Uluru – Ayres Rock

Sep 22 to 26 The definite highlight of the trip so far.

Uluru (also known as Ayers Rock) is a large sandstone rock formation in the southern part of the Northern Territory in central Australia. It lies 335 km (208 mi) south west of the nearest large town, Alice Springs, 450 km (280 mi) by road.

Uluru is sacred to the Anangu, the Aboriginal people of the area. The area around the formation is home to a plethora of springs, waterholes, rock caves, and ancient paintings. Uluru is listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Uluru is one of Australia’s most recognisable natural landmarks. The sandstone formation stands 348 m (1,142 ft) high, rising 863 m (2,831 ft) above sea level, with most of its bulk lying underground, and has a total circumference of 9.4 km (5.8 mi). Uluru is notable for appearing to change colour at different times of the day and year, most notably glowing red at dawn and sunset.

So much for the technical stuff, now here is a list of personal descriptive adjectives that describe the experience of visiting this magical place – inspirational, awesome, moving, spiritual, exciting, historic, powerful, magical, peaceful – you get the idea.

We did not climb the rock as the local aboriginals regard it as sacred and we wanted to respect their culture. We did do the ‘base walk’ which is a 10.6 kms walk in a complete circle around the rock. We also took a million photos so here are just a few of them.