Ayers Rock and the Olgas

To Australians Ayer's Rock is the epicenter of the country and the premier tourist destination. To the Aboriginals, who have lived at its base for 10,000 years, it is Uluru. According to a legend of the Anangu tribe, two small boys made a gigantic mud pie - and that is exactly what Uluru looks like. A mud pie made of red rippling and pitted sandstone that stretches 3.6 km long and soars 348 m high above the flat desert plain.

See our May 25th updates for more detailed observations about our Ayers Rock experience.

30 km west of The Rock are The Olgas, a collection of rounded red rocks that are even taller than Uluru. The Anangu people call them Kata Tjuta or Many Heads.


Ayers Rock changes color with the setting
and rising sun.


The challenge is how to find a new perspective…


Add a bush or two maybe….


Clouds also change Uluru's color


It's a pretty steep climb, which both young and old attempt


This is how far Ellen got, just far enough to take some photographs of
ascending and descending climbers


For some reason people seem compelled to climb The Rock - one tough climb. The less confident can cling to a chain fence part of the way


Measuring how one has to go has its perils…


While most speak of the descent as 'shocking' it didn't seem to particularly both this bloak


He is going downhill backwwards, c-a-r-e-f-u-l-l-y


It's steeper than it looks, and my angle here doesn't do it justice. Besides, I was trembling a bit, just watching all of this!


Coming down on your duff works…


This is what it looks like when you get to the end of the chain safety fence…the rest of the way down The Rock to the parking lot is probably the hardest part


Some don't make it. Uluru has numerous such memorial plaques around its base


The Landy at Uluru

the Olgas


The Olgas are a rounded version of The Rock and even taller.





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