The first inkling of what Ayers Rock-Uluru might look like is actually from a mountain you pass on the way there. Here the country is flat. Dead flat. The only undulations in the landscape are from sand dunes that have been blown hither and thither, so you can see for miles in any direction from the top of one of these dunes and in amongst those dunes are huge large white sun-baked pans. Here is a flat flat landscape with not much to break the monotony, but for three very impressive and distinct rocks that protrude into the flat landscape from deep below the Earth's surface.

To get to Uluru-Ayers Rock, or the Rock, you need to take the ONLY tarred road west from the Stuart's Highway. In this empty part of the world, getting from one place to another is fantastic. To get to the Rock from Adelaide? Just take the Stuart's Highway for three days and take a left at Mount Eulunga cattle station. You can't miss it. It is the only place at the junction and head down the road for a few hours and you are there! Piece of piss!

Should you go missing in this vast landscape, you have very little chance of getting found again. Alive anyway. We were asked if we had seen a man last seen a few day before our arrival who left his fully packed car in a parking spot beneath the Rock. Even with a wealth of clues, the authorities had pretty much given up on him. There is only so much searching you can do in this vast "empty" space.

The first of the ethereal like rocks on the way to the Rock is Mt Connor. Mt Connor looks like something from the Spielberg's movie Close Encounters of the Third Kind. It is dead flat on top and practically round on all sides with a dead flat top. Imagine a mound of brown sugar where the top has been chopped off and set in a seemingly featureless background, it looks very eerie. It could well be a beacon for aliens from a far off galaxy?

Ayers Rock has always been a source of friction and conflict between the white and the local communities. The white man arrived, like aliens from a far off galaxy, and promptly took possession of all and everything they wanted. Those that first discovered the Rock called it Ayers Rock in honour of some or other politician based about a million miles away in far flung Sydney! It was no more sacred to the white man than a tourist attraction. But to the local community, Uluru and the Olgas (the third of the rocks that protrude) were, and are still considered sacred. Surprisingly, Uluru has no special meaning beyond that of a surname. The local community's surname (or local equivalent) is Uluru.

Here at these places, the Rock and the Olgas record the origin of the Ancestors and their stories and how the people came into existence. That mark there is where that ancestor threw his spear; that cave there is where another sheltered.

But it is in the presentation of the information about these places that the very different perspectives from both the white man and the local community are highlighted. In the days that the Rock was discovered, and right up to the 60's, you could pull up at the Rock, camp in its shadow and clamber up and all over the Rock. The locals, and their beliefs, be damned! What did they know about anything, anyway? But since the 60's, then a little resort town has developed about 30km away. Here at the visitor's centre, there is a very informative and educational exhibition about the area, its flora and fauna, right from the very little things to the big things and also the very nasty things.

One example is Australia's 33 species of snakes, 30 which are deadly venomous, but not necessarily dangerous. A snake you never see is venomous, not dangerous. But here was a display of the Western Banded Desert snake. This snake is considered extremely dangerous and extremely venomous. Why? The principal prey is very fleet footed lizards. So the snake has to be extremely quick over the ground and it needs excellent eyesight to get hold of dinner. Well, you would have to be if speedy lizards are dinner! It´s venom is also extremely quick acting. You don't want to have dinner run off and collapse somewhere where you can't find him! Believe me, I kept a very very close eye on the path ahead. Just in case! Even though they only seemed to grow to a max of two feet, I had no interest in meeting ANY of the family!

Part of the white man exhibition was information detailing how the Rock came back into the local community hands. Reading between the lines, it seemed to have been a very bitter and acrimonious fight at some very high levels with the government of the time. But the result is that the local community now own an enormous tract of land that they have leased back to the Federal Government to be used as a national park whose governing body is comprised of local elders, various scientists and a political appointee. In amongst the "fluff and bumph" of this event, it implies that the local community is extremely grateful to have been afforded this opportunity, etc, etc. Yes, well, we shall see.

But. But at the local community visitor's centre located at the base of the Rock, it seems to put forward a very different story about the hand over and how the park is managed. The information here makes it very clear that the white man is being taught, from scratch, all about the complex ecology, the flora and fauna of the area. Here the implication seemed to be that the white man has plenty to learn about everything and the he should be grateful for this opportunity!

At this visitors centre, the story of the Rock and what occurred here in the beginning of time, is laid out and why certain parts are so sacred to the local community. Some spots on The Rock, and out at the Olgas 50km away, are even more sacred (super sacred?) that´s why they cannot be revealed. This is because only initiated members of the local community can go here for whatever reason. Some places forbid any females to be there and at others, the same is true of males.

Where the white man' information is very factual and scientific, the local community's information is far more colourful. But I suppose science is not seen as colourful, whereas culture and beliefs are. Fascinating!

No matter how many times you have seen pictures, at what time of day (it reputed changes colour as the sun moves across the sky) and from what perspective, nothing prepares you for the sheer weight and gravitas of the Rock. It is something that you could stare at all day and see something completely different each time your eyes drift over it. Somehow though, the Olgas (made up of 36 different rock formations) which are even more sacred than the Rock, are not as quite as impressive. Who thought staring at rocks could be this interesting? I suppose it is with a cold beer in hand and another spectacular natural show to enjoy as the sun goes down!

In the time that we were in the presence of the Rock, we had blazing sun, low grey overcast and torrential rain and thunderstorms. Who would have thought that there was rain like that here? But apparently it only rains like this three days a year, so we are extremely lucky to see it in all its glory! Words cannot quite do justice in a way pictures so easily can. Especially when the sides cascade with gushing torrents and waterfalls and vast pools collect at its base full of tadpoles and frantically calling frogs in direct contrast to what you imagine a desert to be like. Whichever way you look though, you always see something new. Rain or shine.

How could we resist having lunch in the Bomber while rain drummed off the roof and the sides were slick with falling water? We felt like the only people on Earth watching the Rock! And some of the luckiest ones too!