Visiting the Rock in 1974

by Ronald
(Brisbane)

My wife and I newly married in an old Dodge ute visited then Ayres Rock in November 1974. The road in was a corrugated dirt road about 150 miles (now 268 km google maps). On the road in there was an extraordinary number of large feral cats.

Arriving at the Rock it had just been raining the shining water combined with waterfalls was amazing.

We camped in the back of the ute near several aboriginal camps at the base of the Rock. The aboriginal camps were small groups of 4 or 5 laying around camp fires, the men carried long wooden spears. Our interaction with the locals was zero, they acted like we didn't exist.

In the morning we climbed the Rock, we were warned not to go away from the path as most people died from falling. If you wander too far the rounded edges cause you to lose balance.
We were very young so the climb seemed easy and extremely enjoyable.

I feel very privileged to have enjoyed this experience, I hope Uluru will be reopened to climbing in the future so more young people can enjoy it.