Activities at Yulara

Astronomy

Yulara is a resort owned and run by Voyages.  But there are a range of different activities available.  The resort, in partnership with the ARC Centre of Excellence for All-sky Astrophysics (CAASTRO), plays host to the Uluru Astronomy Weekend annually. Fortunately for us (with a bit of planning along the way) we had arrived for the 2017 event.

Hosted by Associate Professor Lisa Harvey-Smith, along with some of the world’s leading experts, the weekend included engaging discussions on the  structure of the Universe, dark matter,  fun family activities and demonstrations.  This was a marriage made in heaven for our boys – nature, adventure and SCIENCE.  Over the next two days we took in the following talks/activities although there were many more to do (especially if you don’t have boys who can’t stay up until midnight).

  

TRADITIONAL  INMA WELCOME  TO COUNTRY  Senior Anangu elders and young performers offer you the privilege to share in a traditional Inma including song and dance.

HOW DID THE  UNIVERSE BEGIN?  All scientific experts agree on the Big Bang. The burning question around the world remains ‘what happened after that?’ MC and Assoc. Prof. Lisa Harvey-Smith adjudicates a lively debate on this hotly contested topic with our guest astronomers.

PLANETS IN  BOTTLES    Assoc. Prof. Tara Murphy will give kids big and small an interactive introduction to Astronomy with each participant making their own planet inside a bottle  to simulate its conditions and see if life will flourish.

ABORIGINAL ASTRONOMY  & NAVIGATION   Prof. Ray Norris explores the Aboriginal astronomical stories and traditions and reveals how they were used for practical purposes such as navigation.

BLACK HOLES IN  THE DISTANT UNIVERSE    Join Prof. Elaine Sadler as she discusses how black holes become ‘active’ and the extraordinary symbiosis between black holes and their parent galaxies - shaping the galaxies we see around us today.

So if you would like to know a bit about the latest theories of how black holes control star formation, how the universe is expanding and about the stars, Aboriginal dreaming and Song Lines etc, I have 2 boys that would love to share their learnings with you.

The Yulara Resort runs a number of free activities, including the Wintjiri Arts and Museum.  There was good information of the regions geology, flora and fauna and history.  There is also a large gift shop that had a local artist in residence working on a painting while we were there.  The boys asked a number of question but were fascinated as the artist tried to remove the additional painting that a fly had done to his work while we were watching.

There was also a didgeridoo workshop.  We had known already from previous tours that the didgeridoo is not used across Australia and was not used by the indigenous people near here.  But the talk was still informative and the boys loved having a go themselves.

One of the best activities we did was the Maruku Arts Dot Painting Workshop.  We did a morning session with a lovely Pitjantjatjara artist called Sarah who introduced us to some Tjukupa (Creation Time symbols) and talked about her painting.  We then had to try painting a story or journey ourselves.  The boys both did two paintings, I just did the one (being a bit more meticulous and slower).  We all loved this workshop and even now we are back at home, the boys love showing off their creations.

Mine is on the bottom right (our journey from Canberra to Boodjuammula, Artilla, Uluru and Tkata Juta, Mr L is left of mine (our journey from Canberra to Newcastle and then Uluru) and the one above (his version of a story of the first rain coming from the stars(, Mr Cs are directly above his (the two serpents) and then next one on the right (Emu Dreaming from his astronomy talk).

Field of Lights

We gave the kids some choices about what we would do and what we would spend money on while at Uluru.  Their first choice – the Star Pass trip to the Field of Lights.  We were picked up from our campground and transported to a red sand dune.  Here we were standing in the heart of the red desert, the last rays of the sun playing on the amazing icon that is Uluru in front of us.  As darkness descended over the red dirt covered with spinifex and desert oaks, the dark valley floor beneath us began to light up.  Our experience was improved with the drinks and canapes (albeit more drinks than canapes) that we were indulging in while waiting – waiting for the dark to come.

 

Then they started, slowly at first, it was hard to tell if they were lit.  What am I talking about – the 50,000 solar powered bulbs carpeting the ground before us.  Before long though we could see, there it was in its coloured glory – the Field of Lights.

When dark has arrived you descend down a lit path to walk among the ever changing painting of light that surrounded us.

We were supposed to be back at the bus stop in 45 minutes – we missed it.  There was too much to see, too much to walk through to do it justice in 45 minutes.  Fortunately, the tour operators understood this and ran buses back to the Yulara until much later at night.  Our photos don’t do the magic of the night justice (you aren’t allowed a tripod in the Field of Lights so we didn’t have ours).  It was Mr C’s idea that brought us these photos instead of coloured blurs.  He realised that what you needed to do was not focus on the bulb but on the cable.  Thanks to him we have some pretty cool shots. 

This magic night was one of the highlights of our whole trip.  On the way back in the bus Mr L was already planning an installation at home – he thought he might start small, just glow sticks for now.