Ayers Rock

P1000300.JPG,
originally uploaded by Hol Riz.

We caught the train early from Newcastle to Sydney for the 3.5 hour flight into the centre of Australia. The desert stretched away into the distance in all directions, barren and un-inhabited for the majority of the flight, a side of Australia we hadn't seen before. We landed to that familiar blast of heat at the aeroplane door that one associates with arriving at exotic destinations. Jumping in our a nice hire car, we cranked up the air-con and headed for the campsite. We pitched our tent and then headed straight for the pool to get out of the midday heat. Next morning we headed through the red desert towards Ayers rock (Uluru). Our first sight of the gargantuan stone in the distance was magical. We stopped the car and took photos. As we got closer the rock loomed higher and higher. After a brief stop at the un-inspiring cultural centre, we headed for the rock. We didn't do the climb as the local people request that you don't stomp all over their sacred turf (or rock). Also the rock climb was closed due to high winds at the top. We couldn't feel any wind as we walked around the sheer rust coloured cliffs, just the oppressive heat . The temperature rose and rose as we walked on and when we got back to the car the temperature read 46.5C!! We drove slowly around the rest of the rock taking pictures. We came to another short walk to a sacred water-hole at the bottom of the rock and considering the temperature Becky decided to sit in the Air-Con while Hol marched up there in the searing desert heat with a bottle of water in hand. Added to the heat, flies continually pestered us landing on our ears, lips and noses, never deterred by our attempts at swatting them. After doing a full circuit of the rock we headed back to the resort with it's cool swimming pool and a cold beers. That evening we watched the sunset over the rock with its many changing colours as the sun dipped into the horizon.

The next day we set off early to avoid the mid-day heat. Our destination was the Olgas. 30 or so giant heads of stone sticking out of the desert and rising even higher than Ayers rock. We arrived at the walk by 8am and set out with a backpack full of water. The 3 hour walk took us between and around the giant 130M high red boulders. The last hour was the hardest as we trapesed into temperatures into the high 30s and as we got sweatier the cloud of flies hassling us got bigger and bigger. We got back to the car and the air-con and again headed back to the pool.

By the 3rd day we were happy to leave the intense heat but all in all an amazing experience.