[Traveler's Journal] - Flashback - 09/2003 - Australia - Uluru - Sunset in Uluru or Ayers Rock in Northern Territory

This is where I spent my birthday in 2003. Uluru, or Ayers Rock, is a massive sandstone monolith in the heart of the Northern Territory’s arid "Red Centre". The nearest large town is Alice Springs, 450km away.  Uluru is sacred to indigenous Australians and is thought to have started forming around 550 million years ago. It’s within Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park, which also includes the 36 red-rock domes of the Kata Tjuta (colloquially “The Olgas”) formation. 

Uluru is notable for appearing to change colour as the different light strikes it at different times of the day and year, with sunset a particularly remarkable sight. These are some pictures I took of the sunset as we celebrated my birthday with a three-course "Sound of Silence" dinner atop a red desert dune as the setting sun changes Uluru's colours. After dinner an astronomer decoded the Australian night sky, located the  southern Cross, the signs of the zodiac, the Milky Way, as well as planets and galaxies that are visible due to the exceptional clarity of the atmosphere.

 Bonfire at the 'Sound of Silence' Dinner