Whatever the name Uluru or Ayers Rock... it speaks for itself.

So maybe a brief explanation would be helpful.....

We flew from Perth to Alice Springs which for all effective purposes is the center of Australia. Not the Paris, London, Milan, Toronto(?) center of Australia, but the actual middle of the desert center of Australia. Its a small town with several art galleries, opal boutiques, some restaurants, hostels and a good size grocery store. Actually Alice Springs seems quite a cool little town, if you ignore the murmuring of substance abuse and other nasty things that can come with living in a remote outpost.

From here it was a 6 hour tour bus ride to Yulara and Ayers Rock. A three hour hike was squeezed in along the way at Kings Canyon, this would turn out to be just a taste of the wild landscapes that pop up in the seemingly uniform desert landscape. After circumventing the canyon we continued along the road stopping just in time to see the sunset and a tiny looking silhouette of Ayers Rock in the distance. I'm actually being quite accurate when I say 'the road'. The roads are so long and straight that a right turn is enough of a point of interest for the tour guide to point out. The last hour was navigated in the dark to the Uluru compound, a collection of tourist resorts and one (very busy) gas station. The accommodations ranged from thousand dollar a night spas to bunks in a power free cabin with swag rolls (basically big sleeping bag shells). We took the later and spent the rest of the night by a camp fire with fellow campers, marshmallows, a zillion stars and some birthday cake (what a way to bring in the old 2-5).

Five am wake-call got us to Ayers Rock just before sunrise, our tour guide put on some appropriately beautiful music as we approached this dark mass just as the sky was getting color. Single tear.

The sunrise viewing area was not short on other tourists unloading buses, waking up and gathering their senses in the cool desert morning. We wondered why we weren't seeing the sun rise from behind the rock, a little cranky and silly from the cold and lack of sleep and ready to get on with the day when in an instant the rising sun got to the right level and the whole rock changed from its dull rust color to a day-glo orange. Pow! The more I am in this country, the more my understanding of Australian Aboriginal beliefs in the land deepen. I can't imagine what it would be like to have walked across the desert to be confronted with this place standing on its own, no 'sunrise viewing area' signs, no buses, it would bring any sane person to their knees.

From sunrise we made our way along the walking path that surrounds Ayers Rocks, about a 2.5 hour walk in total, we were a little behind in time and had to jog a bit to cut it down to 2, still we were sure to take time to absorb the wild variations in the rock surface, observe the rules of the multiple sacred sites (mainly being no photographs) and appreciate it being a cool day in the desert. Tourist have the option of following a path to a couple points on top of Ayers rock, however this trail is closed about 80 percent of the time due to weather not to mention the sincere request of the area's Aboriginal groups not to attempt the climb as this is a traditional route reserved for young boys entering manhood. This request maybe more so because many people have been injured or killed meaning a necessary mourning period, ceremony and feeling of responsibility to the group.































After our morning at Ayers Rock we headed to Kata Tjuta or "The Olgas". The tallest of these dome shaped rocks is actually 200m higher than Uluru and our tour guide told us that this cropping of rocks is even more significant to the local groups, but because of this very little is known, sacred sites are not marked here and there are much fewer tourists about. The locals rights to these lands are taken seriously here and if there is a need to perform a ceremony they have the right to shut down the entire or parts of the national park. I didn't realize this before arriving and felt very thankful that after such a long journey I was able to see these wonders up close.