Made getting up early worth it

I wanted to climb Uluru, but didn't think I would, since the Aborigines "request" you not to. At the last minuted I went ahead and did it, and am glad that I did, because it was an amazing experience. The day began insanely early at 4:30 am. needless to say, I felt like shit on the way to the rock, and during the wait for the sun to come up. As we waited in the cold, the busloads of tourists began coming. As the sun started to rise, the rock changed from a featureless black mass to dark shades of red with shadowy crevasses to a bright red covered with smooth red lines and holes. While we watched the show, Jen made a breakfast of bacon (ham) and egg sandwiches.

Now that the sun was up at 7, we had a choice of walking around the base, a 9 km 3 hour hike, or climbing to the top. I didn't think I would go up, so I wore my sandals. When we arrived at the base I was amazed by how steep the climb was, and by how many people were doing it. It was like a line of ants going to the top. If so many people were going, I wouldn't feel so bad about climbing. Also, Jen explained that they let people climb since if they closed it off, fewer people would come to the park. I figured if they really didn't want you to climb, they would just block it off. Martin the Dutchie said he was going. I wanted to, but wasn't sure I could to it in sandals. Then Keeley and Sarah from England said they would go, and Sarah was wearing sandals too, so I figured if she could do it, so could I.

So off we went, and were immediately confronted by the very steep incline. There is a chain railing, but it doesn't start until about 50 ft up. It was steep enough that after 30 ft there seemed to be the possibility of losing your footing and falling, especially in sandals. Sarah shares my fear of heights, and wanted to turn back, but I talked her into continuing. In reality I was more afraid than her, and would have turned back too if she did. The trick was just to climb as fast as possible to the railing. Once we grabbed the railing we had some security, but in reality it's a hindrance since it's so low you have to stoop while you walk, which puts strain on your back and calves. Also as people are coming down some are clutching the railing with fear and won't let go, so you have to get out of their way somehow.

At the top

If you don't have a problem with heights, the climb is not that big of a deal, but me and Sarah found it to be quite frightening. You're walking up a ridge that's only about 6 ft wide and drops off beyond that. And as you get higher the view gets more spectacular, ie scarier. And plus climbing stooped over made it twice as hard. Eventually we made it mostly to the top, where there was a wide ledge, and took photos. To get all the way up you had to use a railing to get up a steep slope dangerously close to the edge, then walk up an incline without a railing. The fact the you would slide into oblivion if you slipped freaked me out, and I had to go back down to the ledge. Sarah and Keeley went on, though. In total it took us an hour to get up, and 20 minutes to get down. Then we did a small part of the base hike. En route Katie and Claire #1 from England told me I have a very British sense of humor, since much of what I say is sarcastic with a deadpan delivery, so most people don't realize I am kidding. High praise indeed.

By 10 it was damn hot. It was so opressively hot it was like a blow torch was on your face. You don't want to do anything in that kind of heat, and luckily we had nothing to do. I tried to take a nap laying on my swag in the shade, but it was like sleeping in an oven. It was especially bad when the hot wind blew sand on you. When I woke up I found that the sweat and sand had combined to make my trousers (pants are underwear in British English) dirty. We took a dip in the small, dirty pool later. I found out it got up to 43C today.

That night we stayed up playing silly party games even though we have to be up at 4:30 again tomorrow.