ULURU
THE SPIRIT OF AUSTRALIA
By Ladka Kurzrock
fter reading a
book called
“1000 Places to
See Before You Die “and after I moved to Australia, visiting the so called Australian Red Centre - Uluru - Kata Tjuta National parks has been on my bucket list. I was always interested in learning more about indigenous Australian people, their culture and see with my own eyes the iconic great red monolith of Uluru in the middle of the Australian red center of the Northern Territory.
Since the pandemic started, my long-planned trip to Uluru was canceled several times. Not just due to border closures, but also to protect the vulnerable aboriginal community who live there. After several unsuccessful attempts of flying there, the domestic borders have finally opened, and I was excited and ready to go. It was my first trip since the pandemic and I loved everything about it. I was planning this trip in my head so many times and now I was ready to go to the airport. It was somewhat surreal. After such a long break of not being able to travel, I’ve realized how much I missed traveling and I’ve been consciously enjoying every moment of my trip.
Shortly before the plane touched down, the landscape turned into an immense red desert. I could see the gigantic sandstone formation as it proudly rose above the desert plain from my seat of the plane. I instantly felt that it was going to be something special! I could not wait to hit the road and start exploring the land of the Anangu indigenous people - who are the traditional landowners and custodians of Uluru and Kata Tjuta National Parks and have lived there for thousands of years.
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