice Springs.

Alice Springs was a nice town with a sizable Aboriginal population. Unfortunately though most of them appeared to be doing absolutely nothing positive to improve their situation. They just begged passing tourists for money and staggered around drunk in the middle of the afternoon. Apparently, the government is now paying the Aboriginal people to lease the land they initially stole from them. Disappointingly though this seems to have just giving them the means to do absolutely nothing with their lives and still survive. It is a convoluted conundrum, but a common one when people are given something for nothing.

After spending a day in Alice Springs I boarded The Ghan to make the epic train journey from there to Darwin [BELOW LEFT: The Ghan]. The train was substantially nicer than the bus. I had 4 large seats all to myself because it was not full. Then for our one car worth of Red Kangaroo Day Sleeper seats there was and entire lounge car and a dining car. Both showers and decent toilets were provided too. Considering the price is only marginally more than going by bus, I must say this is the way to travel across Australia. The only reason I bussed for the first leg from Adelaide was because the train was full.



It was an enjoyable ride on the overnight train and I slept really well using 3 of my 4 seats. The best sleep I had gotten since leaving Brisbane . The gentle rocking and clacking of the train simply lulls you to sleep. In the morning we stopped for 4 hours in the little town of Katherine. There I and a traveling friend I had met in Yulara, Marcel from Switzerland, checked out the tiny local museum [ABOVE RIGHT: Marcel and I on The Ghan, photo by Another Passenger]. They had an interesting exhibit on a massive flood which had all but destroyed the town in 1996; and some nifty stuff on the Royal Flying Doctor Service, which in the early days had been the only source of medical aid in the region.

From Katherine, the train rolled on out of the desert terrain and into the partially flooded region around Darwin. All totaled it took me around 48 hours of transport to bisect the continent of Australia and reach Darwin. It was a wonderful adventure crossing though the desert heart of Australia and I throughly enjoyed it even though it was not quite epic in nature. If you stick to the paved lifelines that pass thought The Outback it is a relatively hospitable place, but just a few kilometers off the road it is still largely harsh and untamed.

For me The Outback held the more meaningful and fulfilling aspects of Australia. In the remote desert you can find the heart of the country and get beyond the holiday crazed beach lifestyle into something more substantial [LEFT: The Australian flag flying on Australia Day in the center of the country]. Beholding Uluru for my self in all its radiating red glory was amazing. But, the journey itself and learning about the native culture were also very enriching. I would certainly recommend visiting this vast barren emptiness.

As always,
-Russ

[Pictures from THE OUTBACK]