Uluru to Alice Springs

After a couple of hours sleep I think about getting up and going down to Uluru for sunrise. But when I open the curtains I witness the strange site of bucketfuls of rain pouring down.

This not only makes the decision void but cools the air enough for me to doze another couple of hours.

When we finally fully awake the rain has stopped and there is a nice cool feel like the desert is breathing again. We head down to Uluru for a closer look, but having had little sleep and with a decent drive ahead of us to Alice Springs, we opt not to walk around the rock. The option to walk up it is not available to us due to predicted high temperatures, but I'm fairly sure I wouldn't do it anyway. The real 'owners' of the place have stated many times that they would prefer people not to; not only is it a sacred site but the local aboriginals feel a very real and very deep responsibility for the rock and anyone who ventures upon it, and people being the idiots they are, it causes distress when something happens.



Everyone has their own view about this, but I'm quite happy to respect the people who've been here for thousands of years and besides, if you climb the rock all you get is a view of the surrounding desert, whereas if you stand at the bottom you get to see the rock, which is what we came to see.

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.

Coober Pedy to Uluru

A long drive from Coober Pedy sees us arrive at Uluru campground just around sunset, so there's no point in going out to the rock tonight. Instead we jump on the bikes and try to find a cool beer and some food. Luckily enough the resort has an Outback Bar and BBQ.

As we chain up the bikes and walk up to the bar I hear the lilting country-jazz stylings of Chet Atkins in the air, which though it pleases me seems a bit odd in a tourist place. It turns out that the music is live and guitarist Mal Clarke is working his way through a repretoire of finger pickin classics, including Yankee Doodle Dixie, one of Chet's seminal lessons in fingerstyle guitar.

Whilst I am suitably impressed, the audience however are completely non-plussed and we both feel a bit sorry for the guy.

After a small break he fires into the Aussie classics in an attempt to get a bit of an atmosphere going. Even the bush reggae version of Waltzin' Matilda has little effect, and when he tries to get some audience participation going there's only me and Mandy and maybe 2 other people who give it a go. Mal's face gets grim. After calling everyone a 'bunch of drongos' he takes another break. Then he comes back with some dad-rock classics and finishes to my utter shock with a rendition of Joe Satriani's 'Surfing with the Alien'.
Nice work fella.

Despite Mandy's protestations I don't have the nouse to go and congratulate him on his work, so Mandy does it on my behalf and surprises the man by throwing in the names of Chet and Joe, so his night is slightly improved by this flattery. Much better coming from her than from me I reckon (?).

After a chicken tikka burger with an unfeasibly small piece of chicken in it, and a couple of cold ones we head back to the van.

Spaceport Coober Pedy to Uluru

We take an hour to zip round the remaining main sites of Coober Pedy before heading on a long day's drive to Uluru.

The Big Winch

Umona Miner

Spacehsip left when filming 'Pitch Black'

Coober Pedy is a fascinating place and the people are friendly but slightly evasive. Not that we've spoken to many people, but you get the feeling that people who come here are here for a reason other than mining. There's solitude and there's solitude after all. Still, I would recommend that anyone spend at least a day here and try to understand a compelling town sitting in one of the most inhospitable parts of the planet.

It's easy to see why they filmed Mad Max, Pitch Black and Red Planet here.

And I can thoroughly recommend sleeping underground, you'll have the best sleep of your life. But make sure you set your alarm clock as relying on the sun peeking through your curtains to wake you up is not advisable.