Ayers Rock & The Olgas

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Geo: -25.3211, 130.987

Today we head down to the Town Square where we buy some water, some tee shirts for the grand children and pick up our Avis hire car. On checking the vehicle (Toyota Camry), its certainly seen a mile or two and is covered in scratches. We look at the other vehicles in the lot and they all look similar.

We head off to Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park as the mercury starts rising. After paying a $50 entry fee we head toward the Kata Tjuta (The Olga's) some 50 km in the distance. Scooting past Uluru it certainly looks impressive but we will be heading back to it this afternoon. We get out at the first Kata Tjuta viewing platform and don our fly nets as the fly's begin to swarm our faces in their hundreds. We spot some very disgruntled tourists who look very hot and do not have fly nets, we feel for them but they have been warned.

The Olga's are impressive as we drive closer and pull into the Canyon Walk car park. We head off on the 1.2 km walk but Deb stops dead in her tracks refusing to go further, she states that it is to hot and wants to get back in the air conditioned car, so back we go. We pull into the only toilets in the area which has an adjoining picnic area filled with tourists. We wonder why anybody would stop here as the fly's start to carry them away.

We head back to Uluru and drive around it twice stopping to take pictures in zones where it says no stopping. Deb gives me a caning every time I stop, but I don't care as there is no traffic and these spots offer the best views. We stop at the Cultural Centre which is quite good with the exception of the exorbitantly priced Aboriginal artwork. We decide to head back to the resort for a cool drink as the day really starts to heat up and knowing that we are also heading out at sunset to view the Field of Light, a new exhibition by internationally acclaimed artist Bruce Munro, that has just opened.

After a few cool drinks and a cool shower we catch a bus to take us to the Field of Light viewing platform some 5 km in front of Uluru. We are offered copious amounts of champagne and some very strange canapés as the sun sets and 50,000 coloured lights start to illuminate. As night falls the lights which cover approximately 5 acres become more impressive. We are then led down the dune and meander our way through the pathway that weaves throughout the display.

It was certainly different, it was very impressive and something we will never see again. Good 'on-ya' Ayers Rock Resort for organising such an event.

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