I’m really happy we saved Uluru – Kata Tjuta National Park until the end of the trip. Initially we were going to come in here first then loop the other way through the West MacDonnell Ranges. It really is such an amazing place. I’ve lost track of how many times I’ve been here … maybe 4 or 5? Nick and Gill have never been here, so it’s wonderful introducing them to a place that I think all Australians should visit at some point in their life 🙂

We’re riding bikes around the rock this morning – we did this on our last visit when Matthew was 7, so it’s a great time to return. Alyssa is 7 now, so it’s nice seeing things through her eyes. We collect the hire bikes and off we go! The base walk is 9kms, but the ride is 15kms as you need to collect the bikes from close to the Cultural Centre. Annoyingly only 3kms in Nick gets a flat and hightails it back to get a replacement bike. We wait for him at Mutitjulu Waterhole and then head off again!

There are so many different faces to Uluru – from the touristy images we’ve all grown up seeing I think people get a different idea of what it will look like up close. It is an absolutely amazing geological formation, and way bigger in person, rising 348 metres above the surrounding plain 🙂 They say that most of the mass is actually buried below the surface – Uluru as we see it today has been created by millions of years of erosion of the softer surrounding rock. As you ride around the base the colours change dramatically.

The big difference that’s happened since we were last here is that they have closed the climb. For a long time there was a section where you were allowed to climb the rock – we did it way back in the 90’s, and it is a very tough walk. For many years the local Anangu people have been requesting people not climb it for cultural reasons, and in October 2019 they closed it permanently. I’d be curious to know if that has affected visitor numbers to the park (although by the time you factor in COVID it’s probably been a quiet few years).

I was surprised there wasn’t information at the old climb site explaining why it had been closed. I was also disappointed to see that the Cultural Centre was undergoing renovations during the school holidays, with the cafe closed and just generally a bit sad and empty. I remembered this being an interesting park of the experience.

But I digress … we had a fabulous ride around Uluru, and ended the day with drinks and nibbles at the sunset viewing area in the evening. All in all a fabulous day.