Tuesday, April 29, 2014

 

The Red Centre

Here's where we went for a few days just after Easter. One of the most recognizable places on Earth. It is, of course, Uluru (also called Ayers Rock), a World Heritage site. It is a humungous sandstone boulder in the middle of the arid area of central Australia. Geologists call it an inselberg, a word meaning "island mountain", and that describes it perfectly. The rock is 348m higher than the surrounding plain and is 9.4km around. Most of it is actually underground. One of the spectacular things about Uluru is the way that the colour changes, depending on the time of day and the angle between the direction that you are looking at it and the direction the sunlight is falling on it. The top photo was taken from the window of our aircraft and shows just how prominent the rock is. It also shows why the central part of Australia is called the red centre; iron-rich soil really is red. Uluru is a sacred place to the local Anangu people and is managed by them for the whole of Australia. This is a place that everyone should visit.

Labels: ,


Comments: Post a Comment



<< Home

This page is powered by Blogger. Isn't yours?