We arrived at Ayers Rock yesterday afternoon after a couple of days of arduous driving along semi-deserted roads (they were at least all sealed roads though) with just enough time to set up camp before heading into the National Park to watch the changing colours of Uluru as the sun set behind us. After looking forward to getting here for so long, it felt a little odd to be sitting on the roof of the car at one of the viewing areas and actually witnessing such a world-renowned spectacle as the rock turned a crimson red before fading into the darkness. Once we were sure that there could be no more colour changes (after all there are only so many shades of black) we returned to camp to prepare for a busy couple of days.

We had both already made a conscious decision not to climb Ayers Rock as it seems to be one of the few remaining beliefs that the Aboriginal people still hold on to (and if people decided to try to climb the Vatican or St. Paul's Cathedral everyone would be pissed!) so this morning we headed to the cultural centre to being our walk around the base instead. The cultural centre was a couple of kilometres from the start of the base walk and as we made our way along we could already make out people on their way up, although they looked like little more than ants against the awesome mass of the rock.

When we came to the start of the rock climb there was yet another request from the local tribe that own the land for people to respect their wishes and not to climb the rock, and right next to it was another sign stating that you could climb it as long as you took plenty of water! There are lots of regulations about climbing Ayers Rock as thirty-five people have died trying and it is closed whenever the temperature for the day will exceed a certain point, so we looked on in pity at the number of people who were up there and continued on around the corner.

There were several areas of religious and cultural significance to the local Aboriginal people where people were asked not to walk onto the land or take photographs, but for the most part we were able to walk right up to the rock and look inside many of the cracks and caves around the base. Along the first section there were a couple of areas that displayed several Aboriginal drawings on the wall and a huge wave-like overhang that looked like a giant scoop had been taken out of the rock.

From here we continued on to one of the few areas of water around the base of the rock, in a small gully that was sheltered from the heat of the sun. During heavy storms, water runs down the sides and forms small pools in some of the pocketed areas before spilling over like a series of small waterfalls, but all that is left now are black stains running down the rock in long streaks. We double backed a short way before we passed another pocketed area that the Aboriginal people believe to be the pouch of one of the animals that created the rock.

The path then continued along the road for a short while before becoming a dirt tack once again as it traced around the east side of the rock, where there was even more evidence of weather erosion as the whole face was littered with holes and scars. It was good to get a perspective of the rock as all the promotional photographs and postcards etc are taken from the other side. We had a rest in a small shelter that was along this section of the path and while we sat the only noises that could be heard were those of the wildlife around us.

We continued on around the rock a fair bit further until we came to another waterhole that was much bigger than the first and there were more paintings in a nearby cave and a few little side walks off in on direction. The rest of the walk was close by to the rock and after a while we came back to the start, where there were still more people heading off up the climb. By the time we got back to the cultural centre we had walked a total of fourteen kilometres in the heat so a rest and a bite to eat was in order.

We had a look around in the art galleries in the complex and saw some amazing paintings and some really nice didgeridoos as well as a few Aboriginals creating some new artworks in the gallery itself. After filling our imaginary shopping cart with several items, we headed back to the car to return to the campsite, where we watched the sunset over Ayers Rock again, this time from one of the viewing points just along from our tent.