The Kirks

Well, after our mammoth drive through the Australian Outback (of course, it’s much much bigger than the bit we drove through) we finally came to Uluru. It’s probably the most recognisable natural feature on the planet and you’ve all seen hundreds of pictures of it. But, here’s another one just in case.



Yes, it’s as impressive as everybody says. The colours change magically both at sunset when we wandered out of our hotel to see it and in the morning at sunrise when we were bussed to a special viewing point by an extremely irritating guide (improbably called “Wren”). It’s a much bigger tourist experience than King’s Canyon and it shows. The Ayers Rock Resort is a fairly souless place inhabited by visitors who (like us) are jetting in to see the rock and then jetting out…oh and the all but invisible Aborigines. There was a lot of irritating new age piffle spouted by our irritating guide which detracted a little from the enjoyment. The geology of the place is very interesting .

It is, however, a special place and we’re all glad we went here. I’m particularly glad that I spent 600km in a Toyota Rav 4 to be here.

We’re off this afternoon to see The Olgas which look (on the horizon at least) to be at least as impressive as Ayers Rock. And then we fly to Cairns for some much needed rest and relaxation.