The Rock
Before leaving our rustic little campground this morning, we did a quick 3km hike called the Dolomite Walk. It’s a very small section of the Larapinta Trail that’s over 220km long. On the drive out of the MacDonnell Ranges we stopped in at Standley Chasm for a quick walk and short hike to a lookout. We passed through Alice Springs for a quick fuel up before heading into the desert in search of the iconic Ayer’s Rock (aka Uluru).
After driving for a couple hundred kilometres, we were expecting this giant rock to appear out of nowhere, and that’s exactly what happened – except it wasn’t Uluru. It was Mount Conner which most people mistaken for Ayers Rock, and even though we knew about it, we had triggered a false alarm of excitement. After driving another hundred kilometers, bringing our total driving time since Cairns to 28+ hours, we caught our first glimpse of Ayer’s Rock in the distance. People have told us to expect to drive and drive and drive and see nothing, and then all of a sudden it would appear – and it was really rewarding when it did. The road kept winding, so the rock kept on disappearing and every time it reappeared it was so much bigger and brighter and you could start to make out the detail in its formation. We’ve seen the rock in many pictures before and have heard others describe it, but once we saw it for ourselves, it was hard to believe it was actually in front of us because it is literally a giant rock that stands before you. We went to the sunset lookout and set up some chairs and made dinner.
As the shadows grew longer, we watched the rock change colors from a bright orange to a dull red and took about as many photos as kilometers we drove to get here. Tonight we are camping at Yulara Resort Campsite and are planning to get up early tomorrow for the sunrise and base walk around Uluru.
Before leaving our rustic little campground this morning, we did a quick 3km hike called the Dolomite Walk. It’s a very small section of the Larapinta Trail that’s over 220km long. On the drive out of the MacDonnell Ranges we stopped in at Standley Chasm for a quick walk and short hike to a lookout. We passed through Alice Springs for a quick fuel up before heading into the desert in search of the iconic Ayer’s Rock (aka Uluru).
After driving for a couple hundred kilometres, we were expecting this giant rock to appear out of nowhere, and that’s exactly what happened – except it wasn’t Uluru. It was Mount Conner which most people mistaken for Ayers Rock, and even though we knew about it, we had triggered a false alarm of excitement. After driving another hundred kilometers, bringing our total driving time since Cairns to 28+ hours, we caught our first glimpse of Ayer’s Rock in the distance. People have told us to expect to drive and drive and drive and see nothing, and then all of a sudden it would appear – and it was really rewarding when it did. The road kept winding, so the rock kept on disappearing and every time it reappeared it was so much bigger and brighter and you could start to make out the detail in its formation. We’ve seen the rock in many pictures before and have heard others describe it, but once we saw it for ourselves, it was hard to believe it was actually in front of us because it is literally a giant rock that stands before you. We went to the sunset lookout and set up some chairs and made dinner. 
As the shadows grew longer, we watched the rock change colors from a bright orange to a dull red and took about as many photos as kilometers we drove to get here. Tonight we are camping at Yulara Resort Campsite and are planning to get up early tomorrow for the sunrise and base walk around Uluru.
No comments:
New comments are not allowed.