"Uluru - Straight to the Heart of the... " a Uluru National Park (Ayers Rock) Travel Page by Zanzibargirl

Australia's red centre is a vast wide land that many perceive not to have much at all. In some ways this is true. But the vast emptiness of the landscape has a few things going for it. A heartbeat of its ancient people, the Aboriginies, their culture and heritage and right in the centre of it the most sacred of Aboriginal ground lies a rock, a formation that to me is Australia's beating heart.

The rock moves, it has a life of its own, a memory and a history and it is surrounded by culture. Watching the sun rise at Uluru was incredible. Walking around the rock a gift. Not only that but Uluru National Park has so much more to offer. The nearby Kata Juta also known as The Olga's and Wattarrka or better known as Kings Canyon are both spectacular.

Make sure you camp out beneath the stars, make sure you walk around the rock through the tracks to the lookout in Kata Juta and discover the garden of eden and the lost city in Kings Canyon as well as it sharp drops of its sheer walls. These monoliths, rocks and canyons are spectacular and all seem swept in the mystery of the dreamtime and are alive with the heart of Australia.

The Uluru-Kata Tjuta National park covers an area of 132 566 hectares of arid ecosystems and is located close to the centre of Australia in the traditional lands of Pitjantjatjara and Yankunytjatjara Aboriginal people (locally known as Anangu). It is situated 462 kilometres south west of Alice Springs. It consists of the famous monolith in its centre known as Uluru or Ayers Rock, named after former premier Sir Henry Ayers by European explorer William Gosse, and the formations of the Olgas or Kata Tjuta.

Twenty two mammal species, 150 bird species, and many arid reptiles, including the second largest lizard in the world, the perentie, inhabit Uluru National Park.

If you look beneath the surface of this arid red hot land you will see so much more as it beats the heart of time & has a feel of life beneath the earth. This world is alive, and it has so much to offer as you start to understand just how expansive Australia is, how different, how cultural & how once there was a history & a heart here, long before modern time & tourism. In honour of the Aboriginals, tread carefully, take some time out around the rock on your own, breath the dusty air & feel the heartbeat of Australia.