Outback without the Steak

I think I was in the fifth grade when we got a student weekly reader magazine. In it was an article on Ayers Rock.  For some reason this Monolith grabbed my imagination. It was sort of like "Close Encounters of the Third Kind."  I just had to go see it. It took me almost fifty years, but I did it! It was everything I thought it would be . Went we rounded the corner and it came into view, I heard the music  from of the "Close Encounters" playing in my brain. It was as close to having a spiritual awaking as I've ever had. Much better than my visit to St. Peters in Rome. This was the essence of life. It was so primordial. 

I knew before we left for Australia that the Aborigines were struggling to be given equal rights. The Australian government had finally returned the land that contained Ayers Rock back to Aboriginal control, sort of.  These lands and the Rock are considered sacred  to the Aborigines. The Rock was changed back to its  Aboriginal name, "Uluru."  The lands surrounding it are now Uluru National Park. 

I'll tell you more about Uluru and  our trek across the Outback of Australia in a later blog.