The 1% Club ◦
Author Shebah Alice Springs ◦
As I sit here listening to the pouring rain, I have a flashback of another time…
Christmas was coming up quickly and although I love being with family, 2016 was spent doing tours at Yulara.
We had over 60 mm (that is more then 2.36 inches) of rain before the sunrise tour to Kata Tjuta, that had started at 5 in the morning and it wasn’t stopping.
We had stopped at the viewing point and 65 people on a coach would not get off for a cup of tea and breaky. It was chucking it down, you couldn’t even see Kata Tjuta.
We drove to the “turn off” and found the water level was way more than 30 inches (that is 762 mm). This was above the legal level to take a coach through.
I turned to our guests and apologized and explained, if I drove through the turnoff we wouldn’t get back until the next day, as the water levels were still rising.
I did feel sorry for them as they had all spent a lot of money for this tour, so feeling compassionate I offered to sign them up to the “1% Club”. After watching the confused looks on their faces I explained “The 1% Club” members have seen the waterfalls on Uluru.
They all cheered!!
After driving through large puddles, windows fogging up and of course my tour group slipping on the steps getting in and out of the coach to take pics doing our lap of the rock, it did occur to me that I had made a really bad decision.
But all was good, and my grateful group would have pictures and stories to tell of being in “The 1% Club” at the Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park.
As we left the park, they closed it for the first time in 50 years.
The Guide doing the “Base Walk Tour” would tell his grandchildren he “Swam around the Rock that day”. The water levels at the waterholes was up to his chest.
At the time, I told him he was crazy and the snakes and spiders in the water could have been lethal. He said he had warned the guests but NO ONE wanted to leave.
A Christmas I will never forget!
If you haven’t already experienced “The Red Centre” come and visit soon.
Merry Christmas to you all and stay safe.
Images © Toni Ryland
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