About 19 years ago I got one of those fabulous gigs which was taking myself and my band to play some swing music standards for a conference.
Now you have no choice about where the business has decided to get their team away, you are entertainment. Turn up. Sound check. Eat and play. If you are lucky, the digs are pretty nice and you might even get a stocked mini bar.
So I brought my soon to be fiancée to see one of our great attractions. Uluru. The Red Centre.
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David Campbell first visited Uluru 19 years ago. (Supplied/David Campbell)
We had time between soundcheck and the gig to quickly jump in a Hertz rent a car and see the sunset.
I have a photo of me in a faded Ramones T-Shirt, wearing very 2007 sunnies on my head raising my glass of nearly finished sparkling wine to the camera. Then back in the car a quick loop and get ready to perform.
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It was so fleeting. So fast, yet the memory of how the rock shifted and shimmered as the sunset stayed with us.
The energy it gave off was mysterious and alluring at the same time. I yearned for more but always recommended to visitors that it was a must see if they came Down Under.
I remained largely ignorant of how significant this place was.
The dream was always to return, (Supplied/David Campbell)
The dream was always to return, “One day, when the kids are older”. How often do we say that and never go for whatever reason.
So, in the last school holidays we just did it. I wanted to experience it again myself and see it through their eyes.
We landed and got to the hotel near “The Rock”. On the drive I was transfixed. Even more than the first time.
Maybe I did not check the guidebooks in 2007 but now there was so much to do, we would struggle to fit it all in.
In the last school holidays we finally made the trip as a family. (Supplied/David Campbell)ONE TIME USE david campbell uluru family holiday (Supplied/David Campbell)
We started with a sunset meal watching Uluru, shift and change it’s colours while a rising Harvest Moon tried to compete for our attention.
Then a drone show rose from the dust and dusk and told us the story of the Mala people and the the devil dog which was created to destroy them.
This prepped us all for the guided walk the next day.
With our fly nets and curiosity awakened, we were shown sacred sights for the Anangu people, looked on caves where families came and camped and saw ancient rock art up close.
We did a special guided walk. (Supplied/David Campbell)
We headed to the Cultural Centre to watch the incredible artist, Valerie Brumby, who taught us all what all the dots and lines in traditional art actually represents.
We then attempted to paint our own canvas while an icon painted in front of us.
And some painting at the Cultural Centre. (Supplied/David Campbell)
We ate back at Uluru (the food.. everywhere the food is unbelievable, and the coffee too) watching the sunset.
And when night hit, all the lights were turned off and we saw, what seemed to me to be the whole galaxy above, as we were guided through the significance of the astronomy dwarfing us below it.
Then onto the Field of Light exhibition of multi coloured bulbs, slowly pulsing beneath the shadow of Uluru at night.
The Field of Light exhibition was another highlight. (Supplied/David Campbell)
Then with not much sleep we rose before dawn, got the sleepy kids back on the bus for the dawn and breakfast experience at Sunrise Journeys.
The whole time, being transfixed by ever-changing glow of one our most wonderful natural wonders.
It’s hard to not feel changed once you have seen something so massive in your own back yard.
It makes you stop and stare. It forces you to slow down, hear the stories, walk with custodians and appreciate this incredible country we get to share.
David travelled as a guest of Voyages Indigenous Tourism Australia.
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