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Being geographically challenged (I live oceans away) I have yet to visit in person, but (for me) I've come to imagine this as a place to travel not only physically, but that it has a much deeper underlying meaning that can be visited without a dusty jeep ride and a canteen. Maybe I can explain a little more...
As a child I remember being introduced to this place as Ayers Rock, but I've read that it's referred to among the folks indigenous to the area as Uluru. And, it's sacred in their tradition.
Growing up as an english speaker, I was surprised to read that Uluru has no simple english translation! This was pivotal in my life as a young student: It was one of the first times I began to understand that language is imperfect as a mechanism to achieve communication. Even worse that as a language becomes formalized it can gain and lose nuance and in translating between different languages, infamously more so. Words are some of humanity's most interesting and maddening inventions and worthy of so much more study and practice!
I view my own fascination with this place as a lesson about family, story telling and oral tradition, the importance of our elders as well as people from times, traditions and cultures outside of our own. And a warning that words can be traps for ourselves sometimes. As a means of labelling physical X,Y,Z coordinates on a map, Ayers Rock seems a fitting name, and perhaps Uluru describes place in a deeper sense than we're used to.
Regardless, I'm in awe of the place and I hope you are too.
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