It's more than just a rock in the center of the country and if you ever come to Aus, you should plan a visit.
No matter what you have read or how many pictures you have seen, nothing compares to a personal encounter; if you take the time to stop and feel it's aura, you will be moved.
Here are the websites you should visit:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uluru
Places we stayed:
www.glenhelen.com.au
www.desertpalms.com.au
www.desertoaksresort.com
www.ayersrockresort.com.au/arrcamp
We took six days for this part of our trip and could have spent several more; day one we picked up our rental car from the airport and then headed out along the West MacDonnell Range http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MacDonnell_Ranges to Glen Helen resort. The landscape is spectacular, in a desert sort of way, and very surprising how much life is out there.
The following day we drove back to Alice and visited all the sites along the way including Ormiston Gorge, the Ochre Pists, Standley Chasm and Simpsons Gap.
Day three was spent exploring Alice and getting half way to Uluru. Alice Springs is an interesting dichotomy of well off tourists and down and out aboriginals, i have been to few places where such a difference exists. The town is great and the locals are terrific but there is a very visible aboriginal component that are homeless, having been shunned from local tribes that live in the area. Alcoholism is a huge problem that does not appear to have a solution so it just continues. It was very sad to see and I sincerely hope they can figure it out.
As you can imagine the town has much to offer tourists though and we visited the Desert Park, ANZAC Hill, Reptile Centre and the Telegraph Station, though not all in one day -I'll explain soon http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alice_Springs. www.alicespringsdesertpark.com.au.
At the end of day three we we drove half way to Uluru which is 450km from Alice!
Day Four had us into Uluru by 10am, we found our accomodation and headed out to Kata Tjuta http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kata_Tjuta where we hiked the Valley of the Winds and caught the sunset.
Day five was out to Uluru and all is majesty then home for a break and a swim then back for sunset. The weather was usually around 30-33 degrees but very easy to take with little humidity, the hard part is keeping hydrated.
Wendy and i got up early on day six to catch the sunrise and then got ready to head to the airport and Perth. This is when we got the message that our flight was to be delayed until that evening. Later that afternoon we heard it was cancelled completely and we needed to plan for a trip to Perth via Sydney the following day. Now, if you know anything about Aus, it's that it's big and we didn't want to spend another day flying back and forth across it so we opted to fly to Alice, spend another day there then catch a flight to Perth the following day - this had us spend two more days in the Red Center but that is how we got to feed the Rock Wallabies, visit the Reptile Center and Telegraph Station in Alice. They also put us up at the nicest hotel in Uluru plus gave us dinner and breakfast which was a nice treat.
So there's all the words, here are some pictures... the one thing you will notice if you've been here before is how green it is, they have had abundant rainfall so far this year which created some brilliant colour contrasts.
Perth and the West coast will follow tomorrow.
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| Sunset at Glen Helen Resort... |
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| Sunrise at the Resort |
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| Ormiston Gorge and the beginning of the Red Rock contrast |
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| As mentioned, the rain brought out the flora |
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| The Gorge again |
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| It wouldn't be real life without a crying kid |
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| Unrelated to the previous shot, just didn't want to get his pants wet |
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| Ochre pits (coloured rock) which the aboriginals use for body painting |
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| Standley Chasm... |
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| They could be models |
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| Simpsons Gap... |
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| Sunset over Alice looking toward the MacDonnell Range |
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| Desert Park - they provided a recorded guide to highlight different areas, a great format that kept the kids very interested |
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| Thorny Devil |
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| Owl in the nocturnal house |
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| We never did see any wild Roo's in the Center |
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| Holding up Mt. Conner |
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| First view point of Kata Tjuta |
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| Starting the hike into the Valley of the Winds |
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| This shot gives you a good idea of the true contrast in colours; notice the brilliant blue sky, red rock and greenery - it was spectacular |
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| "Keep up you muggles!" |
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| Looking out over the Valley of the Winds is breathtaking |
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| If you turn this photo left onto it's side, it looks a bit like Alfred Hitchcock |
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Another view of Alfred's shadow
      Here you can see where people walk up the spine of the rock, we chose to respect the sacred nature of the place and walked the 11km around instead  People look like ants as they climb  It's tough to open your eyes looking straight into a sunset  Notice Uluru change to different shades the red as the light changes...   One of our favourite family shots  This was actually taken on our way to the sunset and demonstrates the dynamic texture of Uluru  Looking into the sunset from the other side of Uluru, notice Kata Tjuta to the left (50km away)  Sunrise the following morning     Sunrise over Kata Tjuta   Did we mention the flies??  Our bonus night at Sails in the Desert - that's Wendy and Scott on the deck    A real dragon at Reptile Centre  A baby python - they really do give you a good squeeze!  Learning the art of the didgeridoo  Rock Wallabies at Heavitree Gap, these guys were only 50 ft. from our door.   Mom has a Joey and Dad dares me to make a move...  ... it was just a bluff, they are very tame  Telegraph Station - Blacksmith working a vintage shop including double bellows and all.  The night sky at the Telegraph Station  |
More night sky fun
