A bucket-list holiday – taking The Ghan overnight train from Adelaide to Alice Springs, and then driving to Uluru (also known as Ayers Rock). With our plans for overseas holidays all put on hold, we chose to do this domestic holiday in May 2021 – in a small window where interstate travel was permitted in these COVID times.

We were nearly at the end of the week-long trip when this “Ouch” moment happened – do most “Ouch” moments occur near the end of trips? An intriguing possible theory.

Up very early Friday for the half-hour drive to experience Uluru at the Talinguru Nyakunytjaku sunrise viewing spot. Quite a few tourists around, but not overly crowded. Mainly cars, not so many bus loads, with the impact of COVID and few, if any, international tourists.

After breakfast back at our accommodation in Yulara, we returned to do the Mala Walk around 10am. Noted that the walk from the carpark to the restrooms is about half the distance of the actual Mala Walk! Quite a crowd to do the ranger-guided tour meant it might be little hard to hear and awkward for photos; we chose to go self-paced. Much more pleasant, and nice to be able to pause as we wished. Kantju Gorge at the end of the walk impressive. Quite a bit of water around. I was surprised at the amount of “greenery” near the rock itself; I think I expected just more red dirt only, rather than the scrub and trees.

Some of the rock looks very smooth, other sections somewhat “scaly”. Some sections incredibly high and sheer. The start/end point of the Mala Walk is where the climb up the rock used to be – this was closed in November 2019. It appears that it would have been quite steep and dangerous in places.

Next, we followed the Kuniya Walk to the Mutitjulu Waterhole. An easy walk. Very peaceful, except for several cyclists and other walkers. Near the end of the walk, as I was gazing up at the markings on the rock corresponding with the indigenous story given on the interpretive signs, I was not looking where I was putting my feet. As I am wont to do, I lost my footing on the loose gravel and fell. Ouch! Grazed my left knee – a small tear in my very light cotton trousers. Narrow-leg trousers meant I had to rip them to be able to put water on and clean up the wound. A couple of “deeper-than-grazed” spots. No doubt another small scar to add to the collection.

Some very concerned and helpful passers-by saw me sprawled on the ground – very thoughtful and kind of them to check I was OK. One generous lady had her father’s old Qantas First Aid kit and seemed quite eager to be helpful! She seemed pleased to have an excuse to see what might be useful in the kit. In my backpack I only had two smaller band-aids, so her larger one was very welcome. Thankyou! No major damage done!

Back in Yulara we popped into the local IGA store to buy extra-large Band-Aids. You’d think by now I’d carry large Band-Aids as a matter of course. It must be time to update my packing list, in anticipation of the next travel “Ouch” moment!