Blogs from Uluru, Northern Territory, Australia, Oceania

Another long four hour drive west to Uluru after staying overnight at Kulgera Roadhouse. We checked into the Voyages Tourist Park Yulara, and after purchasing our National Park tickets, we then drove to Uluru Sunset Lookout to get some photos. Formerly known as Ayers Rock, Uluru is one of Australia's most recognisable natural landmarks and has been a popular destination for tourists since the late 1930s. It is also one of the most important indigenous sites in Australia. Uluru is notable for appearing to change colour at different times of the day and year, most notably when it glows red at dawn and sunset. The reddish colour in the rock derives from iron oxide in the sandstone. The sandstone formation stands 348 m (1,142 ft) high, rising 863 m (2,831 ft) above sea level with most ... read more

On Wednesday morning I checked out of the hotel and had a couple of tasks to take care of before I left Coober Pedy. I needed fuel first, and then I had to visit the most useful vending machine in the outback. This may exist elsewhere, but it’s the only one I know of – a coin-operated water station. For just $1.00 you can get 30 litres of water. One of my jerry cans was nearly empty so I wanted to fill it up. Unfortunately, the station seems to just start when you put the coin in and keeps going until 30 litres is dispensed. I wasn’t ready, and the jerry can only holds 20 litres so some water was wasted. It probably could be a bit more efficient and allow you to stop and start ... read more

We were so lucky on both our flights. We flew near Lake Ayre on our flight from Adelaide to Alice Springs and could see the path the water was taking to fill the usually dry lake. On our flight from Alice Springs to Yulara we got our first glimpse of Uluru. I felt so sorry for the flight attendants when everyone on the righthand side of the plane started taking off their seat belts, standing up as they tried to get a picture of Uluru. It was manic. All they could do was announce that they needed to be seated with there seatbelts on as we were about to land. Mum and I stayed at the Desert Garden Hotel. There’s a number places to stay in the Yulara resort as well camping and caravan park. I ... read more

THE ROCK! Mostly pic's today folks. During the ride out to Uluru I officially hit the 3,000 mile mark on the Rideabout Oz 2018 trip. The Rock is about 8 miles from the Resort. There are a host of ways to tour the rock: You can drive around it on your own, drive around in a tour bus, do a bicycle ride around it, take a segway ride around it, Certain areas you can walk around it, take a helicopter ride over it, and sometimes you can walk over it, The walking over is the most controversial - you will see some of the signs put up by the aboriginal tribes asking that you respect their spiritual land and not walk up the roped path to the top. The rock itself is pretty Amazing in that ... read more

Waking up in the freezing desert to minus 2 degrees, today is the day we see the largest rock in the world. Had breakfast at Mt Connor and watched the sunrise, packed up camp and we were off to the Uluru. On our way, we found a free camp site about 15kms east of Uluru, where we left T.J, so we could head to the National Park. Had lunch at the Cultural Centre’s café before embarking on our maiden walk around the base of Uluru. At the cultural centre, we learnt about the Aboriginal culture and why climbing Uluru is disrespectful. In their traditional law, it states that Uluru is a sacred place that holds great knowledge and climbing is not permitted. Arriving there, ready to walk all the way around, we were saddened to see ... read more