I have always felt decidedly un-australian for not having visited the next most famous Australian thing after the Sydney Opera House, so after finishing up my last job having given 3 months notice and our 25th wedding anniversary creeping up on us, we decided it was time to visit Uluru (formerly known as Ayres Rock). Uluru holds significance to the local indigenous communities. Since 2019, climbing has been banned. Incidentally, 37 people are known to have died attempting the climb, so in our modern world where safety is a priority, maybe this is just as well.
We had an early flight out of Brisbane, firstly to Sydney and then a 3.5 hour flight to Yulara, which is the resort town just outside the National Park. The flight over was uneventful, although a little bumpy at times. There were plenty of spare seats so Deb took the window seat and snapped a couple of good shots of Kata Tjuta and Uluru on the way in.
We are staying at Sails in the Desert, which started its life as a Sheraton Hotel in 1984. While the property is showing some signs of age, the rooms appear to have been refurbished recently and are pretty good. Our room wasn’t quite ready, so we explored the Town Square, which has a lot of souvenir shops and an IGA supermarket, so wasn’t what I’d call overly exciting. Once settled in our room, we decided we would take a closer look at Uluru so did the drive around. It is different from all sides, but more of that later in the week, when we do the walk around the base.
There is a car rally passing through town at the moment called the Shitbox Rally where as far as I understand it contestants buy cars for very little cash and try and make it across the desert. (Clearly not something I would care for). For example one fellow we saw today had bought a 1982 Mitsubishi Scorpion for $250 and it was still going much to his surprise. I think it is much more about fun and camaraderie than anything else.
It was pretty cloudy so we weren’t sure if we were going to get a decent sunset or not, but I set up for it anyway and took a few shots. It wasn’t stunning, but it was still nice to finish the the day out with some outback sunset shots.
We came back to the hotel and had a nice dinner at the pool side. We’ll be up early in the morning to head to Kata Tjuta for some sunrise photos. Sunrise is at 7:30 in the morning, so it’s not unreasonable.
Until tomorrow
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