Australia

A.A.Alfie said:
I do.

:)
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Cool!

I am at Merricks Beach at the moment, and am driving into Melbourne on Monday.

I have a hire car, and am happy to meet anywhere between or pretty much anywhere else!

:D
 
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Uluru-Kata Tjuta (Ayers Rock and Mount Olga)



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Ananguku ngura nyangatja ka puku lpa pitjama
This is Aboriginal land and we welcome you



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Uluru (Ayers Rock)​


Rising 1,100 feet (335 metres) above the surrounding desert plain, Uluru/Ayers Rock is oval in shape, 2.2 miles (3.6 km) long by 1.5 miles (2 km) wide.

Its lower slopes have become fluted by the erosion of weaker rock layers, while the top is scored with gullies and basins that produce giant cataracts after infrequent rainstorms. Shallow caves at the base of the rock, which is within Uluru–Kata Tjuta National Park (established in 1958 as Ayers Rock–Mount Olga National Park), are sacred to several Aboriginal tribes and contain carvings and paintings.

Sighted in 1872 by Ernest Giles, the rock was named for former South Australian premier Sir Henry Ayers. In 1985 official ownership of Uluru/Ayers Rock was given to the Aboriginals, who thereupon leased the rock and the national park to the government for 99 years.

Encyclopædia Brittanica


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Kata Tjuta (Mount Olga)​


The 36 domes of Mount Olga, covering an area of 21.68 km², are composed of conglomerate, a sedimentary rock consisting of cobbles and boulders of varying rock types including granite and basalt, cemented by a matrix of sandstone. The highest point, Mount Olga, is 1066 m above sea level, or approximately 546 m above the surrounding plain (198 m higher than Uluru).

The Pitjantjajara name Kata Tjuta means 'many heads'. The site is as sacred to the Indigenous people as Uluru.

The alternative name, The Olgas, comes from the tallest peak, Mt Olga, which was named in 1872 by Ernest Giles, in honour of Queen Olga of Württemberg.

Wikipedia



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Kunmanara said:
We, the traditional owners, value Uluru-Kata Tjuta [National Park] as a place that honours the culture of our people, preserves the fragile ecology of the land of our ancestors and upholds Tjukurpa - the Pitjantjatjara word for our history, knowledge, religion, morality and law. Tjukurpa has always the way in which we look after each other and the country. Please enjoy this World Heritage Area and open your minds and hearts to learn about our land, beliefs and culture.
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Australian Government - Department of the Environment, Water, Heritage and the Arts



Geology

The evolution of Uluru and Kata Tjuta is explained differently by Anangu and the scientific community.

According to Anangu, there was nothing on the earth until their ancestors - in the forms of people, plants and animals, travelled widely across the land and formed the world as we know it today. Some of those ancestral beings are still here. Some of the creation stories are public stories, others, according to traditional law, are restricted to certain people.

To learn more about Anangu beliefs visit the Tjukurpa page. Tjukurpa gives an Anangu explanation for the world and the land.

Here the creation of Uluru and Kata Tjuta is explained from the perspective of a geologist. Geologists use a body of scientific theories to explain the way in which the land has evolved over time. Using science is a Piranpa or western way of explaining the changing landscape and the creation of the world.



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Uluru at sunset​



Uluru is an inselberg, literally "island mountain", an isolated remnant left after the slow erosion of an original mountain range. Uluru is also often referred to as a monolith, although this is a somewhat ambiguous term because of its multiple meanings, and thus a word generally avoided by geologists. The remarkable feature of Uluru is its homogeneity and lack of jointing and parting at bedding surfaces, leading to the lack of development of scree slopes and soil. These characteristics led to its survival, while the surrounding rocks were eroded.

For the purpose of mapping and describing the geological history of the area, geologists refer to the rock strata making up Uluru as the Mutitjulu Arkose, and it is one of many sedimentary formations filling the Amadeus Basin.
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Crystalinks



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Kata Tjuta at sunset​



Age and Origin

The Mutitjulu Arkose is believed to be of about the same age as the conglomerate at Kata Tjuta, and to have a similar origin despite the rock type being different, but it is younger than the rocks exposed to the east at Mount Conner, and unrelated to them. The strata at Uluru are nearly vertical, dipping to the south west at 85 degrees, and have an exposed thickness of at least 2,400 m (7,900 ft).

The strata dip below the surrounding plain and no doubt extend well beyond Uluru in the subsurface, but the extent is not known. The rock was originally sand, deposited as part of an extensive alluvial fan that extended out from the ancestors of the Musgrave, Mann and Petermann Ranges to the south and west, but separate from a nearby fan that deposited the sand, pebbles and cobbles that now make up Kata Tjuta.

The similar mineral composition of the Mutitjulu Arkose and the granite ranges to the south is now explained. The ancestors of the ranges to the south were once much larger than the eroded remnants we see today. They were thrust up during a mountain building episode referred to as the Petermann Orogeny that took place in late Neoproterozoic to early Cambrian times (550-530 Ma), and thus the Mutitjulu Arkose is believed to have been deposited at about the same time.

The arkose sandstone which makes up the formation is composed of grains that show little sorting based on grain size, exhibit very little rounding and the feldspars in the rock are relatively fresh in appearance. This lack of sorting and grain rounding is typical of arkosic sandstones and is indicative of relatively rapid erosion from the granites of the growing mountains to the south. The layers of sand were nearly horizontal when deposited, but were later tilted to their near vertical position during a later episode of mountain building, possibly the Alice Springs Orogeny of Palaeozoic age (400-300 Ma).
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Crystalinks



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Uluru at Sunrise​



History


While exploring the area in 1872, Giles sighted Kata Tjuta from a location near Kings Canyon and called it Mount Olga, while the following year Gosse observed Uluru and named it Ayers Rock. Further explorations followed with the aim of establishing the possibilities of the area for pastoralism. In the late 1800s, pastoralists attempted to establish themselves in areas adjoining the South western/Petermann Reserve and interaction between Anangu and white people became more frequent and more violent. Due to the effects of grazing and drought, bush food stores became depleted. Competition for these resources created conflict between the two groups, resulting in more frequent police patrols. Later, during the depression in the 1930s, Anangu became involved in dingo scalping with 'doggers' who introduced Anangu to European foods and ways.

Between 1918 and 1921, large adjoining areas of South Australia, Western Australia and Northern Territory were declared as Aboriginal reserves, sanctuaries for nomadic people who had virtually no contact with European settlers. In 1920, part of Uluru - Kata Tjuta National Park was declared an Aboriginal Reserve (commonly known as the South-Western or Petermann Reserve) by the Australian government under the Aboriginals Ordinance.


The first tourists arrived in the Uluru area in 1936. Beginning in the 1940s, permanent European settlement of the area for reasons of the Aboriginal welfare policy and to help promote tourism of Uluru. This increased tourism prompted the formation of the first vehicular tracks in 1948 and tour bus services began early in the following decade.

In 1958, the area that would become the Uluru - Kata Tjuta National Park was excised from the Petermann Reserve; it was placed under the management of the Northern Territory Reserves Board and named the Ayers Rock - Mount Olga National Park. The first ranger was Bill Harney, a well-recognised central Australian figure. By 1959, the first motel leases had been granted and Eddie Connellan had constructed an airstrip close to the northern side of Uluru.
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Crystalinks



Nganana Tatintja Wiya
We Never Climb


Kunmanara said:
That's a really important sacred thing that you are climbing... You shouldn't climb. It's not the real thing about this place. The real thing is listening to everything.

And maybe that makes you a bit sad. But anyway that's what we have to say. We are obliged by Tjukurpa to say. And all the tourists will brighten up and say, 'Oh I see. This is the right way. This is the thing that's right. This is the proper way: no climbing.'
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Traditional Rock Art​



What visitors call 'the climb' is of great spiritual significance to native Australians. The climb is not prohibited, but we prefer that, as a guest on Anangu land, you will choose to respect their law and culture by not climbing. When you visit the Cultural Centre you will learn more about the significance of Uluru in Australian culture.


You will also learn that it's:



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A bloody big rock​


srsly



All images except map - Australian Government - Department of the Environment, Water, Heritage and the Arts
 
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I heard on the radio over new years that they are putting some caveats in place that might stop people climbing the rock in the next three years.

Aparently some of the indigenous owners think it is disrespectful and Mr Garret has said that if the numbers drop - they will consider a ban.

Anyone have the low down?

I can't be fagged looking it up right now, the 20/20s about to start and the wife is giving me a come hither look.

I am torn.

:o:)
 
Yeah, I'll write a bit more about it later.

They're going to use OH&S and liability issues as well as traditional reasons to try and restrict climbing. They make some quite valid points and I'll prepare a summary from the information DEWLA and the local people have presented so far.
 
Akhenaten said:
Pics or it didn't happen.

* If you ate the evidence, you may skip this requirement.
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It was too heavy to pick up, plus we didn't want to get near its tail so I cut my rig off and let the waves wash it back out to sea, where it shall live out its days with a 6/0 suicide hook in its mouth and a star sinker dragging behind it. So no pics.
 
A.A.Alfie said:
I heard on the radio over new years that they are putting some caveats in place that might stop people climbing the rock in the next three years.

Aparently some of the indigenous owners think it is disrespectful and Mr Garret has said that if the numbers drop - they will consider a ban.

Anyone have the low down?

I can't be fagged looking it up right now, the 20/20s about to start and the wife is giving me a come hither look.

I am torn.

:o:)
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Reminds me of the other night. My cousin turned down sex...


... for a packet of doritos and a card game. His explanation? I really like Doritos
 
Damien Evans said:
Reminds me of the other night. My cousin turned down sex...


... for a packet of doritos and a card game. His explanation? I really like Doritos
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Dude - you and your cousin really shouldn't be doing sex together.

It's not ... Tasmania for crying out loud!
 
BTMO said:
Dude - you and your cousin really shouldn't be doing sex together.

It's not ... Tasmania for crying out loud!
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One of my cousins has a map of Tassie that she showed me once or twice when we were younger.

I assume she still has it, and it has probably acquired some historical significance by now. I wonder if she'd be interested in showing it on the Antiques Roadshow.
 
Fellow Oz denizens I bring news of ongoing success in our plot to take over the world without really trying.
Recently, here in Seppopotamia I have found something on the shelves of many stores that brough a tear to the eye.

Tim-Tams! Formerly I had to travel to Cost Plus World Market to purchase my fix but now they are on the shelves at several retailers here.

Also Chicken in a Biscuit has turned up here everywhere I look lately.

Can I dare hope that one day soon I will be able to buy a pie or a sausage roll without having to pay for overnight express shipping?
 
Jeff Corey said:
You were in a septic tank?
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The United States of Seppopotamia. Not to be confused with the Kingdom of Pomgolia from which our peoples share a common beginning. Geographically it is located just south of Beaverstan and just north of Margaritaville.
 
Jeff Corey said:
You were in a septic tank?
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Jeff, assuming you are a native of the USA, you are a septic tank to us Aussies.
As to whether Ausmerican was in a septic tank, I think you will need to ask him/her yourself. Although I imagine the question to be highly personal.
 
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