We didn't dawdle getting up and about this morning as we wanted to join the Mala Walk at 0800. The interesting part for this walk was that is was guided by one of the park rangers (Steve, in our case). The walk was listed as easy (1 km round trip, flat ground). We were advised to plan for 2 hours, but Ranger Steve was pretty verbose and easily lured off the topic of the Mala Walk into other related topics (e.g., why aboriginal children have a difficult time in traditional Aussie schools). The walk ended up being 2.5 hours, but we could have listened to Steve for the same amount time (but only if we had benches to sit on and maybe a cold brew to sustain ourselves!). Seriously, we thoroughly enjoyed the discussion and were engrossed in the knotty issues being discussed. One of the most contentious (from a park perspective) is whether tourists should be allowed to climb Uluru or not. Although there are significant safety and environmental concerns, the primary reason is that climbing Uluru violates aboriginal taboos and customs. However, climbing Uluru has been one of the main drawing cards for tourism (the only viable industry in this area) and many Aussies (as well as others throughout the world) have made it a lifetime goal to climb to the top. The Park Board (with 8 aboriginal members and 4 other members) have agreed to revisit the notion of closing the climb when 80% of the public states that they don't want to do so – as of 2013, there are 70% that feel this way. Unfortunately, many native Aussies (multi-generational) have passed down the climbing tradition and see it as a right ("family tradition") rather than a privilege. We just hope that the public can reach the 80% threshold sooner rather than later to stop the damage to Uluru and restore the respect to the aboriginal people of the area.
We then made our way out to Kata Tjuta. This formation is similar to Uluru, but is composed of many dome-like formations rather than a single larger formation. Geologically, this was due to the fact the Kata Tjuta was nearer the mouth of a river close to the inland sea that once covered Australia. Thus, the materials making up Kata Tjuta are heavier and more varied, whereas Uluru's material is finer and uniform (since it was further away from the river mouth). Regardless, we drove out (it's 50 km from Uluru) and discovered that the road doesn't circumnavigate the formation as it does with Uluru. So, we had to make do with a few stops at carparks and take whatever photos were available. We also took some photos of the deep blue sky with puffy white clouds – it's so remeniscent of the Western US with its big skies and open landscapes. Upon returning to the apartment, we definitely needed a siesta during the heat of the day (temps forecast to be 38 deg C, which is near 100 def F).
