AM Aussie Road Trip

Tuesday 7^th July

Short trip today so we decided instead of booking into the camp ground we would drive straight out to Kata Tjuta aka The Olgas. Kata Tjuta means many heads and is a place of men’s business. It is about a 55km drive into the National Park from Yulara – Ayres Rock camping ground. We walked some of the Valley of the Winds walk which if completed can take up to 4hrs.

Kata Tjuta up close

In the middle but only a quarter of the way along the walk.

Kata Tjuta is made up of 28 rounded domes with the tallest, Mt. Olga at 545.4 m above the surrounding plain, making it almost 200 metres higher than nearby Uluru. The domes are made of the sedimentary rock conglomerate with iron oxide impurities.

Back to the camp ground to book in. When you drive into Yulara and the Ayres Rock Resort you are driving into a small township which has a primary school, child care centre, police station, medical centre and ambulances, fire station, post office, bank, service station and a small supermarket as well as various levels of accommodation. The camp ground is very big and well set out but super busy.

Wednesday 8^th July

Up at 5.15 to get mini bus to see the sunrise over The Rock. Quiet a chilli morning but not down to zero. Good clear morning so took lots of pics. Lots and lots of overseas visitors from particularly one continent so the mini bus driver suggested that we don’t go to the normal viewing platform but rather down the bottom track and it was so much better as there were no trees blocking the view and it was so much more peaceful.

Just before sunrise, a little chilli but not too bad

Just after sunrise with the first rays of the day to lighten The Rock.

We then walked the around the rock at 8am and it was the best time as we were the only ones on the track for the first hour of our 2 hour walk(voltarens for dinner were needed).

Just one of the special features that are apart of Uluru. This is the weathered feature of Mulga Man followed by a footprint. This is on the Eastern side of Uluru and you can't walk close to the Rock as this is the more sacred side for the indigenous people. We walked through the bush over 600 metres from Uluru's base.

Away from the eastern side you walk alongside Uluru

The smile

Many people walked up the rock today but not our cup of tea, far too dangerous and I’m not a woose but it’s a crazy walk.

This is the crazy walk up the rock. The only safety is a low single chain that is strung from small posts most of the way up the rock. There is no chain between the cluster of rocks at the bottom and the start of the people on this climb. The reason for this being that the guy who put the posts in said that if a person can't get to the rope chain then they shouldn't be climbing the rock. When they reach the top of this pic they are only a third of the climb. All the locals think it is too dangerous to climb. 47 people have died climbing and about 2 weeks ago a Korean man decided that he would take a short cut and come down over the other side and fell breaking both his arms, legs and shoulder and I can't remember what else but only that he hit a tree he would not have survived.

Back to campsite for some ‘housework’ – what’s that have forgotten already. Finally worked TV so were able to get Origin and had dinner at campsite instead of going to pub and being humiliated by NSW’s terrible performance.

Thursday 9^th July

Casual morning bummed around which was relaxing. Went for a bike ride around the area and spent some time over at the shops and of course couldn’t help myself and spent lots on cute things for the grandkids. Rode out to see the camel farm next to the town.

The Camel Farm

Give us a kiss

There are many camels all being looked after well.

Went to the Sounds of Silence dinner tonight. You get picked up at 5pm and taken to a viewing spot to watch the sunset over Uluru while drinking champagne and eating canapés. While there we met a lovely couple from Geelong, so when they asked for groups of 4 to be seated we were set. You are seated at tables of ten. The four of us were seated with six people from the state of Texas and we had a very interesting and entertaining night. The food was very good(barramundi, kangaroo, wattle seed pudding to name hardly any) the wine was plenty and even though it was a cloudy night, which was a bummer, we got to do some star gazing.