This site sees an unbelievable 400,000 to 500,000 visitors a year. All travel for hours just to see these rocks in the desert. You can fly in from Australia's major cities, or drive from the next city Alice Springs (445 km away). I did the latter, visiting Uluru on an overnight trip and staying in the resort town of Yulara. Yulara itself is a sight to behold: it was only developed in 1975 to keep the tourists out of the park. It has just one loop road, a couple of hotels, restaurants, a petrol station and a supermarket. All are owned by the monopolist Ayers Rock Resort, which keeps prices sky-high. I paid 175 EUR for a night in a budget room at the Outback Lodge, the cheapest of the 4 hotels in the area. The room came with a spray to kill resident pests. I used it.

After dumping my backpack at the lodge, I drove straight on to Uluru. Somehow you get the feeling here that there is no time to lose as if The Rock is calling for you. On the way up I stopped at the Cultural Center for an introduction. It has exhibits about the Aboriginal traditions surrounding Uluru. Like in Kakadu NP, I found these stories and what they involve hard to grasp.

Finally, I came to the base of the rock. I had a strange sense of arriving at somewhere very remarkable, a WHS with a real Wow!-factor. The attraction is unexplainable, however - it might be a combination of its remoteness, the heat and the striking colours (green bushes/red rock/blue sky). This is definitely a WHS that deserves Criterion no. vii: exceptional natural beauty.

I walked around part of the base, having a look at the weathered surface and some of the rock paintings. Sacred areas are fenced off and no photos are allowed. Climbing the rock however, is still possible and many tourists do it. ICOMOS, like the Aborigine owners, advised abolishing this practice, condemning the "intrusive handrail" and "endless procession of human ants".

Together with some 80 other tourists, I waited for the sunset over Uluru. They even have designated sunset-viewing points here, with ample parking as if in a drive-in cinema. Watching sunset or sunrise is one of the most popular things to do here: Uluru is notable for appearing to change colour as the different light strikes it. The colours turn from ochre-brown into orange, red and finally charcoal grey after the sun has set.

The next morning I got up early to see the other rock formation, Kata Tjuta, while it was still relatively cool. Kata Tjuta (meaning: 'many heads', for its 36 domed rocks) lies 35 km west of Uluru. There I started the Valley of the Winds trail, a 7.4 km loop hike. It involves a little climbing and there are lots of loose rocks - not my favourite surface. There are also numerous flies, so you'll lose a lot of energy just swaying them all the time. It was nice to see Kata Tjuta up and close though, its domes are like bowls of chocolate ice cream. For real good hiking in this region, I can recommend the West Macdonnells near Alice Springs.