It is quite a drive to Uluru, heading west from the Stuart Hwy along the Red Centre Way. The boys were keen to keep an eye out for the big well known rock, and Daniel was the first to claim in excitement that he had spotted it. So much so that he was repeatedly singing ‘I was the first to see it’ whilst bouncing up and down on his seat in glee! Unfortunately for him, this is what he was looking at….
Mt Conner…!! From a distance.
It isn’t till another 100km’s or so that Uluru is visible…!
Uluru, from a distance, in the middle of the day.
That evening (Wed 23/7), after catching up with Nikki, we all drove in closer for our first encounter with Uluru – at sunset. Below is some of what we captured that evening.
Btw, I’ll add that all these images (including The Olgas, Kings Canyon etc) are straight off the camera. I have not done any editing (aside from resizing) to improve the colours/saturation/brightness to make the rocks etc look any better than they did at the time.
Uluru at Sunset!
a little earlier on…
An early start Fri (25/7), as we were up to capture sunrise on the south eastern side of the rock (bit of a drive from the campground). Arrived there well in truly in time, and it was well and truly cold!!
well before sunrise!
Sunrise!
The Olgas in the distance
Later on we took the opportunity to climb it, though after having a look at the start Jonathan chose to stay at the base (he is very cautious about heights). It is a steep climb in places, and took longer than I had expected (there is quite a long hike across the top) but the views are awesome. It is not just the steepness that makes it difficult, but more the traction (or lack of it) and hence risk of slipping. It’d be much easier if they cut stairs into it all the way up!! Not likely…. lol.
The base of the climb!
made it!
on the way down…
Thursday (31/7) we took the opportunity to do the base walk before heading off towards Alice Springs and saying goodbye to the area. However, we did it a little differently – on bikes! We’ve got two with us, and had to hire another two. At $30 / 3hrs he’s got a reasonable business going, but it was worthwhile. The track around the base extends a long way from the rock itself around the northern end. In the middle of the day it was quite hot, so it was pleasing to cruise past people wearily walking through the desert in this somewhat boring section!! However, other sections of the track were great – there are some quite lush nice areas in close, in the gorges in particular. Well worth either the 10/14km walk/ride.
artwork
Mutitjulu waterhole
Kantju Gorge
Wow, that must be the longest post so far, and by a long way! Hope you all weren’t bored by the end!! Sorry, but my Mum very nicely asked for more pics of us…. It does cover several days at an iconic location!
Great destination/landmark which we enjoyed and was worth seeing. Uluru itself is not a place I’d go back to frequently for annual holidays or anything, but well worth doing once or twice in your life!
Hi guys, so loving your posts and pics…
This place looks amazing, you all look like you are having a fantastic time. This would be a place we would also like to visit in the near future – hopefully. Question, what camera did you end up getting? It takes great photo’s
Jen
Thanks Jen. Coming out on a trip to visit us are you? haha. It’ll be another month or so before we make WA, so you’ve time to catch us….
Camera is a Panasonic DMC-TZ40. It is just a high zoom compact camera, but decent quality.
We spent some time thinking about what to do for a camera. Was torn between a higher end camera with large sensor, and something small and compact that is more likely to be carried everywhere (and more easily). Nicole also wanted high zoom. In the end we thought probably two cameras – a small decent high zoom compact, as well as a larger sensor interchangeable lense camera like the Sony NEX, or Olympus OMD series.
Started by buying this Panasonic to see how it goes. Cheap on ebay from Hong Kong ($260). Can get good photos from it, but i feel as though I have to ‘manage’ it lots. I don’t use auto – it’s on aperture priority most of the time. I’m often adjusting the exposure – I’ve got it set at -1/3 exposure compensation almost permanently, and sometimes do exposure bracketing to ensure a good shot! White balance/colours seem good, and it is quite fast to start up and focus.
I struggle with it in high contrast situations, but that may be the fault of the conditions/lighting etc at various times – may happen with all cameras! Not sure.
I take a lot of photos and only show the better ones! In any case, the composition, lighting etc is more important than the camera. You already know this though – you’ve got some great shots blown up from you’re iphone!
So I’m still actually tossing up whether to buy a larger mirrorless interchangeable camera as well!!
Love reading your blogs.enjoy seeing photos of the family as well as the iconic places your visiting.
Bought back happy memories of our own holiday to the centre,thank you for sharing your adventures.
Love reading your updates and the photos. Sounds like you are making some really great life time memories with the trip so far. We went to Uluru as one of our honeymoon destinations and we loved the scenery and especially the sunrises and sunsets, very beautiful 🙂