AnswerID: 1990 Submitted: Wednesday, Feb 06, 2002 at 00:00
James
replied:
Paul, I was at Uluru 3 weeks ago. I spent 2 nights there, walked around it, climbed it and did a helicopter ride. I am also a supporter of reconcilliation. The walk around took 3.5 hours and was hard work due to the heat. There were some interesting areas including a small water fall but it was generally a lot of walking - about 9.5km. In the cooler months it may be more enjoyable. There were less than a dozen people walking around. If the forecasted temperature is above 38C then the clinb gets closed at 8am. So we started the climb at about 6.30am along with in excess of 200 people - almost all tourists. It took 2.5 hours with a generous 45mins at the top. It was certainly the highlight. Quite physically demanding. We thought long and hard about climbing it or not. There is no climbing of the Olgas so the Land Owners could easily remove the chains and ban climbing of Uluru. They choose not to do this but they have a lot of signs up saying that tourists should choose not to climb it and respect their wishes. If they were serious, they would just close the climb like they do most days after 8am during the summer months when it is hot. Speaking to the German, American. Japanese and other tourists, a lot of them planned a trip to
Australia with the intention of climbing Uluru ( along with smimming at Bondi Beach and going shopping in the Burke St Mall). I believe the decision to keep the climb open is a purely financial decision, otherwise they would have closed the climb when the land was handed back to it's rightful owners in the 1980's.
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FollowupID: 689 Submitted:
Wednesday, Feb 06, 2002 at 00:00
Rich posted:
SPOT ON!
I wasn't going to go down the cynical route, but if you saw the grin on the girls face at the tourist centre when she tells me that film was $10 a roll ! knowing full well the next nearest town is Yulara. They also sell postcards of the very features of Uluru they ask not to be photographed "for cultural reasons" !! This is the McDonalds of Ozzie culture, be EARLY at the gate for opening time - sitting behind 40 (or 400!) fumbling tourists looking for the right Aussie dollars as the sun rises over the rock is VERY frustrating (for a photographer), ENJOY the climb- it can be run up in about 40 minutes (I can personally attest to this) but not enjoyable, take LOTS of film and WAIT for 10-15 minutes after everybody else has left for the best sunset shots - from a carpark just outside? the gate from memory.
Cheers
Rich
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