As Henry Wadsworth Longfellow said "into each life a little rain must fall", and as luck would have it, (good or bad?) we experienced Uluru like no other European!! They have had more rain at Ayers Rock this season than any time in recorded (European) history! We arrived under clear sky's but by evening the rains had set in. There was about 20% more ground cover than usual and it was greener than the sandy color you see in all the photos. In spite of (or because of) the unique conditions "the rock" was pretty spectacular.

We also had an interesting experience when we rose the following morning to watch the sun rise. There was no visible sun rise to speak of as it was raining but the rock was black with little water falls running down it - not quite what we had imagined! We spent the early morning touring the rock with a guide giving us the history of the area (he was taking pictures of the black rock as well as he'd never seen it this way). It quit raining in the afternoon, so we went back and did the 12 kilometer hike around Uluru. It was quite amazing to see the difference in color from the morning - that is, the traditional orange in the afternoon once it had dried out. We started out on the hike under clouds. However, later the sun came out and it got very hot. We were cooked by the time we had finished about 3 1/2 hours later! You really don't get to appreciate the size of "the rock " until you see it up close. It truly is amazing and well worth the effort to visit Australia's "red center".

It's now back to the Sydney area to spend the holidays with friends.