THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
STEPHANIE OSWALD, HOST: Mystical, glorious, rousing the spirit and speaking to the soul.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED TOURIST: I said I've got to go and see this magnificent rock and honestly I feel like, I've never felt closer to the creator than I do now.
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OSWALD: This is Australia far from city streets, where you can take a peaceful trek at the break of dawn, enjoy the view at midday on hot wheels and sip champagne at dusk with the rugged beauty of Australia's heartland as a backdrop.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED TOURIST: It's just very, very stunning, really, really breathtaking and it makes you realize how small we are.
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OSWALD: Come along as we travel now into the red center, appreciating age old traditions and listening to music inspired by the Outback.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TED EGAN, HISTORIAN AND SONGWRITER: So what you do is you drink the beer and then you use this as your musical it seems to me. I'm heading for the center on the Ghan. Alice Springs I'm coming on the Ghan. Hand me up my stockman's saddle, I'm going back to mind the cattle. Alice Springs here I come on the Ghan.
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OSWALD: One hundred years ago, camels made this journey into the center of Australia. Driven by cameliers from Afghanistan, they were the main form of communication and transportation between Adelaide and the Outback.
Welcome to CNN TRAVEL NOW. I'm Stephanie Oswald. Today, travelers from around the world still yearn for the adventure and romance of the Outback, but they have a much more relaxing way of getting there.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
GENELLE FENTON, THE GHAN: There's no timetable. On trains, we'll do it tomorrow, OK? The train just goes along at its own pace and we get there. OK, eventually, but we do get there.
OSWALD (voice-over): The trip begins in Adelaide in south Australia and covers more than 1,500 kilometers or about 1,000 miles on the way to Alice Springs in the northern territory.
EGAN: There's just so much to see traveling across the land.
It's magnificent country but just coming out here you actually see the heart of Australia, which is very, very good.
OSWALD: The Ghan made its first run in 1929 and gets its name from the mode of transportation it replaced.
EGAN: And when the train come through it put the cameliers out of business and so the train is called the Ghan in their honor.
OSWALD: While taking to the skies is an even more modern and certainly faster way to reach the Outback, the train has its own appeal.
UNIDENTIFIED TOURIST: Because you see so much more and that's what we've come, to see the country, not to fly A to B. It's much more interesting.
STEPHEN BRADFORD, GREAT SOUTHERN RAILWAY: The highlight is the scenery, Australian native wildlife, kangaroos, camels and, of course, the enjoyment of other people on the train.
OSWALD: There are three levels of service offered on the Ghan. First class provides private cabins and elegant dining.
(on camera): It will take 19 hours to get from Adelaide to Alice Springs. This is one of those times when the journey is certainly as enticing as the destination, including three course meals prepared right on board.
(voice-over): On tonight's menu, pumpkin soup, Cesar salad and filet of kangaroo. The chef prepares alternates just in case.
UNIDENTIFIED TOURIST: I had chicken last night. I fancied kangaroo but no.
OSWALD: Meal time gives guests a chance to mingle.
UNIDENTIFIED TOURIST: I think it's one of the most important things on an actual train because that's where everybody comes in and makes and talks. OSWALD: As they watch the Outback pass by.
UNIDENTIFIED TOURIST: I would describe it to people back home as an experience of a lifetime. It's absolutely delightful.
EGAN: Oh, the city's no place for an Outback man. So I'm heading for the center on the Ghan. Too much booze, too much gambling, I'm mighty glad to be a rambling back to dear old Alice Springs on the Ghan. Yes, back to dear old Alice Springs on the Ghan. Woo-woo!
(END VIDEOTAPE)
OSWALD: Alice Springs marks the end of our ride on the Ghan, but it's just the first leg of our journey into the Outback. This city was named after Alice Todd, the wife of the construction manager who brought the telegraph into this part of the country in the 1870s, opening up the Australian frontier.
Coming up, we'll explore Alice Springs, taking in the sights and sounds of aboriginal culture. But first, the power and the beauty of Uluru.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
OSWALD: Welcome back to CNN TRAVEL NOW.
We've hit the road. It's a five hour drive from Alice Springs to Uluru, also known as Ayer's Rock (ph). That's plenty of time to take in the scenery and make a few stops along the way.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
OSWALD (voice-over): The path to the red center is lined with dramatic sparse countryside. We pulled off the road a couple of times just to take a few pictures of the stark surroundings. We had to stop when we saw this looming rock formation glowing in the afternoon light. Not Uluru, but a beautiful false alarm. This is Mount Connor.
Finally, we knew we were close to Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park when we spotted the park's first namesake, more commonly known as Ayer's Rock, rising from the desert. The first view is intoxicating, a scene that becomes etched in your memory. This symbolizes Australia's heart.
MATT LEDUC, ULURU-KATA TJUTA NATIONAL PARK: Geographically it's almost in the center of Australia. It is such an icon. I mean everything to do with Australia is always related to or touched to Uluru.
OSWALD: More than 600 million years old, this massive sandstone fascinates visitors and Australia natives with its sheer magnitude.
ETHAN LEEDS, POET AND GUIDE: I've seen the tears of Uluru, streams through gorges flowing and I've seen the lighting strike and the blinding sunset glowing. OSWALD: Poet Ethan Leeds.
LEEDS: I've walked the ancient paths there. I've been entranced, seduced by the breeze and viewed the climbing ants. I've seen the southern cross that nurses Uluru and I've felt the sleet and snow when the winds come tumbling through. With me and many others, Uluru holds a part honored with being to view the changing moods of Uluru we cherish always in our hearts.
And the colors, when we have these clear skies or occasional clouds with the breaks on the horizon so long as the sun peeps through it's just magical. It just lightens up and it's just the way to start a day or finish a day.
OSWALD: After witnessing the magic of sunset, we couldn't resist an adventure that began before dawn atop these noisy creatures.
ADAM PEPPER, FRONTIER CAMEL TOURS: He likes to moan.
OSWALD (on camera): What does it feel like?
UNIDENTIFIED TOURIST: Well, quite solid at the moment.
UNIDENTIFIED TOURIST: Quite high.
UNIDENTIFIED TOURIST: Yeah.
OSWALD: Whose idea was it to come on this tour?
UNIDENTIFIED TOURIST: Yours.
UNIDENTIFIED TOURIST: Mine probably, yeah.
OSWALD: And why'd you want to do it?
UNIDENTIFIED TOURIST: I thought I like camels. But you don't really get that many in England so it's kind of, it's nice that I should be on one, you know?
PEPPER: This fellow can be headstrong.
OSWALD (voice-over): The safari set out, racing the sun to Ayer's Rock.
(on camera): This is one of the most extraordinary ways to visit the Outback, a camel tour at sunrise. The camels in this part of the world have one hump and are called dromedaries.
(voice-over): The most important tips to remember...
PEPPER: Just to relax, enjoy yourself, let the camel move underneath you and you move with it and they are extremely therapeutic so you will enjoy it.
OSWALD: It's a bumpy ride at times, but somehow soothing as the camel parade crosses the sand and dawn breaks on Uluru. UNIDENTIFIED TOURIST: Sunrise is beautiful. It's a beautiful thing to see and we're very lucky to have that opportunity.
UNIDENTIFIED TOURIST: A great way to start the day.
UNIDENTIFIED TOURIST: Yeah.
UNIDENTIFIED TOURIST: Think so?
UNIDENTIFIED TOURIST: Great way.
UNIDENTIFIED TOURIST: It's a great way to see a side, you know, a side of the Outback that you don't see from, you know, from a car, from a car window.
OSWALD: I wonder if the Afghani cameliers ever enjoyed their journeys this much.
(on camera): What do you think about the camels?
UNIDENTIFIED TOURIST: What do you think, Dolores? Cool?
UNIDENTIFIED TOURIST: A bit disgusting.
OSWALD: What do you mean?
UNIDENTIFIED TOURIST: They spit, they pooh and wee.
UNIDENTIFIED TOURIST: I don't know, it's not like a horse.
UNIDENTIFIED TOURIST: No.
UNIDENTIFIED TOURIST: It's a lot more kind of...
UNIDENTIFIED TOURIST: A lot higher up, very high.
UNIDENTIFIED TOURIST: Very high up. And it moves a lot more, as well. I think it sort of sways and rocks.
OSWALD (voice-over): The park is maintained with both Western and aboriginal goals in mind.
LEDUC: We're in a joint management park so obviously there's the Western side, which looks at the ecological values of the park and then we've got the traditional side which they use their jukaba (ph), their law, their culture to determine how the park should be run.
OSWALD: Climbing the rock is a controversial issue because the aboriginal people, who named it Uluru, believe it's a sacred site and visitors who follow their wishes don't climb the path to the top. We didn't hike to the top, but we did pick up speed with our next adventure.
ASHLEY MCCALL, ULURU MOTORCYCLE TOURS: A lot of middle-aged people, 40s and 50s have always dreamt of doing something and haven't done it and they get to the rock and they find those things like the Harley tours, the helicopter tours, the camels and they're there so they just do it, just do it.
OSWALD: For others, a quiet stroll around the base, about a 10 kilometer walk, is the best way to capture the essence of Uluru. Teams of aboriginal guides and interpreters offer tours for those who want to hear some of the lesser known stories hidden in the Australian icon.
UNIDENTIFIED GUIDE: Tali (ph) is saying that this water hole here is a very important water hole. It's a very sacred water hole.
OSWALD: Some tales deal with creation time, also known as dream time.
UNIDENTIFIED GUIDE: And if you look down at the curvature of this wall, if people want to come around and have a look, you can actually feel the presence of a very large python snake sliding down the rock face there. That's actually been created by Uluconia (ph) as she slid along down here. Remember, everything in the creation tale was on a much bigger scale. She was huge.
OSWALD: It's a place to use your imagination and fill your memory bank as each new angle and breathtaking view of the mighty rock is often just as memorable as the first impression.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
OSWALD: Just ahead, a lesson in aboriginal culture as we experience the art and dance of Australia's first people. Later, Uluru's not the only magnificent attraction in this national park. We'll show you the domes of Kata Tjuta.
(BEGIN GEOQUIZ)
Q: Australia is the smallest and flattest continent. What is the only continent that is drier?
A: Antarctica.
(END GEOQUIZ)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
OSWALD: Welcome back to CNN TRAVEL NOW.
Respect for the land is an essential element of aboriginal culture. In 1985, the Australian federal government transferred back ownership of Ayer's Rock to the traditional land owners who call it Uluru. It's a sacred place for the aboriginal people and the perfect starting point for our look into their world.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
OSWALD (voice-over): Uluru dominates the landscape, but from an aboriginal perspective, it's only one feature in a desert where all things natural are intertwined. ARTHUR AHCHEE, ABORIGINAL ART & CULTURE CENTRE: We have an old saying, the land is our mother and if you don't look after your mother, the mother's not going to look after you.
OSWALD: Far from barren and desolate, the Outback has sustained the aborigines for centuries, both spiritually and physically. AHCHEE: Bush bedilers (ph), they're a food source. They're also a water source. A lot of the plants around us are also not only food sources but also they're medicine trees.
OSWALD: Arthur Ahchee led us on a personal bush walk at the Alice Springs Desert Park, an in town attraction showcasing the plants and animals of central Australia.
UNIDENTIFIED GUIDE: There are a couple of places that they have been cited north of Alice Springs towards Tenan Creek (ph) and towards Ayer's Rock. So if you're traveling around in those areas, keep an eye out for them. You may be fortunate enough to see them.
OSWALD: It's said if the Outback had a capital, it would be the Alice. Founded in the 1870s by white settlers, today it's a bustling community with 25,000 residents. For many visitors, Alice Springs is also their first exposure to the Outback and aboriginal culture. Downtown's many galleries exhibit a cornucopia of art. Some of the most authentic works are sold at the Aboriginal Art and Culture Center.
Kupala, what do people learn about the aboriginal culture here?
KUPALA HUDSON, ABORIGINAL ART & CULTURE CENTRE: If they want to learn about our culture or would like to find out about how we existed without being primitive and how our society is really structured.
OSWALD (voice-over): Painting has always been important to Australia's first people. They've been on this continent at least 40,000 years, some archeologists believe as long as 150,000 years and with no written language, art is the way aboriginal stories have been passed down through the generations.
(on camera): Do the colors mean anything?
HUDSON: Oh, yeah, the natural ochres of the earth -- red, yellow and, of course, we've got blue here now, but red, yellow and all that there represents the natural colors of the earth.
OSWALD (voice-over): The price of each piece ranges from less than a hundred to a few thousand U.S. dollars. Also for sale, one of the earth's oldest instruments, the didgeridoo. And if you don't know how to play it, you can take a lesson here, too.
"TURTLE", MUSICIAN AND DANCER: OK, now when we play it, what we do is we vibrate our lips, OK? Blow through the digarydoo, OK? Now circular breathing. What I'm doing is I'm getting the air to come through my nose at the same time.
OSWALD: For inspiration, head across town to an outdoor concert. Every day, the Aboriginal Art and Culture Center puts on performances like this one.
UNIDENTIFIED TOURIST: It was very interesting, very enlightening. This was, so far, I must say, the best part of the trip. UNIDENTIFIED TOURIST: I learned that each animal is depicted differently and especially with the paintings on their body. One was the emu. One was the kangaroo and it was just, just wonderful to see them bringing their culture back again.
OSWALD: But not every secret is revealed.
UNIDENTIFIED GUIDE: So there are certain dances that they teach that you're, we're not allowed to see and there are certain dances that we're allowed to show for the public.
OSWALD: Some would argue that dancing for tourists, even selling art, exploits the aborigines. But for those intrigued by the culture, it's really the only way to experience it. Visiting aboriginal communities is difficult to do and discouraged.
UNIDENTIFIED TOURIST: We are both interested in cultural anthropology just as sort of a hobby and we enjoy traveling around to see how people are still living the old life in various parts of the world.
"TURTLE": Very, very important for the education of our future, the kids, and also for the wider public who don't know anything about our culture.
OSWALD: A lesson leading to a deeper understanding of the many facets of the Outback.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
OSWALD: However you choose to visit the rock, we'll help you make your plans and we'll show you another natural phenomenon when CNN TRAVEL NOW continues.
Some travelers say Kata Tjuta is actually more impressive. See what you think.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ANNOUNCER: When traveling to Australia's red center and attractions like Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park, contact the Northern Territory Tourist Commission for information on planning your trip. If taking a ride into the Outback on the legendary Ghan interests you, visit the train's Web site. To learn more about visiting the gateway of central Australia and the northern territory, go to Alice Springs online to find out about tours, lodging and restaurants.
For all of this information and more, log onto our Web site at cnn.com/TRAVELNOW.
OSWALD: Uluru is only half of this spectacular park. This is Kata Tjuta. Often overlooked, it has secrets of its own to be discovered. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
OSWALD (voice-over): Just a short drive west of the great sandstone rock, Kata Tjuta shares Uluru's sense of spirituality and geologic past, also dating back 600 million years. But it's the stunning contrasts between the two natural wonders that so many visitors find exhilarating.
UNIDENTIFIED TOURIST: It's definitely got its own beauty about it.
OSWALD: Kata Tjuta is a huge collection of 36 rock domes, also known as the Olgas.
MATT PEARCE, ULURU EXPERIENCE: A real chance to get in amongst the domes and explore a bit more where is Uluru, being the one rock you can only sort of look at it from the outside, but you can actually get into the ogres (ph) and have a good look.
OSWALD: Naturalist Matt Pearce led us along a rocky path for a closer look at Kata Tjuta, an aboriginal name meaning many heads.
PEARCE: Kata Tjuta is a very sacred area to the aboriginal men and therefore a lot of those stories and myths are kept more under wraps.
OSWALD: One option for bidding farewell to our amazing Australian experience, a sunset champagne toast.
UNIDENTIFIED TOURIST: It's just very, very stunning, really, really breathtaking and it makes you realize how small we are. Definitely.
UNIDENTIFIED TOURIST: It's spectacular. Spectacular.
OSWALD: A fitting description as the ancient monoliths bask in the day's final light.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
OSWALD: It's time for CNN TRAVEL NOW to leave the land down under. I'm Stephanie Oswald. Thanks for exploring the Aussie Outback with us today. We'll see you next time.
GAIL O'NEIL, HOST: Hi, I'm Gail O'Neil. Join us next week in the tropical paradise of Hawaii as we cast about on the high seas in search of big game adventure.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's not a Sumo match. It's a chess game. You don't have be a real strong person to catch a big fish. Just pace yourself and take your time.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
O'NEIL: Who's the man made water wave of a 100-year-old irrigation system?
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There's another flume that we're going to go under right here. This will transport the water over the canal so we wouldn't flood it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
O'NEIL: And witness a lava flow as we trek across an active volcano.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's absolutely amazing. It's very, very raw to see earth being created as we're standing on it. It's a powerful experience.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
O'NEIL: So join us for these and other big island adventures over the next two weeks on CNN TRAVEL NOW.
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