Reaching the summit

After taking a few photos from the ledge, drinking a bit of water and getting my breath back I continued the climb.

There was no chain anymore but by now the wind had died down and the slope was nowhere near as steep as before. The route also took me away from the edge. This part was certainly a lot easier and safer than the first.

I got talking to the American guy that I'd been keeping pace with. His name was Steven and he had been climbing on his own since he abandoned his girlfriend who got scared round about the 30m mark. He wasn't even sure if she was still climbing or not but hoped she'd given up as he'd left his bag on the tour bus he had taken out to the rock and it was due to be leaving in ten minutes. He was never going to make it back in time.

We walked together for the rest of the climb, exchanging banter and resting every so often. It didn't take long until we reached the top.

The view was amazing!

It was just flat red land and little green plants in every direction as far as the eye could see.

I made a quick phone call home from the top. It seemed strange that I could get a network up there but I suppose there was a completely uninterrupted line of sight between my position and the mobile network mast back at the resort.

After spending about ten minutes at the top taking in the scenery and taking a few photos we started heading back down. By now Steven had missed his bus but was pretty convinced his girlfriend was on it with his bag.

He seemed a little disappointed when we bumped into her about a quarter of the way down the rock. Obviously she had conquered her fear.

Steven decided to walk back to the top with Catherine as I carried on down.

Walking down was infinitely easier than walking up, even on the steep lower half. It only took about twenty minutes to get from top to bottom although it had taken me over an hour to climb from bottom to top.

Once I was back at ground level I sat on a bench enjoying the now warm sunshine and had a quick bite to eat. The air temperature was now comfortably in the twenties so it was great to be back in the sort of weather I'd been missing for the last few months. I flicked through a leaflet about the Uluru Cultural Centre which was only a couple of miles away so decided to head there next.

Just as I was back in Chops2 and about to reverse out of my parking spot I spotted Steven and Catherine who had finished their descent and were trying to figure out how to get back to the resort. They told me that their bus headed to the cultural centre after it left the rock so I offered them a lift.

The cultural centre wasn't really anything to write home about but it did have a few interesting displays on Anangu stories. All the laws of the indigenous people are contained in stories and myths, many centred around the rock and most containing personified giant talking animals. For every scrape and gouge on Ayers Rock there seemed to be some explanation in a story, probably involving a fight between a giant serpent and a kangaroo or something.

Steven and Catherine's bus didn't seem to be around so after we'd read all the stories and looked at all the art I gave them a lift back to the resort before heading off to Kata Tjuta.