Hi guys, we've just been to Uluru (Ayers Rock) for a couple of nights so here's how the trip went.

We got a flight to Ayers Rock from Sydney (the bus would have taken about 3 days to get there!). When we landed the airport was tiny and just looked like a strip of road in the middle of the Australian outback.

Uluru is right in the centre of Australia and is a desert so it's really really hot there. It was about 37 degrees while we were there. The outback is really beautiful though. It's just how you picture Australia to be with bright red sand and nothing around for miles and miles. There is also lots of green there too as the trees and plants have adapted to the semi arid climate.

The only buildings for miles around is the Ayers Rock resort which is a complex of about 5 hotels and a town centre (basically a shop, takeaway and information centre!). We stayed in the second cheapest accommodation (the cheapest being a campsite which we couldn't face!). On the first day we arrived we went to the information centre which had exhibits all about the rock and the wildlife around it. We also booked our trips to the rock for the next day. While walking around the centre we saw loads of huge spiders in their webs and were glad we weren't camping!

The following day we had to be on our trip at 5.40am, not good considering we were up at 5am the day before for our flight! The reason we had to be up so early was to see the sunrise which was a bit overrated as nothing really spectacular happened although we did get tea and biscuits so that was a bonus! Anyway, everyone comes to Ayers Rock to see the sunrise so we didn't want to miss out. We then went on a cultural walk around the rock where the guide explained the Aboriginal beliefs about the rock and pointed out their sacred sites to us. We saw thousand year old cave paintings and learnt alot about how Aboriginies used to live around the rock. Next we did another walk and saw where people climb the rock. We chose not to climb as the local Aboriginies ask you not to as it is there sacred site and also because it was really hot and we didn't think we would make it up there! It's also quite dangerous to climb, about 36 people have died doing it.

After the second walk we visited the Aboriginal cultural centre where we learnt lots more about their lifestyle and beliefs. After that it was back to the resort for our lunch of a delicious pot noodle (everything was so expensive here so we couldn't really afford to eat anywhere decent!) and then off on our second trip of the day.

The afternoon trip took us to Kata Tjuta which is another rock formation, larger than Ayers Rock. We got some great pictures of the amazing scenery here and walked through a gorge. On the bus on the way Ben saw a camel which I didn't realise they had in the wild in Australia. A bit further along the driver slammed on the brakes and the bus came to a quick stop. Our guide had spotted a lizard on the road and brought it on the bus for us to see up close. The lizard was a thorney devil which we had seen at wildlife world in Sydney but it was good to see close enough to touch. We then went back to Ayers Rock to see the sunset where we took loads more pictures. The sunset was prettier than the sunrise as the sky turned pink and red as the sun set. There were so many people at the sunset which was once again a little bit overrated but while we were there we wanted to see it.

We are now back in Sydney for 5 nights to see all the bits we missed first time round, so we'll update again soon.