The Green Centre

Arrived in the Red Centre to discover that it was actually green.  The annual rainfall for the area is about 36cms but they had received over 100cms in the last month, so the red dirt had grown lots of green grass! More evidence of the effects of global warming that we're doing our bit to contribute to by taking this trip?

Picked up a car from Alice Springs at lunchtime and set out on the 440km drive down the Stuart Highway to Uluru.  Couldn't drive at night for risk of running into suicidal kangaroos, so we were on a tight schedule to get down to the rock before dusk at 6pm.

A monsoon in the desert

It started to rain as we set off, and it just got heavier and heavier as we headed south.  Couldn't see out of the windows at all - it was difficult even to see the side of the road to find a rest stop. H tried to look behind the car by sticking her head out of the window but the rain was coming down so hard that she couldn't even open her eyes.

Eventually the rain eased and we headed off again but all the rainwater had turned into flood plains and rivers running across the highway. All we could do was wait it out until the water subsided enough to drive through.

Things were pretty hairy for a while but we got to the rock in time to see a beautiful sunset thanks to all the rain clouds.

Next morning we were up at 4am to watch the sunrise over the rock.  There were no clouds today so it did its thing and turned bright red as the sun came up over the horizon. Spent the rest of the morning walking around the base of the rock. Its very impressive for a big stone just plonked in the middle of nowhere. It looks different every time you look at it, so we took loads of photos - even more than usual!

Because of all the rain it had waterfalls running down its sides, cool shady waterholes at the base with tadpoles and fish, and yet just around the corner it was so hot and dry that you could die. All this makes for an amazing three hour walk.