Uluru and Kata Tjuta

We leave Cairns early in the morning and fly over to Ayres Rock. The trip is shrouded in clouds most of the time, but as we come down out of the clouds, I was the first one to yell " there it is!."  We had our first glimpse of Uluru or Ayres Rock. We expect to be greeted by horrible heat, but are pleasantly surprised that the breeze is comfortable.  We are able to check right in to our rooms, grab a bite to eat, and prepare for our sunset trip to see "the rock."  It is over cast and we hear thunder, but are hoping to dodge any rain.  We were not prepared, however, to be totally taken with the awe of the monumental rock.  Up close, there is so much character along with so many Aboriginal stories about this special place.  Lydia and I break out in hysterics as we all put our fly screens on with our hats.  The flies were bad, but not as bad as we had been warned. Our guide takes us on a walk around the base of  the rock and tells us some of the history. We listen to the thunder and wonder if we will escape the rain.  I end up walking back to the bus by myself as the winds howled and chased me along the trail.  I wondered for a minute if the spirits were telling us of their displeasure at our visit.  We were told as long as we respect the Aboriginal traditions that we are indeed welcome. Up close we can see where the wind and water have written on the rocks, leaving a trail of millions of years of existence. It does eventually rain and we are quite soggy. As the day comes to a close, we are becoming more and more skeptical about seeing a fabulous sunset on the rock.  We are treated to wine and cheese and snacks and get even a little wetter. Soon it is time to reload the bus, when all of a sudden, the sun comes out with the rain, and we are treated to a rainbow AND the rock.  Now we think our guide is a miracle worker.

The next day (Sunday) we head back to the rock for a sunrise with breakfast in the bush.  The rain has not given up and we are disappointed again not to see the sun and the rock. The day continues to be overcast and cool and windy as we tour the Kata Tjuta Mountains about 45 minutes away.  Kata Tjuta means "many heads" and we see many mounds in this group. These are not sandstone as is Uluru, but are made of up of a conglomerate, naturally cemented together. There are feral camels in the desert, but we fail to see any and all we saw was some camel scat. 

We are sorry to leave the desert and the many different trees and flowers and of course, the rocks. We thought we would see kangaroos in the wild, but our guide says not as there is way too much traffic in the National Park and they are way too smart to compete with the buses and tourists.