When you get to the center of Australia you will find the two main attractions are Uluru and Kata Tjuta (choo-ta). I'll be honest and say that I was not 100% excited to see a huge rock but from the moment it surprises you on the horizon, I was captured. It's incredibly ginormous. The pictures above are that of Uluru and Kata Tjuta. Both incredibly important to the local aboriginal communities. Both incredible and drastically different. It's definitely one of those places that needs to be visited in person to fully appreciate the landscapes. Pictures look great and editing helps but there is nothing like watching the face of the rocks change colors right before your eyes during a sunset and sunrise.
We spent the four nights within Ayers Rock Resort's campgrounds. I am splitting up this part of the trip into two parts. One will be dedicated to Uluru and the other to Kata Tjuta, which is exactly how we spent two separate days.
The day we arrived, we set up our tent and then cruised over to check out the Cultural Center, complete the short 2km Mala Walk and get some glimpses of Uluru. After that, we drove to the designated car sunset spot. Take a look!
The day we arrived, we set up our tent and then cruised over to check out the Cultural Center, complete the short 2km Mala Walk and get some glimpses of Uluru. After that, we drove to the designated car sunset spot. Take a look!
The sunset was probably my favorite part of Uluru. It was stunning to watch the colors of Uluru change as the sun dropped.
The next day we dedicated completely to exploring Uluru. You can drive around it, ride bikes or walk it. We chose to walk as we had all the time in the world to explore it. To start the day we caught a free two hour tour by a local park ranger on just a section of Uluru. We explored areas that still had aboriginal rock paintings, areas where women did the cooking and areas where men passed on wisdom to the boys. We also learned about native medicines, the local wildlife and food sources.
And with all that knowledge we are off to walk around Uluru! The loop is 10.6km and usually takes 3.5 hours.
If you have as much time as we did, then I would suggest walking around it. It gives you the opportunity to stop and take pictures as much as you want and discover spots that you might just pass if you were on a bike. With that being said, walking around it gets a bit redundant. Two hours into the walk everything starts to look a bit the same. We got the walk done just over three hours. Surprisingly, we were a bit tired from it. We jetted over to a not so popular spot to see the sunset behind Uluru.
Like I said earlier, Uluru is a place on this planet that really needs to be seen in person to fully appreciate. A lot of effort needs to be put in because it's literally in the middle of nowhere. But once you are there, you can't help but love it. I never thought I would find myself here but I am so glad that life/my wife got me to this beautiful spot in the world. We called it a day after the sunset, jumped in the car and drove back to camp. The next day we would be exploring Kata Tjuta. It would be an early morning in order to catch the sunrise!