Thursday 14th May 2009

All the images you have ever seen of Uluru (Ayers Rock) do not prepareyou for your first sight of the real thing. Our first view of the Monolith, rising out of the endlessly flat red plain, came from the plane, as we approached Ayers Rock airport. Our flight from Cairns had taken us over vast ochre landscapes, with a wash of sage green brush where only the odd cattle station or 4WD track slashes through the emptyness. We were based at virtually the only place available to stay in the area, Ayers Rock resort. Purpose built & vastly overpriced, we paused only to check in before heading off to the Olgas (or Kata Tjuta) a series of 36 conglomerate, mainly sandstone lumps sticking out of the desert to a height of 300m and divided by gorges. We saw wild camels (brought in by the first white settlers) and dingoes. The highlight came at sunset. We went to the viewing area at Uluru, accompanied by hundreds of others, all lined up in the middle of nowhere looking at this rock. Faintly bizarre! But as the sun set, and the rock changed colour as you watched it (the series of photos we took show this really well), you forgot about the contrived situation and appreciated the ageless vastness of the outback, the huge sky darkening to inky black, lit by millions of stars and the smudge of the Milky Way. It was magical. The morning saw us up before dawn, to catch the sunrise. Not quite as spectacular as the previous evening but still worth the early rise. We walked around the base of the rock (we didn't climb. Uluru is a sacred site to the local Aboriginal tribe and they request that visitors don't do this. There are also some sacred areas which you are requested not to photograph). The cultural centre was a bit of a disapointment - very politically correct and full of second rate 'indigenous art'. However despite this, we managed to learn something of the hisotry of the people and are full of respect for the way they managed to live in this hostile environment for tens of thousands of years and to conserve and preserve the land for their sucessors. Most of us wouldn't last 24 hours.