I'm not drunk, that monolith is invisible !

March 30, 2006 12:59 PM

Hard to See Uluru (formerly Ayers' Rock) the "red center of Australia" isn't just as tall as an 85 story building, it's surrounded by hundreds of square miles of nothing. Uluru - It's not just big, it's [insert your tagline here].
posted by AuntLisa (39 comments total)

For a better account and some information on Uluru, you could read In a Sunburned Land by Bill Bryson.
posted by jon_kill at 1:02 PM on March 30, 2006

Uluru - It's not just big, it's Vaffanculo!
posted by NationalKato at 1:02 PM on March 30, 2006

Uluru - It's not just big, it's qonsar's dick.
posted by kalessin at 1:03 PM on March 30, 2006

I am pretty sure the 'Red Centre' refers not just to Ayers Rock, but to the general region in which it happens to lie - specifically, the red bit in Australia's centre.
posted by Soulfather at 1:12 PM on March 30, 2006

Uluru - It's not just big, it's < big> < big> .
posted by dersins at 1:12 PM on March 30, 2006 [1 favorite]

Well, THAT didn't work.
posted by dersins at 1:12 PM on March 30, 2006 [1 favorite]

Fact: A hell of a lot of things in Australia are surrounded by hundred of square miles of nothing. Shit, my house practically is.
posted by Jimbob at 1:18 PM on March 30, 2006

Whose idea was it to sign Metafilter up for the "trade content with FARK for a week" event?
posted by pmbuko at 1:19 PM on March 30, 2006

Uluru on Google Maps. That seriously is the middle of nowhere.

When was the name changed?
posted by Faint of Butt at 1:22 PM on March 30, 2006

Uluru - It's not just big, it's probably quite lonely.
posted by GaelFC at 1:26 PM on March 30, 2006

You momma so fat, her name's been changed to Uluru!
posted by fenriq at 1:33 PM on March 30, 2006

Uluru - It's not just big, it's Vaffanculo!

"Go take it up the arse"?!?? Uluru?!?!?
posted by UbuRoivas at 1:42 PM on March 30, 2006

Must I introduce you to Mr. Goatse, UbuRoivas?
posted by NationalKato at 1:43 PM on March 30, 2006

Australia has an outie.
posted by jfuller at 1:46 PM on March 30, 2006

I'll agree with pmbuko that the article is not actually obscure enough for an FPP in general - but I was really looking forward to the comments. As ever - y'all don't disappoint.
posted by AuntLisa at 2:05 PM on March 30, 2006

Uluru - It's not just big, it's also red. Like Clifford would be if he wasn't so much a dog as a gigantic lump of rock.
posted by Sparx at 2:06 PM on March 30, 2006

Recommended Reading: Bill Bryson does a wonderful job describing it in Sunburned Country.
posted by blue_beetle at 2:28 PM on March 30, 2006

Uluru - It's not just big, it's giving Kirsty Alley's ass a run for it's money!
posted by Parannoyed at 2:36 PM on March 30, 2006

I'm so sorry
posted by Parannoyed at 2:39 PM on March 30, 2006

Sure it did, dersins!
posted by crunchland at 2:43 PM on March 30, 2006

Man, and my people think little boxes on the hillside are holy.
posted by Citizen Premier at 2:57 PM on March 30, 2006

When was the name changed?

Uluru is the original Aborigine name for Ayers Rock, much like Denali = Mt. McKinley.
posted by justkevin at 4:21 PM on March 30, 2006

Next on Metafilter: teaching Americans that you can't drive to Hawaii!
posted by stavrosthewonderchicken at 4:24 PM on March 30, 2006

Uluru - It's not just big, it's POLITICAL CORRECTNESS GONE MAD!

Sorry, I've been dying to use PCGM for years.
posted by Sk4n at 5:10 PM on March 30, 2006

The name was changed in 1995 - see this page for a short history of the area.
posted by jacalata at 5:14 PM on March 30, 2006

Uluru - It's not just big, it's

A rock legend from the Dreaming.
posted by Tarrama at 5:20 PM on March 30, 2006

After maybe an hour's climb, in sweltering hear with thousands of flies buzzing in your face, right at the very top of Uluru there is a small outcrop of rock much like a table. Once upon a time, upon this rock, was a book that recorded all of those who'd made the journey to the top and had surveyed the glory of the Australia's Outback - virtually unchanged since the Dreamtime thousands of years ago. This book remained at the top for 50 or more years, thousands of people wrote their names, some may be famous, others may have been paupers but each one made an effort that day by braving the elements so that they could record their name forever as one of the few, the elite who had been there.

Some son of a bitch stole that book and now there is a tiny little Japanese diary with about 5,000 names written in it. Round about page 36 (that'd make it about May 16th or something) in tiny wee writing it says -

Not as big as I thought it would be - longbaugh
posted by longbaugh at 5:59 PM on March 30, 2006

Uluru - it's not just big, it's on a motherfucking plain!
posted by Foosnark at 6:49 PM on March 30, 2006

The name was changed in 1995

Note that the name of the park was changed in 1995 — the rock was renamed Uluru in 1985.
posted by Wolof at 7:05 PM on March 30, 2006

You gotta say Uluru sounds far more WOWful to a tourist than 'Ayers Rock'. Oh and there's the bit where the aborigines are supposed to think they're more accepted now, not that anyone else really gives a shit about them. *sigh*

But the aboriginal names, art, and mysticism works wonders for the tourist dollar. Look at all those people who buy didgeridoos or boomerangs or any of the other crap they have at tourist traps like Darling Habour in Sydney...
posted by Jelreyn at 9:12 PM on March 30, 2006

er... that's Harbour*
posted by Jelreyn at 9:12 PM on March 30, 2006

I found this hilarious mini-Uluru, but there's no information on what it is, exactly. (Ah, an "entertainment complex".)

Wikipedia says the renaming was 1993, when a national "dual-naming" policy was instituted. Personally, I prefer the native name -- although that's probably at some level a kind of Orientalism, or a Hanging Rock [warning: noise] holdover, because it sounds supernatural and mysterious (then again, it is supposed to be supernatural and mysterious).
posted by dhartung at 9:40 PM on March 30, 2006

Uluru - it's not just big, it's on a motherfucking plain!

I want this motherfucking Uluru off this motherfucking plane!

*apologizes copiously to everyone, withdraws*
posted by jokeefe at 9:43 PM on March 30, 2006

Wikipedia says the renaming was 1993, when a national "dual-naming" policy was instituted.


From the wiki: "On 15 December 1993, Uluru was renamed Ayers Rock / Uluru and became the first officially dual named feature in the Northern Territory".

You need to read this sentence quite carefully. The sequence goes (Aboriginal name or names) --> Ayers Rock --> Uluru --> Ayers Rock/ Uluru.
posted by Wolof at 9:54 PM on March 30, 2006

Uluru - it's not just big, it's on a motherfucking plain!

And there ain't a got damn thing you can do about it!
posted by antifuse at 12:57 AM on March 31, 2006

Uluru, it's not just big, it's what's for dinner.
posted by jonp72 at 6:42 AM on March 31, 2006

Uluru, it's not just big, it's the other red meat.
posted by jonp72 at 6:42 AM on March 31, 2006

Uluru, it's not just big, it's where we really put Jimmy Hoffa.
posted by jonp72 at 6:43 AM on March 31, 2006

Uluru, it's not just big, it's where THEY SAVED HITLER'S BRAIN!!!!
posted by jonp72 at 6:43 AM on March 31, 2006