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Tags: 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]

Tags: 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]

Tags: Seven Wonders of the World / Uluru / Lists / → All Tags

261 Natural Wonders Ain't One Per Country

The bizarrely long-winded 7 Wonders of Nature project has reached the next stage: After voting closed on December 31, they've now got a list of beautiful natural spots around the world that we can vote on until July 7, when the top 77 will continue the journey.

This just-completed round culled the long list to one per country, or so we thought. Turns out it is one per country plus a bunch of places that span two or more countries. Who knew, for example, that the Great Barrier Reef spans Australia and Papua New Guinea? A neat way for Oz to get two bites of the cherry, since they have a nomination in for Uluru, too.

Other famed natural wonders to make the cut include Niagara Falls, the Galapagos Islands and the Danube River, plus a whole host of national parks, lakes and rivers that we're afraid we haven't heard of yet.

If you're tempted to get involved you can pick up to seven sites that you think are wonders of nature from their list of 261. But if you're as lazy as we are, wait until they reduce the list later in the year.

Related Stories:
· New 7 Wonders of Nature [Official Site]
· Two Aussie Natural Wonders Shortlisted [SMH]
· Seven Wonders coverage [Jaunted]

[Photo: nosha]