Uluru (Ayers Rock)
Australia

Uluru at sunset: reality check, little magic here! Throngs of fly swatting, wine quaffing overheated tourists fighting (good naturedly, this is Australia) for the best place to take photos of the Big Red's ultimate redness. Next, Cairns Pictures.

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Taking photos in the Red Centre, whether digital or film, is tricky due to the contrast between intense light and, for example, shadowed faces, so if good Uluru pictures are your target, study up on spot metering or any means of avoiding overly contrasty photos.

Also, mandatory sunset and sunrise spots are fairly close to the red rock. A 28mm lens from the front of one of those spots can just accommodate Uluru, but the usual 36mm of a small digital will not capture the full rock unless you stand way back, in which case you will also capture all the other tourists snapping away. Ergo, bring a wide-angle lens if you can, or narrow your expectations.

Uluru is the second largest monolith (single chunk of rock) in the world. The biggest is Mt Augustus in Western Australia, twice as big but half as magical.

In the middle of Australia's massive, parched outback sits this lone brooding, red colossus, 3km (1.9mls) long, 350 metres high (1,000ft), with another 3kms beneath the surface. Uluru and the land around is owned by Anangu Aboriginals and jointly managed with the Australian National Park Service on a 99 year lease.

Climbing Uluru at 7.30am. It's steeper than it looks!

Climbing Uluru: this is usually possible though not encouraged by the Anangu as the path is the route taken by their ancestors on spiritual journeys and known by them as the Mala Dreaming track.

What especially upsets the Anangu is when a tourist dies on the rock, usually by exertion-related heart attack, so if you are unfit or medically wobbly, don't try it, and if you're in good shape you could still respect their wishes and walk around the rock instead.

The Red Centre desert around Uluru (Ayer's Rock) shot from the top of the rock.
Picture © Denzil Watson

At 1.6kms (1mile) a climb will take about an hour - with the help of a chain - and require good soft shoes and lots of water. The middle of the day should be avoided; in fact climbing after 8 a.m. is usually forbidden in the hot season.

The Anangu, however, are fine with tourists walking the 10 km track around Uluru.

Walking around Uluru: An excellent alternative to climbing the rock - and much preferred by its aboriginal owners - is walking the 10kms (6mls) around it on the flat, well-laid path. Uluru's views and features change constantly (including some ancient aboriginal rock paintings on the way) and the walk will take from 2-4 hours depending on the walker's dreamtime.

Jogging Uluru's circuit at 7.30am.

Kids, don't try this at home! This jogger is seriously disturbed. Although it's early the temperature (in February) is already 30C and rising fast.

An excellent alternative to climbing the rock - and much preferred by its aboriginal owners - is walking the 10kms (6mls) around it on the flat, well-laid path. Uluru's views and features change constantly (including some ancient aboriginal rock paintings on the way) and the walk will take from 2-4 hours depending on the walker's dreamtime.

One great advantage of this version of the Uluru experience is that you're unlikey to die on the walk. Unless you jog it....

Uluru's famous aboriginal rock face, with two lesser known faces disguised by fly nets.

Uluru's aboriginal art, under a rock overhang.

There are specific sunset and sunrise viewing points and visitors are herded into these different locations, so don't expect to be alone here.

Alice-Uluru: Most tours of the Red Centre start from the town of Alice Springs, 400kms (250mls) away and take about 5 hours to get there with little entertainment en route, though you could fly direct from Alice (or Sydney, Cairns, Perth) to Yulara (Ayers Rock Resort) if time was more important than money to you.

Alice Springs is not a wildly interesting town and not worth making a special effort to see, though it does have some good but pricey restaurants, lively bars and a couple of culture shows.

Tours are an effective way to see Uluru as a) it's a seriously long and tiring drive b) the driver/guide knows exactly where and when to go for the best pictures or walks c) the guide can advise on snakes, spiders and other exciting wildlife possibilities. Tours have their own fixed camp sites and food supplies.

Uluru accommodation: Yulara (Ayers Rock Resort) is 20kms from Uluru and offers a comfortable - though not cheap - hotel and a camp site. Camping nearer to Uluru is not permitted. Tours have alternative accommodation arranged, mainly in fixed tented camps where facilities are a little basic but sleeping under the stars is a terrific option (especially if you have a tent to retreat to). Mosquitoes are not a problem. Flies are, but not at night.

Wildlife: Not very much! Don't imagine you're going to see 'roos bounding around; the few 'roos in the Red Centre are nocturnal and will be lying in shade while you pass by.

Strangely there are an estimated 1,000,000 wild camels in Australia as they were used to carry supplies to central and north Australia for many years, in 'trains' of up to 70 camels, until the arrival of steam trains and trucks in 1929. At that point they were released into the wild and have been multiplying ever since. But you won't see them either as they stay well away from civilisation and don't have to drink for up to 17 days so they have plenty of space in the wild.

The most likely wildlife sightings will be of the occasional rabbit and hordes of flies. Mosquitoes are a rare sighting.

Kata Tjuta (The Olgas), also in the Red Centre: 52kms (32mls) away, Uluru has a group of rocking buddies, Kata Tjuta (The Olgas), a cluster of giant domes that are as almost as impressive as Uluru, depending on the number of tourists spoiling the ambience at either place.

Kata Tjuta (The Olgas). Next, Cairns Pictures.

On the way to Uluru tour groups often do Kata Tjuta (The Olgas) first - even though it's 50kms further on.
Due to its significance as an aboriginal male initiation centre, Kata Tjuta is more sacred than Uluru.

Uluru was chosen as Central Australia's tourist target in the 50's because Kata Tjuta was 50kms further away from civilisation (a long way, there and back, in the days of slow, unreliable vehicles) and 200m higher (tougher to climb).

You cannot climb Kata Tjuta.

The Valley of the Winds walk, about 7kms (4.3mls) is impressive and should take about three hours to complete if the flies don't drive you crazy first. The Red Centre is usually extremely hot so walks are best tackled very early. On particularly hot days parts of the Olgas walk will be closed from 11am.

p.s. there is another bigger rock about 50kms before Uluru, Mt Conner, also sacred but on private land - a huge cattle station and not monolithic - it's in three layers.

Red Centre Downsides:

Flies, flies, flies!

Heat, heat, heat. Try to go in Australia's winter.

Crowds. Pretty well all year round but mid winter will be worst.

Best time to go to The Red Centre: Winter, but outside the holiday season, so May, June, September