Mr. & Mrs. Vandebilt + kids

I have to admit that it was Jacob who really wanted to go see Ayers Rock and I didn’t really care either way. It’s something clearly unique and special to Australia, but as far as I was concerned it was just a rock in the middle of nowhere. Either way, we decided we’d add it to the itinerary and it was the reason we were going to drive 2,800km from the east coast and then 3,200 km again to get back to the west coast. It better be quite the rock.

Most of this is going to sound ridiculous if you have never seen Ayers Rock yourself but it was amazing. It’s about a 2 hour drive farther inland from the main highway and it’s not until about the last 20 minutes that you actually get to see it. It definitely looks cool from afar, or at least it really gets exciting when you think you are almost there. As you get close though, it seems to become magical. It looks like it’s not a rock, but more like a living thing that has just settled in for a rest. It feels like at any minute it could just get up, stretch it’s limbs and go for a hike. It changes colours, shape and sometimes looks like it’s moving as you drive around next to it. We sat and ate lunch staring at it for more than an hour.

There’s also a cultural centre in the park that explains the legend and spiritual significance of the rock. It was really interesting to read, and after spending some time sitting and watching the rock, I can see how the story exists and even makes sense. The rock was closed to climbing because it’s too hot in the summer, it was about 40 when we were there, but it is unfortunately open the rest of the year. It is against the aboriginal’s wishes and beliefs that the rock should be climbed as they consider it a spiritual place. We hadn’t intended to climb it anyway, but I’m not sure how anyone could justify it after reading why they don’t want you to.

We spent the better part of the day staring at the rock before we hit the road again so that we could find a rest area before dark. I don’t imagine I will ever go back to the rock, as cool as it was, it’s more of a one time thing, a really amazing one time thing.