Stay with me for a moment here. The past three days have been crazy good, and I’m going to share them in short order. I’m gonna go out of order, however, and cover Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park (the home of Ayers Rock) first, then write about Adelaide, which I visited earlier in the week and which is the most beautiful city I’ve seen on my trip to date.

The reason’s simple – I can’t keep Uluru and my incredible experience there inside of me. It was that cool, so here goes.

Kata Tjuta. These formations look like a giant had some fun with a lot of Play-Doh:

Walking around Uluru, a 6 mile hike:

Uluru Sunset (pre-light show):

Great surprise – a full moonrise over Uluru as dusk enveloped it. This was the icing on the cake, as we didn’t think it could get any better than what we’d just seen.

Uluru Sunrise:

Climbing Uluru:

From on top:

Kata Tjuta in the distance:

Lunch stop. A camel expedition place. Yes, they do that in the outback. Hopefully his friends weren’t in my sandwich.

The trip came together the past two days in many ways. Uluru is beyond amazing. I was floored. Its size, magnificence, structure and colors absolutely stagger and blow you away. It’s mind bending. It felt so good to feel really small there. Kata Tjuta is similarly awe-inspiring to see and touch.

There are days and times on big trips that transcend exactly where you are physically and what you’ve done and seen up to that point. Yesterday and today were those days, spiritual and elastic in terms of time and place. Time slowed down and felt like a piece of taffy – stretchable and yielding in my hands. A cosmic sense flowed all day both days, hiking in and around Uluru and Kata Tjuta. I circled, them, climbed them and photographed them during the days’ excursions and at day’s end and start. I felt as though I got to know both a bit in my time there.

These past two days rank up there with the best days and experiences I’ve ever had. Wow. Mesmerizing in so many ways. The groove has been so clear and overwhelmingly powerful.

Listening to Santana / Europa in the car en route to Alice Springs and Darwin today, at full blast several times (well, more than a couple), was the perfect music for my state of mind. Totally sublime.

You can’t help but come away from Uluru and Kata Tjuta changed. They’re that powerful and moving. Rocks are simple and basic things, but in nature’s hands they can become absolutely majestic and mystical. This place is like the Grand Canyon in terms of how it affects you, but different and unique in its own ways. It’s so clear why the indigenous Anangu people held both sites so sacred and in such awe. They got it, for sure. When you come to Australia, you must visit Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park. It’s that cool.