Uluru and the Olgas

We awake not very early and the campsite is almost empty. Sensible people have gone down to walk round the Rock in sensible temperatures, but not us. We decide to drive out to the Olgas first and then watch the sunset over Ayer's Rock.

When we reach the first viewpoint for the Olga's the temperature is already notching 40 degrees so any question of walking any distance is immediately dismissed. But the Olga's are beautiful anyway. Some would say more so than Uluru itself.

The Olgas

The Rock from a distance

After taking a couple of snaps we head right down to the rocks and walk about half a mile into the canyon. This is more than enough in this temperature and we don't reckon there's much more to see from here. The other walk is closed due to the temperature, not that we would attempt it today anyway.

The Olgas up-close

We head back to the campground for a bite to eat and avoiding the afternoon sun, then we go and sit at the sunset viewing area.

In the Aboriginal Dreamtime stories rocks and boulders feature prominently, almost like fossilised deities and spirits. It's no surprise then that Uluru is so revered, in itself it is as stunning as you think, add to this the flatness of its surrounds and the realisation that it is just one large rock (3.6km long and 2km wide) gives it a very surreal feel.


There is a lot of cloud so we don't have perfect conditions for witnessing the rocks magical colour changes, but it's still quite beautiful anyway. And once the sun has set the red sand and the iron in the rock starts to give off a weird glow.


Like the Grand Canyon it's hard to take in a place that you've seen so many times in so many photos, and harder to realise that you're actually sitting in front of it.

Light Graffiti at Uluru

At night we head back to the bar and Mal is playing away again, with a slightly more appreciative audience. We're tired and dehydrated so we head back to the van.

This is possibly the most uncomfortable night's sleep I have ever had, I had expected the temperature in the desert to drop quite rapidly at night, but it doesn't and at Midnight it's still notching 30 degrees, all that iron sand and rock has been soaking up the brutal sun all day and is now giving off heat like crazy.

At about 3am it cools down enough for me to get to sleep.