What a packed couple of days! Although we only really had about 24 hours actually at Ayers Rock. Or Uluru which is the aboriginal name for it. We landed about half 11 on Dad's birthday into a tiny airport. By this point, it was already scorching outside - mid 30s! And not even the hottest part of the day... We drove to the resort and checked in but due to the heat we waited for a bit before we ventured out to the rock. We got down to the rock around 4pm but it was still early 40s at that time. We wandered around the cultural centre for a short while before going on a couple of the walks around Ayers Rock. We invested in some sexy cowboy hats to help prevent sun stroke, I'm not sure we would wear them again... Thankfully there was a breeze but the heat still made it tough! We spent a couple of hours walking around the base of the rock which was pretty amazing. It's just enormous! Photos can't quite capture how big it really is. We're not entirely sure how it was formed... Need to do some research! I guess that's when doing a tour comes in handy. Around half 6 we set up camp at one of the viewing areas to watch the sunset. It was very beautiful and quite incredible how the light changes how Uluru looks completely. By the time we got back to the resort we freshened up and went out for a birthday dinner for Dad. We went to a really nice restaurant and the food was delicious. They had a buffet and an 'interactive' menu which meant you could go and ask the chef to cook up almost anything you wanted. By the time we'd finished it was pretty late and we were all shattered from the early start and long day, and the thought of a 4am start I think made us even more tired!

So 4am came round and bleary eyed we emerged from the hotel room. Hopped in the car and made our way down to the Olgas to watch the sunrise. Not only did we have a great view of the Olgas but also a spectacular view of Uluru! The Olgas were also very impressive rocks and quite different from Ayers Rock in the way that they weren't one giant mass but almost appeared as lots of large rocks that had merged together. It was very majestic watching the sunrise and well worth the early start... I think. Maybe by this evening I won't be saying that. One the sun was up we headed back to the Cultural Centre to pick up some bikes. Yes that's right. We rode around Ayers Rock! Now that's a pretty cool story to tell! It was great walking around the day before but there was something really enjoyable about riding around it. Maybe because Sandy and I got so into our cycling while I was out in the country. It wasn't too hot by this point - only late 20s/ early 30s... At 7am. Definitely would not have wanted to go out any later than that or we would have fried! It was very relaxing and a fairly easy ride in the sense that it was pretty flat. There were parts where the sand was pretty thick so the bikes were skidding around a little - all added to the entertainment! It was something different and not many people can say they did that. Once we finished on the bikes after a little over 15km we went back to the resort to shower and have some breakfast. We had a fairly early flight at just after 12 to Sydney so there wasn't much time to do anymore. So even though it was a whistle stop tour of Uluru it was well worth it and I think we managed to successfully see all the best bits in the short amount of time we had!