From Snow to Fire

Uluru - the Transformer

[Tripper: Paola]

IT

Australia for many is a distant land, difficult and expensive to reach, certainly for everyone, from anywhere in the world you leave, it is a different land.
In fact, this huge island, more than one and a half times the size of the whole of Europe, is home to animal and plant species that are unique in the world. Nowhere else can you find the Tasmanian devil, dingo, kangaroo and koalas, but not even blackboys or bottlebrushes, native plants with funny and eloquent names. It is a land that is so special that it has a huge red mass planted in its center, just like a heart. We are talking about Ayers Rock, the gigantic monolith of red sandstone, grown by successive sedimentations over a period of time that exceeds six hundred million years. What can be seen on the surface is very little compared to what is below, and other rock formations in the area such as the Olga Mountains demonstrate this.

Uluru in the rain

Uluru with the clear sky

Perhaps we are romantics but the ancient names that the aborigines attributed to the formations seem more suitable to describe their beauty and mystery. Uluru and Kata Tjuṯa are sacred, they embody the origins of a people who have always struggled to see the right to their lands recognized.
Until 2019 it was possible to climb the rocks to climb to the top and, although it was highly discouraged both for the danger and to respect its sacredness, many tourists still practiced this activity.
Fortunately, the Australian government then banned it. Moreover, it is not by violating the access that beauty manifests itself.
The peculiarity of these rocks is highlighted only by allowing them time because they change color during the hours of the day, based on how the light is reflected from the surfaces. Along its circumference you can admire cave paintings of ancient natives, natural pools and caves and also meet the locals with their handicrafts.
When we approach the first meeting at dawn, Uluru welcomes us in its purple morning robe.
The day does not promise clear skies and we feel really unlucky when we understand that the rain is coming towards us. Here it doesn't rain so often, one wonders: why us?
But we don't understand our luck. A heavy downpour covers Uluru in an iridescent white mantle that looks like snow. To the ocher, gold and bronze that everyone is talking about, an extraordinary white is added to our palette, which in an instant makes us the luckiest of all.
Soaking wet, but it is so hot, we enjoy the show and shortly after the sun shines again, coloring the mountain red. The magic is served and it is a magic that has a long wave because for us Uluru will forever be the quick change capable of being snow or fire in a moment of time.
Have a nice trip