Ayer’s Rock at sunset. Incredible.

Journal and photos by Nancy Olson

I woke up around 0730 and crawled out of my bug tent. Todd and I are sharing my airy little tent because journalist Gregor Stranich of “Overlander” magazine is home-based in D3. We volunteered our vehicle as the journalist vehicle for several reasons, not the least of which is that I love sleeping on the ground (when the weather is good). I rather enjoy the but tent, and I’d use it more often if rain and laziness weren’t always a factor.

So, I got up and made some coffee for Gregor and myself while he and Justin went off to take some photos. Gregor had a 0915 flight to catch, so Todd, Justin, and I packed up D3 and headed to the local airport to see him off. Gregor was a lot of fun, and I know the team will miss his company. We are quite hopeful that Land Rover Australia will send him out to join us somewhere else down the road, in another country. Please, please, PLEASE, Land Rover!

After our farewells, Justin, Todd, and I headed to the local resort to steal a shower. All I’d really wanted to do was get straight back to camp, rustle up the team, and head out to the Rock for some cycling and running. I was duped into the trip to the showers, but I have to admit it felt nice to be clean. When we finally got back to camp, two vehicles still had tents up, so my gut (and experience) told me we’d be getting a very slow start…

Tents came down surprisingly quickly, and we headed off to the resort area so the others could shower. Justin went off on his own to conduct a radio interview and was to be finished by 1100.

We sat around doing nothing while people showered and ate breakfast. Then we waited for Justin to return.

Noon-thirty finally ticked around, and the Justin returned, and it looked like we might all be ready to start the day. I am NOT good at sitting around idle and wasting time while there is a bike to ride and a gigantic rock to explore, so I was more than anxious to get going. We had wasted an entire ½ day! And we still had to do sunset photos and filming. I wasn’t sure I’d actually have time for any exploring.

I hopped on my Santa Cruz and rode off to the entrance to the park to wait for the team. We had a lot to accomplish today, and I wasn’t keen to miss out on my ride.

They arrived 20 minutes or so later, and we all entered the park together. I continued on my bike in order to get in a bit more guaranteed riding, and we all met up at the cultural center 13 km down the road. There, I came across a tiny snake and tried to block him from slinking off into the bushes by parking my bike in front of it. I wanted Nick to see it, because he was desperate to see a snake. Well, a park employee from the aboriginal art shop came out and yelled at me.

“Just leave it alone! You’re on a national park, you know. You aren’t meant to molest things.”

Well, no kidding! But I didn’t hurt the snake by getting in front of it and making it change course, did I? If that proves damaging to the snake, then I believe he is going to have a very difficult and unhappy (or short) life in the harsh desert environment at Uluru. I mean, c’mon. I didn’t even pick him up the way snake-lover Steve Irwin would’ve. A little stress isn’t going to hurt the little guy.

So, Nick didn’t get to see the snake. Still hasn’t seen one. Probably won’t see one.

Nick and I hopped on our bikes and road to the base of the mountain. Our goal was to pedal the 10 kilometers around Ayer’s Rock. When we got to the little parking area where people who want to climb it begin, we stopped. I wasn’t going to climb it. I didn’t even have proper shoes. The Aboriginals asked people not to climb it. It’s spiritual to them. But when I got there, I just had to climb it. So I took off my shoes and told Nick I’d return within an hour. It took me 23 minutes to reach the summit, and I could feel a big blister in the middle of each forefoot. I didn’t bother looking at them. I just snapped a few pictures and turned around. The entire trip was 53 minutes, and Nick was pleased I hadn’t lied to him about the “back in an hour” thing. For me, that sort of physical challenge is about as close to spiritual as I get, and I imagined the barefoot aboriginal men journeying up the rock.

We hopped back on our bikes and continued to ride the path around Uluru. It was beautiful, and the little roller-coaster hills and dips in the path made for a lot of fun. Nick shouted with glee as he finally figured out what “Virtual Pivot Point” meant. The bike’s rear suspension and frame design made the bike absorb bumps in the trail, and our ride was perfectly smooth. A work of art, that bike.

We met the team back out toward the park’s exit, at a viewing area where cars can park to see the sunset. Just like the night before, it was beautiful. Even prettier this time, I think, because the clouds didn’t block out any of the sun. This place is, indeed, spiritual.

Logbook for May 6th, Day 188
Start: Yulara, Australia
Time: 8:15 a.m.
S: 25*14.336
E: 131*03.381
Finish: Yulara, Australia
Time: 10:00 p.m.
S: 25* 14.328
W: 131* 03.387
Mileage: 50
Notes: Today we had to bid farewell to our temporary 9th team member, Gregor. It was really great having him with us for a couple of days here in Australia, and we feel privileged to have shared with him his first visit (and ours) to Ayer’s Rock, or Uluru, one of his nation’s greatest treasures. He had a wonderful time with the team, and we with him, and we sincerely hope he will be able to join us again somewhere down the road, perhaps in Asia, or Russia, or even the U.S.! He’s a wonderful guy, and we just really had a blast together. We miss you, Gregor! Join us again soon! After we saw him off at the airport here, we headed out to Uluru again, and the team split up to do whatever each wanted to do. Nick and I rode our Santa Cruz bikes around the rock (it was awesome!), Chanda learned about the aboriginal culture at the visitor’s center, the film guys explored the Rock and had some photo ops, and the others did their own thing. At about 4:30 p.m., we had a photo shoot in the good end-of-day lighting and then watched the sun go down on Uluru. It’s an indescribable experience. (N.O.)

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