Visit The Giant Pebble In The Middle Of Australia And Buy A T-Shirt To Say That You Didn’t Climb To The Top

Have you ever been to Ayres Rock? If so we would love to hear all about your experiences (perhaps with a photo or two). You can contact us via our contact page.

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Ayers Rock, or Uluru as it is now called once more, is a truly awesome sight, steeped in a mysticism and a spirituality all of its own.

For the local Anungu people, it is a sacred place, with each feature of Uluru having a meaning in Tjukurpa or "Dreamtime", the traditional aboriginal story of how the world was created.

Apart from its imposing size, the rock itself changes colour with every passing day, depending on the time of day and the prevailing atmosphere conditions, as well as your distance from it. Sunrise and sunset are perhaps the most magical as the iron minerals in the surface rocks interact with the environment to give Uluru’s sandstone various hues of red, purple, orange, grey and yellow.

Little wonder that it is the most visited site in the whole of Australia.

Although it is possible to climb to the top of Ayers Rock, it’s against the Anangu spiritual beliefs to do so. Out of respect, they ask that visitors do not climb it and it seems that every year, despite increasing visitor numbers, more and more people respect their wishes. In fact one of the biggest selling souvenirs now is a “I Didn’t Climb Ayers Rock” t-shirt.

Entry to the Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park costs AUS$25 for adults, with free entry to children under 16 years of age, and your ticket is valid for three days. A lot of sightseeing trips to Ayers Rock are out of necessity brief, but it is a vast place with much to explore and if you are going to travel all that way you owe it to yourself to spend at least two or three days here in the Australian Outback.

If you do have the time, make sure you dine at Sounds of Silence, a unique experience where you will spend the evening eating beautifully prepared food under the Outback sky. And what a sky! Stars, stars and more stars.

Alice Springs is the nearest city and there are numerous tours that operate from there to Ayers Rock, but it’s a four and a half hour drive. Qantas fly from Alice Springs to Connelan Airport which is just a short drive from Ayers Rock itself.

The nearest accomodation to Uluru can be found at the Ayers Rock Resort complex at the Yulara tourist village, ten miles from the monolith itself. The resort has a range of accommodation to suit all tastes and budgets, from the five star Sails In The Desert Hotel to camping sites.

Here you can also arrange tours and excursions which allow you to explore the area on foot, by car, on the back of a camel, by helicopter and even on a Harley Davidson.

For more about Ayers Rock and Australia in general, visit Tourism Australia.


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