“It is just a big rock” - 16th Jan

This is what a wise person once said to me.... in the same way as Stonehenge is just a pile of big rocks.

The closest we have got to Stonehenge is about 250m away whilst on the A303 as we motor our way to Devon (well it is normally at a pedestrian 20mph as everyone slows to take a good look at both the rocks and 'pig-city' immediately to the west). We have never stopped to walk around the perimeter of Stonehenge, if the truth be told I have not felt the urge to do so... I may be accused of even mocking those who do, by shouting “It's just a bunch of rocks” out of the car window.

The urge to visit Ayres Rock (or to give it's Aboriginal name - Uluru) is there however. It may be the fact that Australia is thousands of miles away from the UK and we may not return, or at least not for a long time. It may be that the sun will definitely be shining there, it may be that I want to make up my own mind if it is just a big rock, but the urge is there.

It is silly really as Stonehenge, being man made, is probably more impressive on paper. Maybe we will stop the next time we head to Devon...

We had finally come to the decision to make the 3 ½ hour flight to Ayres Rock whilst experiencing the torrential rain of the Sunshine Coast a week or so ago. From Eastern Australia you can only fly direct from Sydney, so we decided we would visit the city first and then jump on a plane to Ayres Rock. This way made additional sense as we could then return to Sydney airport pick up a car and easily do Bondi and the Blue Mountains before flying on to Vietnam on the 21^st January.

We checked out of the YHA early, walked the 5mins to the train station at Circular Quay and arrived at the airport 20mins later (our 5th visit out of 6 times at Sydney airport for this 3 month trip). The flight itself is 3 ½ hours and in that time the landscape out of the window changes dramatically from vast green areas to orange arid land, with a few toxic coloured salt lakes thrown in for good measure.

Salt Lakes

 We were lucky enough to be on the left hand side of the plane and as we approached the airport we got fabulous views of Uluru itself. I expected it to be almost rectangular in shape when seeing it from the air (perhaps due to the iconic pictures you see from ground level) but as you can see from the picture this was not the case.

Ayres Rock resort, where all the accommodation is based, is owned by one company which is apparently in the process of giving the running of it back to the Aboriginal people. In addition, one tour company has the monopoly on all the tours and promotes these by providing the free airport transfer to the resort.

A couple of days ago we had booked on a trip for this evening – The Sound of Silence meal under the stars – but had not been able to book the other tour that was recommended by the Rough Guide ahead of time. So once we had checked into the hotel we took a slow stroll (in 42 degree Celsius heat) to the resort centre's information centre.

There was no sign of the tour company the guide had recommended and everyone was very cagey when asking about them - “they no longer operate here” was the most we could get out of them! With this in mind, we spelt out what we wanted to do and see and settled on two additional tours operated by the dominant tour operator.

We then grabbed a sandwich, a quick drink at the backpacker accommodation bar (England were getting thrashed on the one-dayer with Australia) and, with nothing much more to do at the resort, headed back to the room for a quick snooze before the late afternoon Sound of Silence tour.

The Sound of Silence tour had got great reviews on trip advisor and so despite the expense we were keen to do it. It did not disappoint.

It started with drinks and canapés as sun set over Uluru whilst a digeridoo was played in the background. We then had a great three course meal which included a BBQ of Aussie meat like crocodile and kangaroo as well as plenty of Australian wine. We sat in large tables of 12 people and I had a good chat with a rather outspoken but friendly Aussie couple who had bravely or stupidly walked the 10km around the rock in the midday sun (42degrees). To their credit they had carried 4.5 litres of water with them to keep hydrated.



Uluru at sunset





The sun fell behind The Olgas - "Kata Tjuta"





Kata Tjuta



Around the table

After the meal an expert astronomer pointed out the main constellations in the night sky and then set up a couple of large telescopes to view in detail the moon's craters and Jupiter and four of it's moons.

From a lightbox

We then boarded the bus back to the hotel and went straight to bed as we needed to be up at 4.15am for a sunrise tour.

Having seen it with my own eyes, standing alone on the horizon, changing colour as the sun went down, is it just a big rock?.....