Hello from Darwin! Check your maps, I'm all the way at the top of Australia in the capital city of the Northern Territory. After Melbourne, Lauren and I took a somewhat ill-fated train/bus combo to Adelaide (the bus left us behind, but we made it) and then straight to the airport to hop a flight to Alice Springs. Alice is right in the middle of Australia and where most people end up if they want to see Uluru (known as Ayer's Rock to the Europeans who ignored the fact that it already had an aboriginal name, like most things in Australia). The town got its start as a repeating station on the north-south telegraph line in the late 1800's. There's a lot of interesting history to check out in Alice Springs, but unfortunately I didn't get to see any of it on my one free day there, we'll get into why later....
We booked a three day trip out to see Uluru, Kata Tjuta (also known as the Olgas) and King's Canyon so we left bright and early the day after arriving in Alice. It took quite a long time to drive out there (another one of those things that reminds you of just how huge Australia is, I thought Uluru was like down the road from Alice Springs but it's really 460 kms away) and we made a few stops along the way. There's not much out there but trees and lots and lots of red dust. We arrived in our bush camp in Yulara in the afternoon and visited the cultural center in Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park, mostly for the air-conditioning. Then we drove to the prescribed "sunset viewing platform" to watch duh, the sunset. I had, and still have really mixed feelings about visiting Uluru. It's essentially a really big rock in the middle of the desert (you can read about it here) but it's a very sacred place for its Aboriginal caretakers, the Anangu people. It was finally recognized as an Aboriginal site in the 1970's after lengthy litigation and the passing of the Aboriginal Land Rights Act. But before that it was incorporated as a national park and has become a huge tourist attraction and one of the most iconic Australian images. The Anangu people ask that tourists don't climb the rock as it's seen as very disrespectful, yet thousands climb it and snap millions of photos. There are marked signs on the track that runs along the base of the rock indicating where pictures shouldn't be taken because of the sensitive cultural meaning of the site, but I think actually they would prefer that no photos were taken. The Anangu believe that taking a photo takes away a piece of the spirit of the place.
I feel strange and uncomfortable taking part in tourism that explicitly goes against the wishes of local people, but I also see Uluru (Ayer's Rock) as a kind of symbol for how Australia deals with its indigenous people. I won't get into a history lesson, but comparisons can be drawn to the treatment of Native Americans by the European settlers of America. A lot has changed in the last half-century, Aboriginals have begun winning a lot of their land back (though sometimes the court cases last a lifetime or longer), and full citizenship rights were given to them in the 60s (though that seems shockingly late to me). However, Aborigines struggle to join mainstream Australian society and racism is still a powerful part of life. What gets me especially is how much Aboriginal imagery and tradition is co-opted for the purposes of tourism and marketing. When one thinks of Australia in an abstract way, what comes to mind are didgeridoos, boomerangs and images of Aboriginal tribes in the desert. But in reality, they are a largely invisible and marginalized people, in the context of contemporary Australian society. Uluru is just another "Aboriginal thing" that can be used to exoticize Australia and lure tourists. Its kind of just another form of colonialism, no longer using the indigienous people for our own means, but instead their culture.
Anyways, those were some of the thoughts I was having while we did the walk around Uluru shortly after sunset. When I wasn't thinking about how long it might take me to die by being exposed to the strong outback sun for too long. It would get up in the high 30's (celsius) at only around 9 in the morning, and wouldn't cool down again until well after sunset. My Eastern European genes were seriously being challenged! After Uluru we drove out to the King's Canyon region and set up camp for the night. Both nights we slept in swags, a kind of cross between a tent and sleeping bag. The sunset at camp was stunning. Did I mention though that both mornings we woke up around 5? The third day of the tour we hiked Kings Canyon, which I enjoyed much more than Uluru, the scenery is incredible. Everything in the center is so colorful in a way I hadn't expected, the red dirt, rich orange rock contrasted with a clear blue sky. And more trees than I expected, since it had rained a lot recently. There is a famous Australian Aboriginal painter, Albert Namatjira who is worth looking into, he was famous for his watercolors of the center landscapes. King's Canyon has a permanent water source caused by impermeable rock that collects the rainwater, it makes a lush green area they call the Garden of Eden.
After Kings Canyon we headed back for Alice Springs, which took most of the day. I'm not sure I've ever been so sweaty for such a continous amount of time...I highly recommend a vist to the outback, just maybe not in the middle of Australian summer! The next day back in Alice, Lauren and I booked a visit with a local clinic to make sure we got everything we needed for Asia, like vaccinations and malaria pills. It turns out that typhoid vaccines only last 3 years so I had to get another one....and I almost had a full-on Mara episode! It was kind of rushed and I was still really tired from the tour; the shot really hurt and was stinging afterwards. Bad conditions.....oh dear, I almost barfed/passed out and had to be monitored by the nurse for around 45 minutes with an ice pack on my arm and my head. Oops! That pretty much took up the whole day, hence I didn't do anything in Alice. Lauren was a very patient and helpful friend and waited with me, then we had to kind of rush to get to the train on time. We took the train from Alice Springs up to Darwin (23 hours) with a 3 hour stopover in Katherine to explore and sweat profusely. The train is called the Ghan, like Afghan--named after the Afghan "cameleers" who helped blaze trails into the interior of Australia. The track starts in Adelaide and goes up to Alice Springs, and the section from Alice Springs to Darwin (over 2000 kms) was only completed in 2004. It was actually really fun and the scenery is pretty great.
Now we're in Darwin, and flying out to Vietnam on February 6th. Mom, if you read this today, call me again, we're leaving a day later than I orginally told you! Lots of love from me and the live cholera vaccine I just injested,
Mara
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