Uluru Sunrise

Yes, I am standing at the base of Uluru and yes, I am dressed for an English summer's day, wooly hat and all.  This was our second early morning call at 5am to catch the sunrise and at that time in the morning it was 5 deg C outside, honest.

 Go back an hour and this is the first of the sun's rays to hit Kata Tjuta. 

 

The sun's rays on Uluru was nothing special and I opted to record the sunrise instead.

The base of the Uluru has a permanent pool of collected  rain water running off the rock, the cascade into which clearly shows how the running water cuts into the rock over the millennia.

Fallen stones embedded in the sand stone form the beginnings of new rain carved gashes in the rocks surface.

In a large over hang, rock art.  Our guide told us that this had been a family's cave shelter and since the images on the rock were drawn one on top of another, it is thought that it had also served as an early classroom, teach the children what the different symbols used in so call Aboriginal art meant.  Concentric circles, for example, indicated where water could be found in the landscape.

Visitors to Uluru are discouraged from climbing the rock because to its sacred value to the local people but  some visitors still make the trek to the top.  This picture gives you a sense of scale, people looking like ants on a boulder.