Uluru

Uluru looks like a movie background, like it's not actually real. We arrived in the outback by plane into the Ayers Rock Airport, seeing Uluru and Kata Tjuta from the plane. Australia does not disappoint in impressing airplane approaches!

We're staying at the Ayers Rock Resort, which had a series of accommodations from camping to high class. We're in the middle.  All of the reports share a common town center with great restaurants and shops. We're loving Ayers Wok, a noodle bar.

Our first adventure here was Mani Mani Theater, an aboriginal production about some of the laws and stories of the local people. Then at night we visited the Fields of Light, an art exhibit of thousands of fiber optic lights looking like a fields of glowing flowers. You could walk through as they changed color. It was pretty impressive.

Today was all about the rock. We rented a car, which was cheaper than three people taking the shuttle bus to the rock (seriously, the racket they have on that here!) and then headed into the park. It's $25 a person, not bad. We were able to do a guided walk along the base this morning with a native guide, explaining the men's and women's sections of the region. I can't really explain how big this rock is. It's a mountain. It's a plateau. It's an island in the outback sea. It's bright orange-red against blue sky and green leaves.  It's taller than the Eiffel Tower.

The aboriginal people ask repeatedly that you not climb, so we didn't. Seemed respectful. The government won't ban it, though, so some people were going up.  Just made me sad after all the signs asking "please don't climb".

After our walk we drove around the Rock stopping to take photos from different angles.  We stopped at one of the big lookouts, which was deserted.  For lunch we'd headed over to Kata Tjuta, the other rock cluster nearby.  We had gotten a pretty strong lecture that this was man's territory at the Mani Mani theater, so we just looked from afar.  We ate our pb&j picnic from the overlook.  It was pretty, more wild seeming than Uluru, and signs explained the desert landscape. This red sand is fascinating. It's really sand, not dirty, and footprints last for a long time in it.

We stopped at the cultural center next to see more art, and at one last view point. Then we visited some camels at the camel farm and returned the car late afternoon.  J and I did a little hiking while R chilled at the hotel, and then we meet up for sunset viewed from a hill in the center of the resort.  Now we're waiting for our astronomy tour to begin. There were so many stars last night but the clouds are looking pretty bad tonight so I don't know how this is going to go.