It was going to be about a 4 and a half hour drive from Alice Springs to Uluru. We didn’t plan on doing any sightseeing today, so we felt that we didn’t have to rush to get away. So we took our time packing up in the morning and made a trip to get some groceries, swap a gas bottle, fill up with petrol etc. it was well and truly 11.30 before we left AS.

It was a fairly uneventful drive, passing through the township of Stuart’s Well and then reaching Erldunda which is where you turn off the Stuart Hwy and head west along the Lasseter Hwy for 300km to get to Yulara (the township just outside the National Park which encompasses Uluru and Kata Tjuta). The kids hadn’t done any schoolwork for a few days, so it was hard to get them going again with that, but eventually it got done. We stopped a couple of times for toilet breaks and morning or afternoon tea. The only real point of interest on the drive out to Uluru was Mt Connor about half an hour short of Yulara. We had read about this feature and how uninformed people sometimes think this is Uluru itself when they first see it. I could understand why – from a distance the shape is not dissimilar.

We finally arrived at Yulara at about 5.30 and checked in to the campground at Ayers Rock Resort, where we had rung ahead earlier that day. Yulara is basically made up of the resort, which has a few styles of accomodation from hotel, cabins to caravans and camping. There is also some shops and restaurants etc. The campground is quite big. It would need to be as it is the only one close to Uluru (and obviously there is no camping inside the NP). Michael has actually been to Uluru before – nearly 30yrs ago, with his mum and his brother Richard. At that time there was no Yulara. Instead there was a motel and camping area almost at the base of the rock – how things have changed.

We had thought of trying to see Uluru at sunset tonight, but it was another half hour drive to the ‘viewing area’ for sunset. Considering we still needed to have dinner and Hannah and Beth were tired, we decided against that – we would do it tomorrow night. While I cooked dinner, Michael took the kids to the lookout area at the campground – could see Uluru from here, although a lot further away than from the viewing area inside the NP. They were excited to be seeing something so famous.

We made plans for the next day. I thought I would get up early to go to the sunrise viewing and see who else out of Lauren and Sam wanted to come. When we talked about it at dinner, Hannah and Beth thought it sounded too tiring to get up at 6am (they are both getting very tired still – we are holding out until a few more days when we get to my sister’s place at Katherine when we will really rest for a week).

So I set my alarm and went to bed.