Traveler story: Laying eyes on Uluru in Australia’s Outback

Go Ahead travelers Jerry and Frances spent three weeks exploring the spellbinding scenery and dynamic cities on our Australia & New Zealand tour. Read on to find out which iconic site stood out most for these two experienced travelers.

We covered so much ground in these two incredible countries, and this trip served up a banquet for the senses. While the cities were beautiful with so much to offer, and we loved the gracious dinner at a local family’s home in Christchurch, New Zealand, the natural landscapes are unlike anything else in the world. The most striking sight to behold? Ancient Uluru in the heart of the Outback.

As you travel through the Australian Outback, hundreds of miles from any significant city, surrounded by sand and brush, with nothing around that’s over ten feet high, you suddenly notice something ominous on the horizon. Though still 35, maybe 40 miles away, your eyes start to drift toward this object. As you get closer, you are almost startled by its size. Has an alien spacecraft landed in the desert?

What you are actually beholding is known to the Aboriginal peoples as Uluru. This is a 1,200-foot-high, terra cotta-colored sandstone monolith. It is about two miles long and six miles in circumference. If that sounds large, consider that it has been determined that it continues for another three miles below the surface! This is a sacred place to the local tribes who have populated the area for the last 30,000 years. They have passed down the legends surrounding this anomaly to their heirs as their heritage. There it sits, alone in the center of the continent, revered by many and understood by few. You look up at it in awe.

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