Uluru, Ayer's Rock, Australia Saturday, March 23-25, 2018
We took a cab into the Melbourne Airport (half an hour ride) to fly out to the Northern Territory to see the Australian equivalent of the American Grand Canyon.....Uluru or the more modern name Ayer's Rock. It was about a three hour flight.
We watched the affect of the sunset on the rock. It was ever changing.
The blue sky contrasting the red rock was stunning.
The sun sank very fast making the rock turn even more redder.
We hiked up close to the domes.
The Aboriginese held these rocks to be very scacred and named the rocks....Uluru and Kata Tjuta long ago before the country became Australia. When explorers came in the 1800's they gave the rocks other names. Uluru was called Ayers Rock.
In 1985 the Australian government agreed to manage the area around the rocks in cooperation with the Aboriginese....making it a shared responsibility. This made the native Australians very happy. Since then the original name seems to be more customary to use.
We were told that this was the best sunset all week....how lucky to capture it.
The next morning we were up at 5:30am to capture the affects of the sunrise on Uluru. WOW!
As the sun rose higher in the sky, the rock's colors changed.
We are wearing nets to keep the bugs from flying in our faces....they worked great!
The boulders that had fallen from the huge rocks laying along the trail were tremendous!
We came across a trickling stream.
The surrounding foliage was very unusual for us.
The Australian desert runs a cycle of being green for two or three years and then having a drought for six or seven years. We were fortunate to experience the green year.
These are desert oaks.
Native Minor Birds....eating some sugar.
During the late afternoon on our second day we hiked up close to Uluru.
We enjoyed sitting under the shade of a hut and talking with the other tourist after our hike.
It is easy to see the effects of the sun setting on Uluru with this before.....
Final rays of the day
We toasted the sunset with a few other world travelers and then attended a tasty Australian barbecue dinner under the stars. What great way to end our stay at Uluru!
The next morning we went to the Wintjuri Art Museum.
They had baby emus....
a stuffed king size kangaroo.....
and a wild looking lizards that love to eat the venemus snakes
We caught our coach out of the Desert Flower Resort at 12:45pm and headed toward Kings Canyon.
Off we go on a new adventure!
So long to Melbourne....What did we like most about Melbourne? The bicycling around the city.
Our first sight of Uluru was amazing from our airplane. 10.6 kilometers around the base...Now that is one BIG rock!
"Palya"....the Aboriginese way of saying welcome and how's your day.
We are in the Outback now!
Desert Garden Resort, our home for the next two nights
During the late afternoon we drove by Uluru and then about an hour further to see Kata Tjuta, another enormous rock formation.
We hiked up close to the domes.
In 1985 the Australian government agreed to manage the area around the rocks in cooperation with the Aboriginese....making it a shared responsibility. This made the native Australians very happy. Since then the original name seems to be more customary to use.
We were so happy to see this rock actually looking like the pictures that we have been studying for years before actually coming here.
After the sunrise we hiked up into the Kata Gorge. Awesome!
The boulders that had fallen from the huge rocks laying along the trail were tremendous!
This was a wonderful hike between domes.
The Australian desert runs a cycle of being green for two or three years and then having a drought for six or seven years. We were fortunate to experience the green year.
and after picture.
as well as the Thorny Devil.
Off we go on a new adventure!
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