Mount Connor rolled into view after a good few hours on the road. Smiley called it out. ‘Look a big rock’ … It’s no Uluru. Actually quite a different shape, but it sent everyone scrambling for their phones and cameras. Even though I expected this ruse, the feeling of getting so close to ‘that’ big rock was overwhelming.

To backtrack a little we’d been on the road for several hours. Mostly on corrugated dirt highway, Smiler had provided commentary and we’d been on the lookout for camel, giant lizards and, had seen Brumbies running wild (gorgeous, golden horses). He put on an Aussie classic ‘The Castle‘ (and a true story) for us to watch and we settled back for a long haul. People were quiet and tired after a couple of days of extreme heat and long drop toilets. (If you know, you know). I am in awe of the energy Smiler and Karen bring to their work every day. They deserve a chill too.

We had our Afternoon tea at a station called Curtin Spring which lies outside the region supplied by the Great Artesian Basin aquifer and had not seen rain in over 9 years. They do have bore holes drilled on the property and are well enough supplied. We were introduced to station life by the wife of the current station owner in the tea room what they call the ‘bough house’ which has served as the only shelter for the family for 15 years when they first moved into the land. You can just see the grey spinifex grass roof on the left hand side of the image below (under the satellite dish). There were were no walls only the shade of a wire and grass roof. You have to be a certain kind of resilient to live out here. The wives made tea for travellers in part to get some company whilst the men were away dealing with the livestock and partly because food and water are hard to come by and hospitality highly prized.

Curtin Springs suffered like many small businesses during the pandemic with fewer tourists due to both internal and external travel restrictions. Who knows where the idea came from but they decided that they could make high grade artists paper and set about making it happen. We were treated to a paper making talk and demo in the old slaughterhouse which now houses the paper making and the containers which form the gallery exhibiting work by the station owners daughter. Naturally we were given samples and bought more of this high quality product. (No, they re not sponsoring me but you can buy paper through the link).

Finally back on the black top road Uluru loomed into sight. Its a hard to describe feeling. This really is one of the wonders of the world. Personally I’ll take Kata Tjuta (The Olgas) over Uluru (Ayres Rock) any day. Smiler took us for a brief circuit of Uluru before depositing us at the hotel. Sadly this was quite Americanised and as such jarred with the feel of the park. Yulara is a purpose built resort just outside the Uluru /Kata Tjuta National Park. As the sacred spaces have now been returned to the First People (the Anangu) and they have come to an arrangement in leasing the land back to the NT government and use the money to run their local school and house the community. Obviously its a massive draw and there are hundreds of people who want to experience this incredible place but the annoyance of a pool with piped pop tunes and a lot of people more intent on the hotel than the countryside was a disappointment. Oh, its lovely, clean, great food … oddly two double beds in the room … but massive and busy and would not have been my first choice but then all the hotels (there are about 6 of them) all seem much of a muchness. It served as a place to sleep and we were not there much.

The big rock does change with the light and we had the chance to see it from dawn to dark (although the clouds on day two rather spoiled the sunrise). The coaches were provided by a different company as we were whisked away to the ‘Sounds of Silence’ bush tucker inspired dinner overlooking both these spectacular geological sights. Sadly there was a digeridoo player there to greet us … the Anagu do not use these. Hey ho. Champagne and the sunset then on to dinner.

Once dinner was over all the lights were extinguished and a voice came out of the darkness. Our Star Talker had arrived to weave local stories with astronomy and astrology to show us around the night sky and for me my first glimpse of the milky way. They left the lights off for the remainder of the evening as we used our torches and a few shielded foot level lights to make our way down to where a telescope had been set up to allow us a clear view of Saturn and its rings. Full of champagne and excellent food we were ferried back to the hotel.

Of course tomorrow was our chance to explore further.