The big red rock in the desert

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We waved "goodbye" to the East Coast feeling very sorry to leave after all the great times we've had there and boarded a plane to Ayers Rock. We stayed at the resort which is a purpose built and overpriced "village" in the middle of the desert within striking distance of both Uluru (Ayers Rock) and Kata Tjuta (The Olgas). As I was still feeling pretty rotten, we didn't do much at all on the first day except for book onto buses to go to the two sites and explore the resort a bit. The Outback Pioneer provided the cheapest accomodation but wasn't worth the $30 a night as we were in an unheated dorm of 20 which was freezing at night when thetemperature outside drops to around 2 degrees! But not as freezing as the bathroom block whcih didn't have windows, just gaps in the walls! The kitchen was pretty ill equiped too with three plates and mugs to go between everybody and not a toaster in sight!

After a night spent fully clothed under a couple of blankets I still wasn't anywhere near 100%!,(MISSING) so while Kelly did the Valley of the Winds walk around Kata Tjuta, I just rode in the bus to see them and then back to the resort before catching another bus to see Uluru at sunset. It's a pretty spectacular sight although it got really good just as the rock was all in shadow and we were leaving! Kata Tjuta was, in my opinion, much more impressive than Uluru as the rock formation as a whole is much larger and higher.

On the second day we got the bus to Uluru with the intention of doing the base walk but ended up just doing a couple of shorter walks as I was still struggling to shake my bug. We also spent a while at the cultural centre where we learnt about the Arnangu (think it's spelt like that) people who are the traditional "owners" of the area. The centre also had some really nice aboriginal art on display. By going to the cutlural centre first we learnt about the stories attached to a few of the areas of the rock where we walked.

In the evening of our final day we treated ourselves to a BBQ where you cook your meat yourself and then have salad on the side. I did only have a burger (not very adventurous) but I tried some of Kelly's Emu Sausage - it was quite nice but I wouldn't have wanted a whole one!

While this was probably the most expensive three days of the trip (once you include the $500+ flights) it was definitely worth going to see such an important Australian Icon and the lesser known Kata Tjuta.

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Photos

Part of the Olgas
The didn't all fit in!