Uluru closing to climbers.

Excellent news.

I'm glad. I'm still hoping to some see Uluru, and the Blue Mountains beyond, but I never would have felt right about climbing it.

I see that some people are still calling it Ayers Rock on Twitter. It makes me want to reach through the screen and smack them on the nose with a rolled up copy of the NT News.

The direct Australian equivalent of calling Denali Mt McKinley. Like, it's several extra letters and the space bar. Why would you even?

Maybe PM Abbott can rename it Mt Barnaby.

(I can kind of understand calling Chomolungma 'Mt Everest'.)

Also, K2, which apparently didn't have a local name cos of its remoteness.

Albedo said:

Also, K2, which apparently didn't have a local name cos of its remoteness.

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Still doesn't, I believe. But, yay! Uluru needs this. But why it will take TWO YEARS to enforce this ban is something that needs an explanation. Meantime, for the next two years, it's just an invitation to tourists to make the climb, so they can say they did it.

Similarly, by the way, does Shiprock, the isolated volcanic neck in New Mexico, need such a climbing ban. But we USers can expect any day now for Trumpville to approve putting advertising billboards on it.

caw

AW Admin said:

I'm glad. I'm still hoping to some see Uluru, and the Blue Mountains beyond, but I never would have felt right about climbing it.

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If you come over, I'll take you on a tour of Central Australia. Any excuse to wander around the desert.

Kata Tjuta (The Olgas) was the highlight of my visit there. It's bigger, more imposing, and even more otherworldly than Uluru.

This was the one place my dad wanted to see before he died. Travel was impossible for him.

Helix said:

I see that some people are still calling it Ayers Rock on Twitter. It makes me want to reach through the screen and smack them on the nose with a rolled up copy of the NT News.

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I was in high school before I ever saw Uluru as the name instead of Ayers Rock, and it was in a magazine rather than a text book. I have literally never heard an American call it anything other than Ayers Rock out loud.

mccardey said:

Can I come?

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You certainly can!

Cyia said:

This was the one place my dad wanted to see before he died. Travel was impossible for him.

I was in high school before I ever saw Uluru as the name instead of Ayers Rock, and it was in a magazine rather than a text book. I have literally never heard an American call it anything other than Ayers Rock out loud.

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What mccardey said. Also don't forget the rolled up newspaper for particularly intransigent cases.

Helix said:

You certainly can!

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Me too, please?

The first Australia-set book I read was The Thorn Birds. The most recent one was Rabbit-Proof Fence. I'm learning.

I've been to the Blue Mountains. I have a waterfall story.

My boyfriend at the time and I went all over the east coast mostly staying in campgrounds and state parks which in Oz pretty much means wilderness. Following a trail sign to the waterfall it wasn't a long hike. We came to a small stream, no waterfall in sight and the trail ended. It's hot, it's water, what do you do? We went swimming.

And then we found the waterfall. We were at the top of it. The water we were swimming in went right off a cliff about 300 feet straight down and we had had no idea. Yikes!


Never made it further inland than Canberra or the Blue Mountains but I'd love to see Uluru if I could.

Marian Perera said:

Me too, please?

The first Australia-set book I read was The Thorn Birds. The most recent one was Rabbit-Proof Fence. I'm learning.

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Rabbit Proof Fence is one of my favorite books. The movie version is pretty good too.

I've read the Thorn Birds but don't really associate it with Australia. It could have been in any number of countries.

Yes! But it's a bummer they're waiting two years to implement this, because yes, there will be a last-ditch rush of climbers, and more damage will be done. Reading this article, apparently there was a time when 38 percent of visitors climbed Uluru.

MaeZe said:

Rabbit Proof Fence is one of my favorite books. The movie version is pretty good too.

I've read the Thorn Birds but don't really associate it with Australia. It could have been in any number of countries.

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Colleen McCullough is Australian, I believe, but yeah, I don't recall that the story was driven by any cultural or historical elements that are unique to Australia. It's been a long time since I read it, though. It could have taken place anywhere where the Catholic Church has a strong influence. I remember being told that the thing with guys who like to go out with their mates more than they like to hang with their wives or girlfriends was very culturally Australian, but I think that was the case in the US, UK and elsewhere in the early-to-mid-20th century too. "Mens' men" are still a thing in some circles in the US, for that matter.

I had trouble with Meggie as a protagonist. She was such a ... milquetoast/doormat/milksop (trying to come up with best word). Not like most of the Australian women I've known personally at all.

I need to read Rabbit Proof Fence. I've been so focused on SFF in recent years I've forgotten to read good books in other genres. I heard an interview on npr about the stolen Generation in Australia--kids who were stolen from their parents and adopted out to white families. It sounds very like what done to Native Americans here.

Roxxsmom said:

I had trouble with Meggie as a protagonist. She was such a ... milquetoast/doormat/milksop (trying to come up with best word).

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On re-reading, there's something about Father Ralph which annoyed me. Throughout the book, we're told how intelligent and perceptive he is.

When he sees Meggie's son, though, it never once occurs to him to think, "Hmm. I once had a lot of unprotected sex with this young woman who's been in love with me forever and who wanted children desperately. Now she has a son with blue eyes (like me), who's a polyglot (like me) and who wants to be a priest (like me). I wonder..."

No, this paragon of perspicacity doesn't even ask her who her son's father is, or when her son's birthday is, so he can do the math. Instead, he leaps to the conclusion that after their romantic interlude, she went back to her husband and had his child, although there's no reason at all why she should have done this (and she's already told him that she had to "scheme" to get her husband to knock her up the first time, so there's no reason why the husband would cooperate for the second child). To everyone around him, the truth couldn't be more obvious, but he persists in his blindness until the end. Talk about sacrificing character consistency for drama.

The ban on climbing Uluru needs to be enacted right now.

https://www.theguardian.com/austral...ly-japanese-tourist-dies-while-climbing-uluru

For the safety of elderly idiots who don't heed warnings. And, yes, because as time runs out, more and more people will try for the 'event of a lifetime'. And carving/painting their names, etc.
It's like declaring a species endangered - suddenly people who never thought about it before want to kill one while there's one left to kill.

I think it is well past time Uluru was closed to foot traffic.