Left Coober Pedy early in the morning and hit the road. The plan was to get to Uluru, a drive of about 700 kilometres. Although the road was long, it was flat and easy. We passed through Marla Roadhouse, (the start of the Oodnadatta track), then crossed into the Northern Territory and hit Kulgera Roadhouse - the first and last pub in the NT.

As it was getting late in the day, we thought there was no point pushing on to Uluru that night. We had heard it was difficult to get into the caravan park if you arrived late, and it would be $50 for not much of the day. So we stopped at a roadhouse called Curtin Springs about 80 km short of Uluru, which had free camping. It was a stinking hot afternoon with virtually no wind, and the insects were going berserk - stubborn flies, ants climbing up your legs if you stop moving for any length of time, and moths that kamikazied into any lights you dared light up after dark. It was very unpleasant, and we got a bit worried. Had we hit the hot and humid weather of the north we had been warned about?

Next day, the wind had changed and the weather was much better, sunny with a cool breeze. We pushed on to Uluru nice and early. The camp ground was at Yulara, a 'town' that had been manufactured out of nothing. It was basically one giant resort with accommodation catering to all possible levels - from backpacker army style tents, to a normal caravan park, to family apartments, to five star hotels. In the middle was a 'town square' with a few cafés, restaurants, souvenir shops, and a small supermarket. All this was serviced by a free shuttle bus that did the circuit every fifteen minutes. Not a bad setup.

From here it was about a 20 km drive to Uluru itself, and about 50 km to Kata Tjuta, or the Olgas. After checking in, we immediately set out for Uluru, that iconic symbol and the spiritual heart of Australia. When I had come here as a student 40 years ago, we had climbed Ayres Rock. Now that it was Uluru, reclaimed by its original owners, climbing was no longer encouraged. The Cultural Centre gave some background of the battle of the indigenous people to reclaim their land. It seems this has worked well for the aboriginals in the area, feeling engaged and connected, most of the young people are being trained in hospitality and working well throughout the resort. They are neat, well groomed, friendly, happy, hardworking people. In fact there are also many young aboriginals from other parts of Australia who have come to be involved in this wonderful initiative.

We went to the rock, photographing it from all angles, and walking around the base to get yet more photos. The tradition was of course to get sunset photos as well, but by sunset time the clouds were quite heavy so we thought we would try the next day.

We booked in for the Field of Lights exhibition for the following morning. A bus was to pick us up at 4.30 am so we could see it in the dark, then watch the sun rise over Uluru as the lights gradually faded. Sounds romantic, doesn't it? Problem is, about 9 pm a storm blew in - with thunder, lightning, and torrential rains.

By 4 am, it was still raining, but not so heavy, and the bus came to take us. It was crowded with people of all ages, including young children and babies, who had braved the early waking and the weather. We saw the Field of Lights through the drizzle, then were allowed to walk through it, getting wetter and wetter as we went. After half an hour everyone was retreating back to the bus, shivering and miserable, even forgoing their free hot chocolate. It was a dismal experience, but the good news was they gave us our money back - so we got to see the Field of Lights for free!

The day remained grey and miserable, but the forecast was for more rain the next few days. We couldn't wait that long. We braved the elements and headed out to the Olgas, or Kata Tjuta, for yet more photos. There were three or four different walks / climbs you could do here. We tried one of the easier ones, but the weather was so bad we soon gave up and headed back.

While we were in Coober Pedy they told us it had rained in Uluru the week before, a very unusual occurrence. Now it had rained a second time, which is even rarer. The locals told us how lucky we were to see this, but missing on sunrises and sunsets, and dinner under the stars, and all the other iconic experiences of Uluru, somehow we didn't feel so lucky.

GeorgeY's bit

Curtin springs to mind as a learning experience. While following online advice was brilliant so far, this time it was not. Described as a nice place to rest, pay $3 for a hot shower or have a powered site for $4 per night, stopping here is a no brainer, if true.

Curtin Springs is a great spot only if:

1. You are stranded, eg. The British couple working there while waiting for a replacement engine to be sent out.

2. You like entomology combined with a penchant for inflicted harm.

3. Godzilla is terrorising the whole area and the only safe place to hide is Curtin Springs, because Godzilla hates the insects there as well.

Yulara is nice when you get to know how it works. Worst parking lot for a shopping centre ever invented on purpose to deter from parking hence, driving.

A ring road connects all resorts, accommodation and facilities is serviced by a free shuttle. Walking tracks also cut across the middle. When we asked the info centre about where and how far town is, the answer was, "This is it !". The café is a great training venture for local and interstate Indigenous students who undertake their hospitality course. One restaurant and a Chinese takeaway with a simplified menu is the eating out choice. IGA has a limited variety of everything, with prices to remind you how far you have come.

Uluru is iconic to say the least, but the viewing from sunrise/sunset special spots so, when the angle of incidence with the normal divided by cosine the sun/rock reflective golden ratio, only then if you are in the right spot at the right time of the day, a new vision is to behold, reflections and refractions almost making it the biggest opal in the Milky Way. After following all formulae of times and dates and angles Ayer's Rock still looks big, colour is red, with black streaks.

Rare is not always good. Winning the Lotto is rare and good. An outing ruined due to bad weather is still bad, no matter how rare that is.