Not entirely sure what to call this place. The airport we flew into was called Ayer's Rock, which is the name that the rock was known as. However the resort town where we stayed is called Yulara. Uluru is the Aboriginal name for the rock, and its seems that this name is being encouraged.
We only stayed here for a short time. We arrived late on the Saturday and left early enough on the Monday. The scenery here (like that in much of Australia) is spectacular, but that is all the area has going for it. For a desert it was surprisingly green, but with the lovely bright red soil that makes it "Australia's Red Centre". However were plagued by insects, mainly flies the whole time we were there, and no amount or variations of insect repellent seemed to repel them. We also found the resort to be inhibitively expensive. For example, the resort was roughly 20km from the national park where the rock is. The bus was $50 return, plus a park entry fee of $75. Dinner, in the cheapest restaurant, was over $20 for a main course, and this was only a cafe. We signed up for the Sounds of Silence dinner, which was quite good. Again, unfortunately we were plagued by insects, but the food was good, and there was plenty of wine to be had. We were also unfortunate that we got a cloudy night - it's the stars that really add to this dinner. It had been a clear night the night before, and the stars really were spectacular.
We got up before dawn to see the sunrise (Yep, the rock is that big that you can see it very clearly from 20km away!), and we saw it at sunset the two nights that we were there. It was worth it to get up early because it really was amazing.
 |
| As you can see there is plenty of vegetation around, making the landscape quite green. |
 |
| Viewed pre-dawn, from 20km. |
 |
| Sunrise |
 |
| Sunset over the Olgas, a nearby rock formation. |
 |
| Poor Quality picture, but it's a grasshopper in someone's wine. |
No comments:
Post a Comment