Things to know before visiting Ayers Rock
PerhapsAustralia‘s most famous icon, the giant monolith Uluru/Ayers Rock is located in the center of the country’s mainland. Here are 40 facts and anecdotes you need to know before visiting this mythical rock. From legends to traditions, this site is full of secrets.
The names
1. Ayers Rock is the most commonly used name, especially outside Australia.
2. Uluru is the Aboriginal and official name.
3. Uluru does not mean « watering hole », as you may have read. It’s simply the name of an Aboriginal place, referring to both the rock itself and the waterhole above it.
4. Kata Tjuta (the other rock formation in the national park) does have a translation. It literally means « many heads ».
5. The English name commonly used for Kata Tjuta is « The Olgas » or « Mt. Olga ».
6. The Aboriginal owners of Uluru call themselves Anangu, and ask to be called that. They are often referred to as the « Yankunytjatjara » and « Pitjantjatjara » people. These are in fact the two languages spoken by the Anangu.
7. Yulara is the name of the Ayers Rock Resort just outside the park. The name means « weeping » or « crying ». (Bad tongues say that’s what tourists do when they see their bill…).
Location and size
8. Ayers Rock is located in the middle of Australia, actually very close to the actual geographic center.
9. Ayers Rock is not the largest monolith in the world. That title belongs to Mount Augustus in Western Australia.
Flickr – Sha Sha Chu
10. Uluru is 862.5 meters above sea level, 348 meters high, 3.6 km long, 1.9 km wide, 9.4 km long around the base, covers 3.33 km², and extends several kilometers into the ground, but it’s not known exactly how deep.
11. The climbing trail (which transgresses an important aboriginal sacred site) is 1.6 km long.
12. Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park is 1326 km² in size.
13. Ayers Rock Resort (Yulara) is 443 km from Alice Springs by road, or 45 minutes by air (from the resort, it’s another 8 km to the entrance of Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park, and another 10 km to Ayers Rock).
Weather and climate
14. Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park has a desert climate.
15. The area receives a surprising amount of rainfall for a desert (as most Australian deserts have), around 200 to 250 mm per year. During heavy rains, this produces a very rare phenomenon on Uluru.
16. Like all deserts, the region experiences extreme temperatures. Winter nights can drop to -8°C, and summer days to 48°C.
17. During midsummer (December to March), maximum daily averages are 38°C.
Geology
18. Uluru and Kata Tjuta are the remains of an enormous sediment that was formed hundreds of millions of years ago.
19. Sand was deposited in a basin formed around 900 million years ago. It continued to settle at the bottom of this ancient sea bed until around 300 million years ago.
20. 550 million years ago, mountain ranges were formed. This chain eroded over the following millions of years, leaving large deposits of sediment on the ground.
21. Around 300 million years ago, the waters disappeared. The remaining sediments bent and broke again. In this major process, the layers of sediment that now form Uluru were tilted, so that today they are at an angle of 85 degrees. Kata Tjuta was tilted at around 20 degrees. The whole region was raised above sea level in the process.
22. This means that Uluru and Kata Tjuta are the only visible tips of a massive underground slab of rock.
23. It could even be argued that the description of Uluru as a monolith is inaccurate, as it is in fact part of this immense underground rock formation that also includes Kata Tjuta.
Flickr – Paolo Rosa
History
24. Research suggests that Aborigines have lived in the region for at least 10,000 years.
25. The first white person to see Ayers Rock, at least from a distance, was explorer Ernest Giles in October 1872.
26. The first European to actually visit the rock was surveyor William Gosse on July 19, 1873. He named it Ayers Rock for Sir Henry Ayers, the Chief Secretary of South Australia at the time (at the time, the area was part of South Australia).
27. William Gosse was also the first European to climb Ayers Rock.
28. In 1950, Ayers Rock was designated a national park.
29. According to some sources, in 1983, Bob Hawke, then Prime Minister of Australia, promised that climbing Uluru would be banned.
30. He broke his promise in 1985. The land was handed over to its traditional owners, the Anangu, on October 26, on the terms that they would lease the park to the Australian National Park Service for 99 years, that it would be jointly managed, and that Uluru would remain open to climbers.
31. In 1995, the park’s name was changed. From « Ayers Rock – Mount Olga National Park », it became « Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park », reflecting the Anangu’s traditional ownership and close relationship with their land.
Tourism
32. Between 400,000 and half a million people visit Ayers Rock every year.
33. Around one visitor in ten climbs Ayers Rock.
Here’s how Uluru is laid out in the ground
34. A significant number have died, mainly from heart failure, but some have slipped and fallen. Some 40 people will have died since tourists first tried to climb it.
35. The Cultural Centre and Anangu guided walks around Uluru and Kata Tjuta will give you a much better understanding and more meaningful experience than climbing (it’s either climb or visit).
36. The only accommodation near Uluru is the Yulara Resort just outside the park. Yulara offers different levels of accommodation, from luxury to budget, as well as a caravan park.
37. To enter the park, you need to buy a pass. The cost is AUD$25 per person over 16, and the card is valid for three days.
38. Alcohol is now banned on all Aboriginal land in the Northern Territory. This of course includes Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park. The only exception is for tour operators. So, if you want to enjoy a glass of wine or champagne with the Ayers Rock sunset, you’ll have to join the masses of tourists.
39. Certain areas around Uluru are off-limits to photos and cameras. You should refrain from taking photos at certain times.
40. In the museum that follows the walk around the rock, you can see a « sorry book » containing letters of apology from people who have returned stones stolen from the site by post. There’s also a book saying « I didn’t climb Uluru ».