Shady Ayers Rock
650 million BC
-1000650 -1000650
132.00E25.00S
NAT

AUSTRALIA
	At sunset it is a particularly dramatic sight. Glowing brick-red in the twilight, this huge sandstone monolith stands alone, two-and-a-quarter miles long and towering 1,143 feet above the sandy plains of Australia like a gigantic beached whale.
	Ayers Rock, or Uluru (an aboriginal word meaning "Shady Place"), is the symbol of Australia's outback. It is located about 200 miles southwest of the little town of Alice Springs, in the center of the continent.
	The rock, which scientists believe was thrust out of the earth about 650 million years ago, attracts as many as 250,000 visitors a year, many of them in the heat of summer when temperatures climb over 100 degrees Fahrenheit. The aborigines call these tourists "minga rama," meaning crazy ants.
	Ayers Rock is a sacred spot for many aboriginal peoples, who believe mysterious supernatural beings created it and inhabit its nooks and crevices. Caves along the base of the rock have been used for male and female initiation rites.
