Never have I had a more disappointing set of photos than from our long weekend trip to the centre of Australia to see Uluru (aka Ayers Rock). The trip was outstanding, but the images never quite came together for me. I had some modest successes, but not nearly as many as I should have. This was about four years ago and apparently I wasn’t working my camera concentration as hard as I should have been.

But, there’s more to a successful trip than just photos. Home base when visiting Uluru is the little town of Yulara. It’s a resort town with a range of accommodation to meet a range of budgets, but one look at the prices might make you think you need to have a pretty big budget.

Uluru is the chief attraction, but a trip to the Red Centre has to include hiking at Kata Tjuta (aka The Olgas). If you’re feeling adventurous you might even take a full-day four-wheel drive tour out to  Mt Connor. Mt Connor is a similar rock formation to Uluru, but it’s bigger and sits on privately held land. A couple of tour companies have arrangements with the owners to take groups to see a salt lake (very cool) and to drive to the top of Mt Connor.

Lots of tourists fly in and out the same day and miss so much that it seems not worth the trouble to me. We stayed three and a half days and could have stayed longer. I personally can’t wait to go again.

One of my goals while in Uluru – Kata Tjuta National Park in the Northern Territory was to see and photograph a Thorny Devil. This little lizard is very hard to find – not just because they’re tiny (they only grow to 20cm), but also because of their colouring. They blend in beautifully with the soil of the Red Centre.

Leaving the family back at the resort, I set off to Kata Tjuta to do some hiking in the Valley of the Winds. On my way, I was speeding down the highway when I shot over what I thought was a piece of wood in the road. As this little piece of wood is receding in my rear view mirror, I thought the curve of the wood looked an awful lot like a Thorny Devil.

I almost dismissed it thinking I was just fooling myself hoping for a sighting. Surely it was just the piece of wood I originally suspected. But, I was alone in the car, the highway was completely empty of other cars and I wasn’t on a schedule so I stopped, turned around and headed back with my fingers crossed.

Obviously, it wasn’t a piece of wood.

I snapped on my telephoto lens, not wanting to scare him off before I got a photo, and proceeded to crawl around on the bitumen snapping shots from various angles. It never moved a muscle. I’m thinking one of its defensive tactics is to be really, really still and hope it’s not noticed. I considered picking him up and taking him off the road, but at the time, I didn’t know if any of those thorns were dangerous and who knows what effect my touching him could have. So, I just thanked him for crossing my path and patiently posing for photos and then went on my way.

I’m not sure there’s a more iconic image of Australia than Uluru, perhaps only rivalled by the Sydney Opera House. Uluru sits in remote, central Australia in the southwest of the Northern Territory. It’s 2,800 km from Sydney, 2,300 km from Melbourne, 2,060 km from Perth, 1,550 km from Adelaide,  and 3,200 km from Brisbane. It sits 460km from the nearest town – Alice Springs. Because of this remoteness, the preferred travel method is flight. Some fly into Alice Springs and then drive the rest of the way, others fly right into the resort town of Yulara that serves up accommodation and food for visitors to the National Park.

Accommodation in Yulara is, unsurprisingly, expensive. For a family, a room (with a bathroom) will run you from about $250 to $480 in the low season. There are multi-night specials, but your wallet is still going to take a pretty big hit. Many tourists fly in and out on the same day partly because they’re on a whirlwind tour, but surely also to avoid the costs for a decent room. There are plenty of rooms, enough for 5,000 people per night. You should definitely take advantage of the accommodation and stay at least one night.

As it first comes into view, Uluru presents a striking image, rising about 350m from the relatively flat, featureless surrounding desert. Our youngest called it “The Big Rock!” and it was an apt description.  You first see it from a distance of about 10km, so you don’t appreciate its size or its texture. As you get closer to the rock, you realize that it’s not nearly as smooth or uniform as it appeared and that it doesn’t rise gradually from the ground. It looks like it was just dropped there. The ground is flat right up to the edge of the rock.

As you approach Uluru, it takes over your entire field of vision. Up close, there’s nothing but you and the rock. It’s a sacred site for the Aboriginal owners of the land (the Anangu) so if you do go, don’t climb the rock, despite all the tour companies offering climbs.

If you want to see it from a little further back, I’ve posted a few more shots in my Flickr photostream.