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What Not To Do At Uluru: The Top 5 Tourist Mistakes

Mysterious, imposing, moody, gorgeous and utterly photogenic, Uluru is one of Australia’s most visited sights. “The Rock” gets nearly half a million visitors each year, and it’s a finalist to be one of the New 7Wonders of the world. Which is why we were surprised by how few tips on what to do there we could get beforehand. So we’ve compiled this concise Jaunted guide of What Not To Do at Uluru: The Top 5 Tourist Mistakes to help you on your next visit to the land down under.

So without further ado, here is the Jaunted guide of What Not To Do at Uluru: The Top 5 Tourist Mistakes:

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Ayers Rock / Australia Travel / Toilets / Travel Health / → All Tags

Australia Says No To Pooping On Uluru

The last time we mentioned the big red rock that is Uluru, a major tourist attraction almost smack-bang in the middle of Australia, it was with the relatively reasonable question of should we climb it or not, given the apparent dangers and the feelings of the local Aboriginal people. This time though, Uluru is up for discussion because, unbelievably, some tourists are using the top of the rock as a toilet.

As Northern Territory boss Paul Henderson said this week: "It is outrageous and offensive that tourists are defecating on top of Uluru, an Aboriginal sacred site." You can say that again. A tour operator admitted that some tourists even took a roll of toilet paper with them, despite knowing that there were no toilet facilities of any kind at the top of the rock, and no soil or sand to dig in.

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Travel Bans / Ayers Rock / Uluru / Australia Travel / → All Tags

Australia's Big Red Rock: To Climb or Not To Climb?

One of Australia's biggest tourist attractions, Uluru (AKA the rock formerly known as Ayers Rock), is at the center of a political controversy right now, and it's all about the age-old question: to climb or not to climb?

The Aboriginal people who are the traditional owners of big, red Uluru have never liked people climbing on it as it's a sacred place to them. It especially pains them when tourists die on the rock, which has happened more than 30 times over the years. Midnight Oil frontman-turned-politician Peter Garrett, now the Minister for Environment in Australia, agrees with them, and suggested closing the climb to tourists permanently.

But it looks like tourism dollars are stronger than respect for sacred sites, because the Australian Prime Minister, Kevin Rudd, thinks the 100,000 visitors who climb the rock every year should be allowed to keep doing it. So it looks like you don't need to hurry Down Under too fast, although for tourists who agree with Garrett there's already a roaring trade in tourist paraphernalia saying "I chose not to climb Uluru".

Related Stories:
· Uluru Ban Merely a Proposal: Garrett [The Australian]
· Rudd Opposes Ban on Climbing Uluru [The Age]
· UFO Travel: The Real Origins of Uluru [Jaunted]

[Photo: melalouise]

Australia Travel / Festival Travel / Music Festivals / Culture Travel / → All Tags

Darwin Festival Brings 'Guitar Orchestra' and More to North Australia

Australia's Northern Territory capital of Darwin is apparently not just a city of crocodiles and beer—they actually have culture there too, and to prove it the Darwin Festival turns 16 this year.

From August 13 to 30, Darwin will be getting all arty with a stack of dance, film, theatre, comedy and music performances to see, including the Indigenous Music Awards on August 21 with Australian Idol runner-up Jessica Mauboy headlining. There's also a new venue called the Lighthouse, which is basically an open-air concert area constructed with festoon lighting.

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Safaris / Hunting / When Animals Attack / Australia Travel / → All Tags

Aussies Might Let You Catch A Croc

Safari lovers take note: the Northern Territory in Australia might be your next big destination. The local government has approved a proposal to allow safari hunters to kill some of the biggest salt-water crocs around Darwin.

The growing population of crocs have made a huge mistake by snacking more often on people, so there's not too much opposition to the plan. Plus the revenue raised by the safari fees is meant to benefit local Aboriginal groups, so it's got some feel-good value too.

But don't book your trip just yet. First, the plan is open for comment and must then be approved at a national level too. Second, the suggestion is for just 25 crocs to be killed on safari over the next five years. That's not a low of beady eyes to go round.

Related Stories:
· Trophy Hunters Invited to Kill Crocodiles [The Age]
· Pub Travel: Sharing A Bar With A Crocodile [Jaunted]
· Crocs Interrupt Tourist Plans in Oz [Jaunted]

[Photo: wouter!]

On Walkabout / Australia Travel / Uluru / Dumb Tourists / → All Tags

Cell Phone Saves Desert-Wandering Romanian

That great Australian outback has nearly fooled another tourist. A Romanian guy set out on a long hike from Yulara, near Uluru, and ended up lost in the desert.

He called himself an experienced hiker but only took a gallon of water for a 28-mile hike in temperatures well over 100 degrees. Without food or even water from the third day of his blind wanderings, he was extremely lucky to stumble into a rare outback zone of cell phone coverage and he called his family back in Romania.

His folks got onto the Australian police, who searched for him by helicopter. He’d survived six days in the outback before he was found, but police say in the last few years there have been three other hikers who haven’t been found.

Need we say it again? Take water and be prepared. We don’t want the Aussie Outback to be the last you see of the world.

Related Stories:
· Tourist Rescued From Outback After Calling Family in Romania [The Age]
· Getting Out To The Aussie Outback [Jaunted]
· Won’t Get Fooled Again [Jaunted]

[Photo: Paleontour]

UFO Travel / Australia Travel / TV Travel / → All Tags

UFO Travel: Is the Northern Territory the World's New UFO Capital?

A few months back we reported a UFO sighting off the coast of Australia's Northern Territory on Groote Eylandt, but apparently UFO season Down Under hasn't stopped there.

The History Channel is about to send a production team from "UFO Hunters" down to the Northern Territory to investigate a whole raft of UFO claims, including one from Acacia Hills resident Alan Ferguson, who's keen to help the tourists out:

If I can spot the UFOs, I will point them out to them. They don't know what I know--I know too much.

And we thought the Northern Territory was simply full of dry and empty desert. We obviously don't know enough!

Related Stories:
· UFO Hunters Head to NT For Evidence [NTN]
· UFO Travel: Mystery Lights in the Northern Territory [Jaunted]
· UFO Travel coverage [Jaunted]

[Photo: Bill Liao]

Australia Travel / When Animals Attack / Animals / Theme Parks / → All Tags

Definitely No Smiling at Crocosaurus Cove

It's one thing to share a bar with a tiny crocodile but soon tourists visiting the northern Australian city of Darwin will be able to share a swimming pool with a crocodile too.

At the opening-soon Crocosaurus Cove theme park, there'll be seven crocodile enclosures with underwater viewing areas, and one with a swimming pool next to a viewing window so you'll be able to feel a bit like you're swimming with the crocs (like you'd want to?).

But scariest of all is the Cage of Death--a clear acrylic box that tourists can climb into and experience a huge crocodile snapping at you. We think this sounds a bit cruel for the poor croc, but perhaps they toss him a human every now and again to keep him happy. Hope it's not us!

Related Stories:
· Crocosaurus Cove [Official Site]
· Cage of Death Puts Tourists in Croc's Lair [news.com.au]
· Sharing the Bar with a Crocodile [Jaunted]

[Photo: news.com.au]

Australia Travel / Beer / Contests / → All Tags

This Weekend in Darwin: Annual Beer Can Regatta

There's an important championship coming up in Australia this Sunday July 12: the Darwin Beer Can Regatta. In a way that only Aussies could, contestants need to collect a lot of empty beer cans and then use them to build some kind of boat to take part in the race.

The Beer Can Regatta has been running in Darwin since 1975 and they've had up to 30 boats at once taking part. This year the racing festivities kick off at 10 am on Mindil Beach in Darwin and if your boat doesn't end up being able to float, there's actually a land race too--to find out which team can carry their boating failure along the beach the fastest.

We just hope that those beer-can boats that do float are crocodile-proof.

Related Stories:
· Darwin Beer Can Regatta [Official Site]
· Pub Travel: Sharing the Bar with a Crocodile [Jaunted]
· Darwin Travel coverage [Jaunted]

[Photo: paula.hatch]

When Animals Attack / Pubs / Animals / Australia Travel / → All Tags

Pub Travel: Sharing the Bar with a Crocodile

Tourists are often worried about crossing paths with a crocodile when they're visiting Australia's Northern Territory, but all you really need to know is you shouldn't smile at one--even if it sidles up to you at the bar.

That's what happened this week at the Noonamah pub on the outskirts of Darwin, and when the croc appeared, some local drinkers acted fast to tape its mouth up and put it in a box. Despite a few spectacular headlines, it wasn't a scary croc--the thirsty visitor was just two feet long.

But we still recommend watching where you put your beer down if you're in an Aussie pub. The next crocodile to walk in could be bigger.

Related Stories:
· A Croc Walks Into A Bar ... [Northern Territory News]
· Crocs Interrupt Tourist Plans in Oz [Jaunted]

[Photo: digitalreflections]

UFO-Travel-Map / Australia Travel / Weird / UFO Travel / → All Tags

UFO Travel: Mystery Lights in the Northern Territory

Five miners in the Northern Territory of Australia say they spotted a UFO last week. In the early evening, worker Arnold Murray noticed a light silently flying towards his work site and alerted his coworkers as the object swooped in:

The plant's pretty quiet at night. (It made) no noise whatsoever...All of a sudden it shot off and left a long orange trail behind it. That orange trail just faded out like a shooting star.

It wasn't a chopper, it wasn't a plane--we knew that much--and it definitely wasn't a shooting star.

Interestingly, the mine is on Groote Eylandt, close to where Australia's most famous UFO sighting was recorded. In 1964, the "light wheel" appeared off the coast of the island, causing a ship's compass to malfunction as a rotating circle of lights descended from the sky.

Related Stories:
· Miners "Saw UFO" [NT News]
· UFO Travel Map [Jaunted]

Australia Travel / Ayers Rock / World Heritage Sites / UFO Travel / → All Tags

UFO Travel: The Real Origins of Uluru

If you haven't been lucky enough to visit yet, you're still probably aware that there's a massive red rock right in the middle of Australia. Uluru (once known as Ayers Rock) is a World Heritage Site as well as being a particularly sacred spot for the local Aboriginal people, who have to put up with close to half a million tourists traipsing 'round there every year.

What the Aboriginal people probably didn't realize is that the old rock paintings you can find around Uluru are actually the work of astronauts. Apparently, the red rock of Uluru is in fact a giant red egg that was a kind of spaceship, and when it crashed into the middle of Oz, humans emerged from it.

At least so say the members of an American UFO enthusiast group. You might want to plan a trip to Uluru to check out this story for yourself, or even better, just go because it's a really beautiful place. Take a plane down under or just fly in a big red egg if you prefer.

Related Stories:
· Aliens Created Humans at Uluru [news.com.au]
· Boi in Oz [Jaunted]
· Australia Travel coverage [Jaunted]

[Photo: Tushar]