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Yulara, NT, Australia: | |||||||||||
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As we got closer to the national park I was a little surprised to find myself getting excited. Waiting for my first view of the rock it felt a little like Christmas when I was a kid. The first sight was a good seventy-five miles away, and sadly it just wasn't that impressive - an unhealthy blister of a rock on an otherwise perfectly featureless plane. However as the car got closer and it continued to grow for the next hour and a half so did my opinion of it.
At Yulara, the location of the Ayer's Rock Resort - the only accomodation anywhere near Uluru (Ayer's Rock), and still a good 30 miles away from the famous rock - got a camp site. Quickly set up camp, then headed for the rock.
The closer you get to Uluru the more impressive it is. Nearly twenty miles away it seems to dominate the sky. In some ways it is quite eerie - it's presence seems so comfortingly familiar, while at the same time its bulk bewilders your sense of proportion.
There was hardly anyone around. We stopped at the base of the climbing trail (closed due to the weather conditions) and took some photos. Then slowly drove around the rock stopping frequently. It's amazing how many colors the monochrome rock can appear to have. As we drove from the sunlit west side to the shadowy east side the color went from nearly neon orange to a dark ash gray.
Found a parking spot in the sunset viewing lot (this is where everyone is) and climbed on top of the car to watch the light show. As the sun started to set the colors got even brighter - the rock seemed to be glowing. As the sun slipped behind the horizon the fire quickly faded through an uncountable number of distinct colors before settling on black.
Drove back to the campground and then into the resort village for a decent dinner.