Walking With A Ranger At Uluru

My last full day at Uluru had come and I decided to take the ranger led Mala walk at Uluru to get a last up-close look at this magic place and learn more about the history and legends associated with it. The weather was cool and it had been raining overnight, so rainwater was still running down the Uluru, shining in the morning light.
I took the shuttle to the Visitor's Center to look around one last time, before I headed along the Lira walk which is about a 2 km walk over to the trail head of the Mala walk, where a small group was already waiting for the ranger. It was great to see the sights here again - I had already walked this walk with Jann and Ian in the late afternoon sun, now I saw it in the morning light of an overcast day - and it looked quite different!
I enjoyed learning more about the history of the various sacred sites, get an explanation to some of the rock paintings I had admired earlier, and learn a bit about the vegetation and the importance of the place both to the aboriginals and the wildlife.
At the end of the walk I took the shuttle back to the Lodge, and used the afternoon to catch up on emails and blog, organize my backpacks, so I could be ready for the next morning's departure. It was so gloomy and overcast when I wandered up to the outlook spot that there was no sunset, but I have so many good sunset photos, so it was no big deal to me - others who was just there for the one night were, of course, disappointed.
I met my German roommate as I was barbecuing my dinner, and we ate together at one of the long tables in the dining area.
I went early to bed, but it was not exactly a quiet night, because we had two new roommates from Japan, and much to my surprise (and annoyance) they were not very considerate, but left the light on, and were noisy late into the evening!