We've just had four very enjoyable days, staying in the Campground at Yulara, 250 kms from the Western Australian border. We have been pretty much in the centre of Australia. In actual fact, Yulara is halfway between the centre of Australia (which is said to be Erldunda) and the WA border, on the Lasseter Highway. It has been our first visit to 'Ayers Rock' and the Northern Territory.  Our first visit to the world's greatest monolith that rises majestically, 348 metres above a wide sandy floodplain.  Did we ever imagine there would be so many people here? NO! Did we ever imagine that we would see so many tourist buses parked in the designated areas to view 'The Rock' during sunrise and sunset? Did we know it would cost us $25.00 each for a 3 day pass, to be able to travel in the 'Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park'?  Did we know that we would have to go through a check point each time and show our card? Did we know there would be areas marked on the roads saying "No stopping for the next 15 kms or whatever"? These areas were where the view to Ayers Rock or the Olgas was pretty nice. All answers were "NO". And there were other things we became more knowledgeable on, over the four days!  Such as!  As much as the Aboriginals don't want you to climb 'Uluru' and have a large sign in a number of languages discouraging you, there are still hundreds of people clambering up and down it each day. Someone told us you can't climb it until 10.00am, but there were plenty going up when we were there at 9am and plenty still coming down at sunset! All 'Very Thought Provoking'!The town of Yulara was proclaimed a new town in 1976 following a Commonwealth Government decision in 1973, that there would be no more camping at the actual 'Rock'. The name was derived from aboriginal words for 'howling and dingo'.  Today the town has a permanent population of approximately 900.  The first stage of the resort was completed between 1982 & 1984.  When the new resort became fully operational the Commonwealth Government terminated the leases of the old motels at Ayers Rock and the area was rehabilitated.   Around the same time, the national park was renamed to 'Uluru Kata Tjuta' and its ownership transferred to the local Indigenous people, who leased it back to 'Parks Australia' for 99 years.  It is internationally recognised as a 'World  Heritage Area'.  It is one of the few properties in the world to be dual listed.  It was first listed in 1987 and again in 1994.We thought the new settlement has been very well done. It has been established in the hollows of the sand dunes, with as little as possible of the natural bush being removed. There were mesh walkways to a lookout area at the campground and the Thryptomene (Heather) bushes along the walkway, were just starting to flower. The resort has all levels of accommodation, geared for all budgets.  The management and ownership of the resort has had quite a history though.Initially there were three competing hotels and this added significantly to the lack of viability.   By 1992 it was replaced by a government owned single operator.   In 1997 the entire resort was sold by open tender and in 2011 it was sold again.  This time to the 'Indigenous Land Corporation' for the price of $300 million.   The website we found with this info says "That the aim of the ALC is that by 2018, more than 50% of the employees will be Indigenous".  They are establishing a 'National Indigenous Tourism Training Academy' at Yulara.  More 'Thought Provoking' stuff!  We fitted lots into the four days, as you do! We stopped for morning tea on the drive into Yulara, at a rest area named 'Kernot Range'. We thought it was very nice and would be a great overnight stay. There were a lot of very attractive trees throughout a large rest area. Peter thought the tree was an oak.   We found out later they were 'Desert Oaks' and they are literally all over the desert in this part of Australia. Just after we got going again, we caught glimpses of a rock in the distance. We were 130 kms from Ayers Rock and didn't really think it could be 'The Rock'.  But it sure looked like it!   It turned out to be 'Mount Conner', but I have to confess I took a few snaps!   We even pulled into a rest area with the thought of climbing a rise to get a better photo of our first sightings of 'The Rock'! There was a fence to get through and Peter put the breeze up me, when he said "We were in King Brown Snake country"! Mount Conner is pretty impressive and you can take a scenic flight to it and land on top. When we took a flight to Kings Creek Station and Kings Canyon, the pilots made us aware that Mount Conner, Uluru and Kata Tjuta, all line up together in a straight line.  Amazing to see the three in perfect alignment!  And from our helicopter flight over Kings Canyon the markings on the range, were in lines as well.The rock formation of 'Kata Tjuta' (The Olgas) are really nice and we did both of the walks out there on our second afternoon.   There are somewhere between 26 and 30 rock formations that make up 'The Olgas" or the now Indigenous name of 'Kuta Tjuta'.  And.....we found one of the photos that are on the side of our caravan. It is of the entrance to the 'Walpa Gorge' walk. And to think that we nearly decided that Peter's leg had done enough walking for one day and were going to give that one a miss! Our trip out to 'Kata Tjuta' filled in the afternoon and there was just enough time to drive to the Cultural Centre at 'Uluru' and get ourselves a photo of a friendly or not so friendly dingo.   'He' or 'She' posed for a photo shoot at the roundabout.  Back at the sunset viewing area we set up our chairs and the tripod for our first sunset viewing of Uluru. Friday afternoon 20th June 2014 'Happy Hour' was at Ayers Rock for the sunset. Yep! We are 'Livin the Dream' Val! Saturday was a full on day! We decided we didn't want to travel the 245 kms to see 'Kings Canyon' so we organised a five hour flight with Ayers Rock Scenic Flights.  They picked us up from the Campground at 9.00am. This flight I sat further back in the plane. We were the only two passengers and it was a plane like Wendy Mann uses for flights to the Islands. The wings don't interfere with viewing. This flight we had two pilots! Two passengers and two pilots!  It was definitely an interesting flight in more ways than one! It took us a while to work out which one was supposed to be flying the plane! The pilot that picked us up told us that there was a new pilot that was coming with us to practice the commentary and yet that pilot was the one telling the other one, how to fly the plane! I did say it was an interesting flight! It turned out that the pilot that flew the plane had only been in Ayers Rock for 6 weeks and during this time the plane we were in, had been in Melbourne getting a new engine fitted. The other pilot, who needed to practise giving the commentary, had flown the plane from Melbourne to Ayers Rock only days before. So between them they told us what they knew about the place. Which really wasn't that much!  The rest of the time the co-pilot played with computer screens and worked out how many passengers they could carry and what their average weight was likely to be, and whether this aircraft had enough fuel left in it for the flight later in the day!  Glad we were finishing our flight!  Not really they were fine!   One is not normally privy to any of that talk!We landed at Kings Creek Station and had a late morning tea.  Then a young pilot named Justin took us on our half hour helicopter flight over 'Kings Canyon'. Justin started in the job in February and will probably stay 12 months. He told us "That's what most do". They get their flying hours up to 500 which enables them to apply for positions in less remote areas. We were glad we hadn't driven all those kms to see Kings Canyon. Glad we have seen it, but it wasn't as spectacular as seeing Uluru, Kata Tjuta and Lake Amadeus from the air. Maybe it is more specky from the ground. Our commentary pilot on the plane told us "Lake Amadeus is 180 kms long and there are 600 million tonnes of salt that could be mined if it was viable". Lake Amadeus seldom has water in it and unlike Lake Eyre there are no creeks running into it. When it does rain the thirsty desert soon absorbs the water.   I need to record that we could have had a 'Camel or a Kangaroo Burger' for lunch at Kings Creek Station, but neither of us was game! On Saturday evening we went to the 'Sounds of Silence' Dinner under the stars. What a fantastic experience that was. I guess at $195.00 each, one could say "It needed to be"! Bit more 'Livin the Dream'. As we walked out of the campground, dressed in something better than our jeans, we did turn a few heads and get a comment or two! Once we had picked up the rest of the passengers from the two flash resorts, we slowly made our way out through the industrial area and onto a dirt road. We were going quite slow and Peter's comment was "We might be going for a 'Unique Experience' but it doesn't mean you 'U need to nique up on Em"!   We were greeted by our hostess Brittany, who later did the welcome to country. After walking up the pathway, with flowering wattles and heather either side, to the top of the paved sand dune, we were handed a glass of champagne. There was 'Uluru' before us and on the otherside of the area, a white fella playing the didgeridoo with 'Kata Tjuta' as his backdrop. Canapés were served after the 'Welcome to Country' and after the sun had set and numerous photos had been taken, we were invited to make our way down from the top of the sand dune to our dining area. What a sight!  Mind you I couldn't resist taking a photo of the 'roly poly' alongside the path on the way down!  Tables were beautifully set for ten, out in the desert. There was a huge bay-marie and waiters ready to look after our needs for the evening.  We had a really friendly group on our table. The two couples on either side of us were both Sydney siders.  Both younger than us and both asked lots of questions about farming in W.A. The other couple were also from Sydney and both were Dr's. The other two were sisters from the USA. One was on a holiday for six weeks, visiting the sister who also lived in Sydney. Between soup and main course we had a demo of aboriginal dance. The food was advertised as 'Bushtucker'. I did try some Kangaroo. It was very tender and tasty, but Pete wasn't as game! Before dessert the table lanterns were removed and we had our 15 or so minutes of 'Sounds of Silence'. The guy who told us about the stars in our southern night sky was very good and added some humour to his show. Peter couldn't see the 'Emu' though! That's how the aborigines know that the Emus are laying their eggs!  You can only make out the shape of an Emu within the stars, at that time of the year.   The buses came to pick us up about 9.30pm and we were back in the caravan by 10. Six of us were first on the bus and last off! You get what you pay for! Mind you the Sydney siders were very envious of us 'Travelling Oz' in the caravan.  They hope, that for them, it will also happen 'One Day'!  Sunday morning we were up early for the sunrise. Have to say it was nothing like the sunset. But we did it! Got up early and rugged up.  Just like the 800 or so others, that went out there. The rock didn't change colour much at all and that is because of the winter equinox. A lot of Uluru was still covered by shadow, even after the sun was quite high in the sky. But we did it! We drove around the rock after and did the Kuniya walk.  This goes into the Mutitjulu Waterhole. A watering hole that has a colourful aboriginal story to go with it. Also spent some time looking over the Cultural Centre.  I would have liked to walk around the base of Uluru.  That would have been my personal challenge, but it would take over three hours to walk the 10.6 km loop.  I wouldn't expect Peter to sit around and wait.  For Peter, he made the following comment.  "Three years ago I would have been up that rock, climbing it!  But not now"!  For me, these words from an 'Explore Australia' book sum up 'Uluru', Northern Territory's greatest tourist attraction.  It is not hard to understand that this is a sacred place of ancient times.  The rock has a quality which cannot be dimmed by the click of cameras or the sight of tourists making their way to its summit along the spine at the western end.  As the sun shines on it during the day, it changes colour from shades of fiery red, delicate mauve, blues, pinks and browns.  When rain falls, it veils the rock in a torrent of silver.

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