fact: Uluru (Ayer's Rock) is indeed a great big rock. I know that may seem pretty self evident given its previous name but it wasn't until we got there that the immensity of this giant pebble hit home. It's not a big hill or a small mountain--it's one big red rock. Like an iceberg, a good chunk of it is underground. 345 metres are above ground and that's what we climbed.
fact: it is strongly recommended that you don't climb Uluru. Climbing was part of an initiation ceremony that marked the passage of boys into manhood so there's a cultural reason why they ask you not to climb. Secondly, it's just dangerous. At times, you're on a razor edge ridge, with just a metre of sloping space before the edge steeply drops off. There is a safety chain, but despite that, I got a bit freaked. I'm not scared of heights but I just don't like precarious situations and this was one of them. Damo, ironically, wasn't scared at all and he has a height phobia. But the Rock was there and, like countless other tourists before us, we couldn't resist its challenge.
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