This morning I got my first look at Uluru from Yulara. Yulara is a town 25KM from Uluru. We arrived here late yesterday after the 4 and a half hour drive from Alice. We are 444KM West of Alice. At Erldunda there is a roadhouse, this is the turnoff, from the Stuart HYW which is about halfway here. There was hardly any traffic on the road. The landscape on the drive here is red and dry with surprising flashes of green trees and even grass along the way. At 140KM to go we got excited and thought we had our first sighting of Uluru but it’s a trick, it was Mt Connor.

We are staying at Ayers Rock Resort, in Yulara. They have 4 styles of hotels so you pretty much pick one based on budget we are in the Outback Pioneer Hotel & Lodge there is a restaurant, bar and pool. The lodge part is a bit more backpacking style with communal kitchen. Our room is basic and ok. We had dinner in the restaurant it was filled with a big bus tour groups and tables of French and German people and a few Australians too!

We headed out to Uluru this morning to have a look see. Once we got closer the excitement started to build and on our first close view I felt a wave of emotion. Hard to describe but I welled up with tears that’s for sure! We have all seen Uluru in photos and movies. Until your up close you can not imagine its enormity.

We have all driven past, through over and under mountains. But this is totally different. It is massive and it is in the middle of nothing. It is beautiful and red and it has a surface of something very old and very weathered.

You have to purchase a pass it’s $25.00 for three days. We drive in closer and closer stopping to take photos. We see the ‘scar’ which is a line going up to the top where people used to walk. The walk was stopped in October 2019 at the wishes of the Anangu people.

We head straight to the Cultural Centre. Here we learn we are on Anangu land. We learn their creation story of Uluru, and about the process the Anangu people went through that took 20 years for them to have to rites to the land handed back in 1985, we see historical footage of the ceremony and hear from the elders of the day. We also see the art of the Mutitjulu community at Walkatjara, there are artists there working in the now well known dot painting style. However there is also traditional spears and Piti – wooden bowls. This work is beautiful. No cameras are allowed. There is an area where you can learn about geological information (it’s very old) the flora and fauna. There is also a section that I found moving where there are stories of people who over time have removed objects from Uluru. Rocks, sand even shells and are now being posted back with letters of apologies. The people at Uluru have a process they go through recording the return and repatriating the item.

There is an artist studio with more works to view and 8 aboriginal women working on paintings. Next is a traditional gift shop with all manner of stuff. I get a patch for my backpack and a truck for my nephew. (He is just a wee baby but one day I can tell him about my time at Uluru). There is a cafe and we have some lunch here.

We drive around to Kuniya here there is a short walk into a water hole, there is water and a mass of tadpoles. There has been no water here for over 12months the tadpoles have just been sleeping in the sand waiting for their moment in the sun (or water).

It’s about 4PM and 40Deg, we drive all the way round one way and then all the way back around to see all the sights. There are areas where you can stop and not many people around. There’s a film crew at one stop making a doco for grey nomads. There’s small tour groups with traditional owners telling them Dreamtime stories.

What an experience!

Distance Traveled 491KM

Distance Walked 7.5kM