A Sacred Site, A Steamy Spa, and Aussie Service

This morning we got up and went on a hike around Uluru with two tour guides. One was a white guy and the other was an Aboriginal woman named Valerie. The rock is sacred to the aboriginals, and it is very upsetting to them when people try to climb the rock, although of course many do.

As we walked around the base of the rock, every once in a while Valerie would stop and teach us something about their ways and elements of the rock. She would speak in her language and then the white tour guide would translate. She actually speaks some English, but the belief is that what they are teaching you about their traditions should be taught in their language. I think it made the whole experience feel more sacred.



At one point she stopped by a tree to show us some berries that they eat –tiny little red berries that apparently have 9x the vitamin C of an orange. The white guide was explaining this to us and searching for berries. It took him several moments to triumphantly find one and pull it off the tree. When we looked back over at Valerie she had about 9 or 10 berries in her hand that she was eating.

The white guide laughed at how easily she found them, while he struggled for one. Later dad used this story as an analogy to show how sometimes we lack vision - especially with regard to sacred or important things in life and it isn’t until our eyes are opened by someone or by a sacred experience or God that the world changes and we suddenly see things we didn’t before. It was certainly apparent in this case.



She showed us some of the things they wrote on the walls – some seem to be stories to remember like the creation story. Other writing/drawing is to teach what they have learned to others. For example Valerie showed us where they had drawn a certain kind of snake to watch out for that was poisonous. It was very interesting.

In the women’s site she taught us some stories – one about a woman facing east and a monster dog who was chasing that woman. This is his paw print:


It was a fascinating experience and Valerie had the most peaceful spirit about her. She was a beautiful person.

After the hike we relaxed a bit and then I surprised everyone with an early Christmas present to get massages at the spa. Mom and I went first, and it was fairly uneventful, although I was surprised to be led in to a room with two tables where we got “couples massages.” I wasn’t expecting that and I was excited to hear about Dad and Garrett’s reaction when they were led in for theirs.



Perhaps the best part of the experience was when we were all in our robes in the sitting room and we learned that dad was wearing the disposable thong underwear. I could only imagine how thrilled he was to put that on. The funniest moment was when he was sitting in his chair with a short robe and not a very “lady-like” position (legs wide open) and mom frantically signaling to him to shut his legs. He didn’t get it and looked a bit annoyed when he finally figured it out. Mom was laughing so hard while she was signaling he couldn’t understand her.

Garrett said, “Mom you’ve seen him naked a million times, what’s the big deal?” And she responded indignantly, “Not in public!” I should hope not.

The other funny moment was when Garrett asked if men or women gave us massages and we said women. He looked very relieved because for some reason he didn’t want a man to give him a massage although dad didn’t care one way or the other. Garrett was very adamant about not wanting “big man hands” rubbing him. When it was time for them to go a woman and a man walked in to take their papers. Garrett got up with a big smile on his face off to his massage, but what he didn’t notice was it was the man who picked up his paper work. Mom and I got a big laugh thinking about them being led in to the couples tables and Garrett finding out he was getting man hands.

For dinner we went to “Australian Bar-b-que.” You pick your meat, they give you a grill and you grill it yourself. After we picked all our meat and loaded up from the buffet we moved over to the picnic tables and were treated to another Australian specialty—flies. Everywhere in the outback you get swarmed by flies – the aboriginals hardly even notice them now and you can see they let them crawl on their faces and eyes with hardly a care. I hadn’t had the full fly effect until this meal when they swarmed our food, faces and bodies. I have NEVER eaten so fast while fanning my food with my left hand, sticking in bites with my right and being careful not to leave my mouth open too long in case a fly decided to join my food. It was disgusting. I think we all ate in about 5 minutes flat and bolted.

This was the good part of the day. The less good part came in the form of that awesome Australian service I’ve been talking about in earlier posts. After we packed all our bags and lugged them over to the spot where we were getting picked up by a bus for our trip back to Alice we discovered the bus wasn’t coming. (First imagine how thrilled Garrett was to learn that he didn’t have to go on another flight after all his complaints – instead he got a 5 hour bus ride.)
Mom called the bus people about 8 times that day to confirm we knew what time pickup was and where we should meet the bus so you can imagine her chagrin and shock when the manager at the pickup spot told us no bus was coming. Apparently sometimes if they don’t have enough people they just don’t come. Interesting. We did finally get ahold of the bus driver (after he left Uluru) and he agreed to come back and get us. Here are some shots of us waiting:
(apparently dad and Garrett don't like sitting together.)

When he came back he was a bundle of cheer and no worries and g’day mates, and I have to say, I thought the bus was extremely comfortable and enjoyable. Not sure dad, Garrett and mom agreed, but I quite liked it. Of course I was a fan of the Chinatown bus trip that Lisa, Amy and Kristin have different feelings about as well.

About halfway through the trip the bus stopped and all of a sudden we heard some man saying, “I’m injured – not sure I can make it up there. Can’t get up there now.” And other random things. He was a very large man who looked sort of like the axe murderer guy in Adventures in Babysitting. (KQ, you know the guy). Garrett and I were shocked, or at least I was, because I had no idea how he got back there or that he was back there. Turns out there was some secret compartment by the bathroom with a curtain and a bed. Apparently mom on one of her bathroom visits didn’t know he was there either and swung the door wide smacking the poor man in the head. That may be when the “injury” occurred, not sure.

Other than that the trip was uneventful and we happily arrived back at our hotel in Alice around 1am. Ready and raring for our 6am wakeup call the next morning to go out bush.