Living in a Land Down Under (Part IV)

We flew to Ayers Rock from Cairns and landed on a tiny tarmac. We walked off the plane, out of the heat, and into an airport with two “gates”, a coffee shop, and a gift shop. We took a shuttle to Ayers Rock Resort, which offers a wide range of accommodations, from a fancy hotel to a campground. My sister and I chose to stay in the Outback Pioneer Lodge, sharing a room with four beds for about $100 per night. The cost is a bit high considering the hostels elsewhere in the country, but it comes with free shuttle transport to the airport as well as attractions, and many free activities. Also, there’s basically nothing else around for miles. Nothing.

While we were there, we experienced a lot but paid for almost none of it. We got to watch a traditional Aboriginal dance, in which men painted with white designs imitated different bush animals with surprising and humorous accuracy.

We took a tour of the “garden”, in which they teach you about plants native to the bush, including those used for medicines and food by the native people. Depending on the season, you may even get to try some of the native fruits like we did (click to learn more)!

Bottlebrush plant. Ingesting the flower can cause hay fever, but a tea of the leaves can treat it.

Pigface. It is similar to aloe, and you can drink the liquid inside in a pinch.

Quandong fruit, which was delicious.

We also got to listen to a Bush Yarn. During this experience, a man tells a few interesting yet simple Aboriginal oral histories, and also explains the traditional “bushtucker”, which is essentially the native man’s survival kit out in the bush.

The coolest part of our trip in Ayers Rock was only $80 per person. We took a camel tour of Uluru. If you’ve never heard of Uluru, it’s essentially a huge sandstone monolith in the middle of the bush. It stands over 1,000 feet high from ground level, but most of its huge bulk is underground. The circumference of the entire monolith is 5.8 miles! Uluru (also called Ayer’s Rock, hence the name of the resort) is also an Aboriginal holy site and an UNESCO world heritage site. It’s known to “change colors” depending on the time of day, and is really a beautiful sight. Our camel tour didn’t take us up close and personal, but we got close enough to be impressed by its dramatic size and to experience the changing colors as the light faded.

There are generally two people to a camel on the tour, so my sister and I shared one named Kuzco who had to wear a camel muzzle because he bites. We thought it was hilarious that Kuzco was cranky since Kuzco in the Emperor’s New Groove is also pissed for a good portion of the movie (even though he is a llama). The ride was a little bumpier than on a horse, but you get used to the rocking motion after a while, and the vantage point from the back of a camel is great.

We also met an orphaned baby camel named Kerry whose mother was run over (so sad). She was adorable and very friendly because she assumes everyone has treats (much like Bones). She is being raised with the camel tour’s other camels, but she will never be ridden. Apparently camels that are spoiled when they are young and have too much human contact are often dangerous to ride because they essentially have temper tantrums (who knew?).

All in all, Ayer’s Rock was the most expensive leg of our journey by far, but it is so worth the money. You get a feel for the bush that you just can’t when you stay close to big cities, and they do a nice job of introducing visitors to Aboriginal culture. Stay tuned for the last leg of our journey, where we visit my sister’s Australian “hometown” of Newcastle.