18k

August 6

7:32pm Adelaide time 

This is the first break we have had today. It has been so ridiculously crazy, but a good crazy. We were busy all day and I love that. 

We arose from our swags at 5:30am. It was freezing. I don't think I used my sleeping bag correctly so I need to try it with the blanket part inside this time. I went to switch it earlier this afternoon and with it the way it was even though it had been outside in the heat, the inside of the sleeping bag was cold. So... Ha. I must be using it incorrectly since when I was on the train in India and Thailand I was overheating even though the cabins were freezing... 

I think I'm catching a cold though which really blows. I wouldn't be surprised since I've been going through extreme temperature changes. Not only did I go from super hot Asian summer to cold Australian winter, but the temperature change here is crazy too. It's like 2 degrees Celsius at night and 27 during the day. I broke out some EmergenC packets and my zicam. I really don't want to be sick the last week of my trip, but I guess I started sick so I'll probably end sick as well. Boo. 

I surprisingly enough slept through the night very well. Anyway, we got up at 5:30am and had breakfast... Cornflakes and skim milk. Closer to home! Although I haven't had cereal at home in ages. We headed out to Uluru to see the sunrise around 6:30am. Sunrise was at 7 something. Again, it was freezing having to wait there for sunrise.

Sunrise was nice. The colors weren't brilliant or anything. After that, we headed to Uluru to scope out the cultural center. I liked the cultural center in the Grampians better actually. Not only was it indoors, aka there was heat, but I thought it was better at explaining the aboriginal history and life. But, this one was more focused on the stories about how Uluru was formed as well as the food the aboriginese eat. It also explained why they prefer we don't climb Uluru. There are 3 reasons:

1. People die sometimes when they climb Uluru and they feel responsible for it.

2. It's not safe.

3. It's essentially sacred ground because when they found it they did a ceremonial walk up and put a pole there, so it is disrespectful.

Looking at it, honestly I don't think I would want to climb it anyway. It was ridiculously steep and there is a metal chain that is nailed into the rock to help you get up or down. It's literally walking up a super steep rock. At this point, the government continues to keep it open for people to climb because they make a ton of money off it. JP said he thinks the climbing path will close in the near future. 

At the cultural center there were many stories on plaques and I can't even remember all of them or keep them straight, let alone even one of the names. I was able to take a photo of one of the stories that was retold at Uluru. There was also a huge book called the "Sorry Book" in which a ton of letters from people who had been to Uluru and taken stones home with them. They ended up having a bunch of bad luck like cancer or not being able to get a job and explained their situation, sent the rocks back, and asked for forgiveness. It was kind of funny. The aboriginal people do not believe there is actually a curse on people who take the stones. People are crazy. 

This is the story of Kuniya and Liru: 

Minyma Kuniya the woma python woman came from the east near Erlduda. A bad feeling grew in her stomach- something was wrong. She had to go to Uluru.

Kuniya created inma (ceremony) to connect her eggs together. She carried them to Uluru in a ring around her neck and placed them at Kuniya Piti.

Meanwhile, Kuniyas nephew arrived on the other side of Uluru. He was being chased by a war party of Liru (poisonous snake) men from out near Kata Tjuta.

He had broken the law in their land and they were sent to punish him.

The Liru men threw spears at Kuniyas nephew. One pierced his thigh and many others hit the side of Uluru.

One Liru warrior, Wati Liru, was left to care for the injured python man. But he did not do his duty and left the injured man on his own. 

Minyma Kuniya realized that her nephew had been injured and was not being cared for properly.

She raced to Mutitjulu Waterhole and saw Wati Liru high in the cliff. She called out to him about her nephew, but he only laughed.

Minyma Kuniya placed her wana (digging stick) upright in the ground in front of her. Kneeling down, she picked up handfuls if sand and threw it over we body, singing and making herself stronger. 

She was creating inma (ceremony) to help her confront Wati Liru.

Kuniya moved towards Liru singing and dancing akuta - a dance step used by women ready to fight.

Kuniya hit him once over the head with her wana. He fell down but got back up. She hit him a second time and killed him.

Kuniya then went and found her injured nephew. She picked him up, dusted him off and carried him to Mutitjulu Waterhole.

She created inma and combined their 2 spirits into 1. They became Wanampi, the rainbow serpent, who lives in and protects the waterhole today. 

This story teaches a traditional form of payback punishment- a spear to the thigh. The punisher must then look after the injured person until they are well enough to care for themselves. It also teaches about women's intuition and that  a woman may use force to protect her children. This is a powerful story, Kuniya is a powerful woman. 

JP dropped us off and we did a 10k walk around the base of Uluru. It is huge. Like massive. It towers over you. There are certain areas that are sacred and you're not even allowed to take photos in those spots. Signs indicated these areas and they lasted for long stretches of the walk. Some of the rock formations were really amazing. Unfortunately, most of them were the sacred areas so I couldn't take photos. There was one that looked like some creature swallowing another. It was impressive. I don't remember which story went with it though so I don't even remember if that was what happened. 

12:07am Adelaide time 

After our walk, JP gathered us all up to walk the last k as a group so he could give us a guided tour. I wish I would have had time earlier to write some stuff down because a lot of what he said was really interesting. I can't remember most of it now though but I'll do my best. 

Uluru is a sacred site for both men and women but Kata Tjuta is a sacred site for men.

Lasseter came up again. I can't remember why now which is really frustrating. Today was just a lot of information. 

To enter into manhood, the boys would have to cut their penises down the middle the long way and put something (cant remember what) in it and have the skin heal around it. JP also told us the way the aboriginal people would apologize to others. When the men did something wrong, they would slice their thigh open just above their knee and heat up hot rocks and put the rocks in their thigh and let it heal over. This was a symbol to the community that the person was sorry. If they committed a really terrible crime there would be a village payback, so everyone would get together and throw spears at the man. If he dodged them all and was fine then that was his punishment but most of the time they ended up getting speared in the heart or head and dying. There is still a bylaw in the Australian constitution that allows people to go through this ritual to apologize to the community. Obviously, they can't throw spears at the person now, so instead they will stick a spear through the middle of their thigh. The causes something to dislodge so the person then walks with a limp for the rest of their life.

After this, we went back to the campsite for lunch. Fajitas! It was so good. I haven't had sour cream in ages. Yum. 

After lunch and clean up, we headed back out to the park and went to Kata Tjuta. Here, we did the valley of the winds walk which was an 8k walk. It was actually really beautiful. A lot more exciting scenery wise than the Uluru walk. The Uluru base walk is cool because you see how big the rock really is and you can see all the detailed markings but its a really flat, boring walk. With Kata Tjuta, it's more like the Grampians where you're climbing up and down rock stairs. It's a set of about 36 rocks that formed together and you walk in between these rocks. It's really cool. There are some watering holes as well. At Uluru there were a bunch of dark markings on the rock which is where water runs down the rock when it is raining. Kata Tjuta to the aboriginal people is a bunch of heads of their ancestors. Unfortunately for us, with the aboriginal culture stories are only passed down through word of mouth, nothing is written down. Therefore, we don't know too much about it because you gain that information by birth right.

After the hike a ton of people had blisters. Not me! We then went to watch the sunset over Kata Tjuta. It was pretty, unfortunately, people aren't that patient from the group and literally the second the sun went down, we got back on the bus and drove back to the camp sight. When the sun was setting the colors in the sky were nice but more blue, violet, and pink. After a while of driving, I looked out the window and the sky was bright orange and red and it was so pretty. I'm disappointed we didn't get to stay and see that.  

I think this is the only place I have ever been in the world where not only can I see so many stars, and the Milky Way, but I also actually have the impression that the world is round and the sun and moon rotate in and out of the sky based on where we are on earths rotation. It's amazing. Like at sunset I can see the stars and the night sky bleeding over the sky to cover everything as the sun bleeds out of the picture. I think it may be this way here because there is just outback for miles and miles so it looks like you can see where the earth "drops off" but I don't know. Either way, I think it's really different and a cool thing to be able to experience.

When we got back to camp we started dinner. JP made a curry. I was worried my body would reject the rice but it was fine. I think I've had enough other stuff in the past week and a half to make it not as repulsive to me anymore. It was rice with a Thai curry sauce with chicken, potato, and green bean. 

The rest of the evening we sat around the fire telling stories. JP has a lot of really embarrassing stories to deal with himself pooping in foreign countries such as having diarrhea in a bathroom area with no stalls and having an Indian man rub his back with 20 other guys leaning over to watch him shit and having to go so bad that he had to stop a Vietnamese public bus and ran down a hill to shit while everyone on the bus was watching and when he was done he got up and realized there was a family cooking their dinner a few meters behind him. The French girl told some crazy stories about her and guys... Like crazy. Like only in movies stuff and I think people lost some respect for her. It was an interesting night to say the least.

When it was time for bed I had turned my sleeping bag the other way out and put on both pairs of pants, both wool socks, and my normal Tshirt/compression shirt/jacket/lumberjack/scarf/bandana combination. Really hoping that will keep me warm!