Saturday, April 02, 2005

The Heat Is On

The Outback is hot. Frying-egg-on-the-sidewalk-hot. It is the kind of place where the heat can kill you, and if it doesn’t, the flies will drive you so crazy that you will wish you were dead.

We flew into Ayers Rock from the cool, comfortable, civilized climate of Tasmania. It doesn’t take long to know that your world is changing. From the plane, the rust-red Outback sprawls beneath you for thousands of miles in every direction, dotted with vast desiccated salt plains. Damn, it just looks hot down there.

When the plane door opens, the heat rushes in like a convection oven. As the last vestiges of air-conditioned comfort wilt before your very eyes, the crew begins ushering people down the stairs. As you step blinkingly into the blinding sun, your skin starts to burn. The tarmac is soft, like melting ice cream, and you long for the safe haven of the air-conditioned terminal.



“Are you sure you want to camp?”

“The cheapest hotel room is $300.”

“The AC might be worth that.”

“We’re camping.”

Why put up with temperatures that melt steel? To look at a rock, of course.



Not just any rock. This is Ayers Rock, known as Uluru to the Aboriginal people of Australia, the largest monolith in the world. Out of thousands of miles of nothing, the sheer red faces of Uluru soar 348 meters high, scraping the shockingly blue sky of Australia. It is an incredible sight, unlike anything else in the world. Plus, it’s freakishly hot.

There are other rocks too. 48 kilometers away sit the towering red domes of the Olgas, also known as Kata Tjuta to the Aborigines. To the north lie the golden spires and hoodoos of Kings Canyon (Watarrka), and the eerie crater of Tnorala. Beyond that sprawl the oldest mountains in the world, the West MacDonnell Range. In between sits a whole lot of nothing. Correction. A whole lot of searingly-hot nothing.

Wait. On closer inspection, it isn’t exactly nothing. Spinifex grass grows everywhere, gaining foothold in the iron-rich soil. Lizards scuttle under the shade of eucalyptus, looking for their next meal. Birds of prey soar overhead, looking for a meal of those same lizards. Trees dot the landscape, their roots shooting deep for underground water, while kangaroos and emus lounge lazily in their shade. Although the complex ecosystem of the Outback is not readily apparent, it is completely fascinating. And hot as hell.

Enjoy the Outback Photo Gallery.


Enjoy the Outback Videos:
Sunrise at the Rock.
Outback Road Trip.

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