Monday 6th June.
We left ALICE SPRINGS at about 10.00, and headed south towards ERLDUNDA, about 207 km away, where we fuelled up and had lunch. From there we went west towards ULURU (Ayres Rock for the politically incorrect), another 244 km away. We had woken up to a grey over caste sky, the first time we had not had beautiful clear blue skies since leaving BRISBANE. Instead of burning off, it slowly got heavier, and as we travelled west towards ULURU, we could see what looked like rain clouds ahead of us.
Sure enough, just before we got to MT CONNOR, we had a few spits on the windscreen. We stopped for some photos at the Mt Connor Lookout.
The lookout is on a slight rise in the road, with a sand hill on the north side. To the south is Mt Connor, and by climbing the sand hill you can look down on a huge Salt Pan on the north side. It was quite amazing to climb the sand hill and suddenly find this huge Salt Pan in front of you.
We continued on towards ULURU, intending to stop for the night at CURTIN SPRINGS, a Road House with a free camping ground beside it, about 100km before ULURU. From there we planned an easy drive to ULURU the next day. When we got to CURTIN SPRINGS, we found about 30 other caravans and campers already there. Luckily the camping area was huge, and we had no problem finding a spot.
We had no sooner pulled up when we were joined by a friendly Emu who came over looking for something to eat. Cameron soon obliged with a couple of slices of bread.
As it got dark, it started to drizzle on and off, and during the night it set in permanently.
Tuesday 7th June
We woke up to a very wet morning and decided there was little point in moving on towards ULURU in the rain, where we could be paying up to $50 a night at the camp ground, while we waited for the weather to clear up. We decided to stay put and see what the weather would do. Who would have thought we would be getting rain in the middle of the Australian Desert at ULURU. What’s wrong with this bloody country?
We filled in the day with school work, cards and Monopoly, and watching a few camper trailers arrive and put their tents up in the rain. We were glad to be snug and dry in our van.
Wednesday 8th June
The weather looked a bit better this morning, so we decided to head for ULURU. The closer we got to ULURU, the worse the weather got, and by the time we got to the Resort town of YULARA it was continual rain, not heavy, but enough to make you bloody wet. Just to help you get an idea of the layout at ULURU, because of the number of visitors to the rock, and the fact that it was more than 400 km from ALICE SPRINGS, a special Tourist Resort, called YULARA, was established about 20 km before you actually get to ULURU. It is basically a small town, with a Post Office, Supermarket, Garage, and a couple of souvenir shops. There is also about three or four Resort Hotels with all their associated cafes and bars.
Close to the resort Township, is a Camping Ground and that was where we set ourselves up. We had no sooner set up camp and the rain eased off, so after lunch we took a drive down to have a look at the ‘famous rock’. On the way we spotted a small herd of wild camels wandering through the scrub about 500 meters from the road. We tried to get some photos of them but they didn’t turn out very good.
Because of the heavy overcast weather, we couldn’t see much, until we came around a corner and suddenly there was ULURU towering above the surrounding countryside, its head buried in the clouds.
We had all seen heaps of photos but nothing could prepare us for this. It was huge. We just had to stop the car and get the cameras clicking.
The road takes you right up to the face of the rock, and then goes right around it. We followed it, driving slowly, and stopping often to take photos. There were lots of small waterfalls tumbling down its sides, and we quickly realised that instead of being disappointed that it was so wet, we were probably lucky to see it in such unusual state.
Just after you start driving around the rock, you come to a parking area where tourists gather before starting the ‘rock climb’. We stopped and got out to take photos, and I had a moment’s quiet time, to reflect on the fact that Mum and Dad, and Uncle Jack and Aunty Mavis, had stood on this very spot about 25 years ago.
After completing a lap, we called in at the Information Centre. The staff told us we were extremely lucky to be able to see ‘the rock’ in the wet, and that only 1% of visitors were this lucky. Although the rock we were seeing was far different from all the photographs we had seen, we realised we probably were very lucky to see it under these unusual conditions.
We returned back to the resort and decided to buy a bottle of bubbly to celebrate our arrival at Uluru. We went to the bottle store of one of the resort hotels, but on finding their cheapest bubbly was going to cost us $36, decided to go back to the caravan and settled for brandy and bourbon instead.
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