Our flight from Perth to Ayers Rock was scheduled for 7am, a despicably early hour considering that we would have to get up at 5. Somehow we managed it, and said goodbye to Lotta at quarter to six.

Once our flight landed at Ayers Rock, we set about finding somewhere to stay for the night. Since Ayers Rock is not actually a town in itself, all the accommodations and facilities are located in a purpose built town about 15 kilometres away, called Yulara, or “The Ayers Rock Resort”. This entire place is owned by a single company, the Ayers Rock Corporation, and so prices are artificially high. We paid A$38 each for three out of four beds in a four share dorm, which was more than three times the price of accommodation in Perth.

After checking in and generally sorting ourselves out, we went straight to the rock for a base tour. This was quite informative, including a number of aboriginal stories and the site of some rock painting, but otherwise unexciting. The tour finished with a view of sunset over the rock, which would have been a lot better if there were not several hundred other people trying to see the same sunset from the same place.