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Awesome Rocks!
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Up early on 6th for shuttle to airport and flight to Ayers Rock. Great flight (only couple of hours) across the desert with the occasional lake and river between the bright red earth. Then the pilot kindly flew over what I thought was Ayers Rock for us, but was actually Kata Tjuta/The Olgas, and then past the rock itself which was fab.
Having read our guide before we got here we prepared to be completely fleeced but worked out that it was cheaper to rent a car, buy a tent, sleeping bags and mats and stay at a camp site 2 nights than it was to stay in any of the accommodation here plus get the shuttle buses. We got our hire car and drove into Yulara (the tourist village that services the rocks) and then found the campsite which was actually pretty nice green lawns, fridges, barbies, clean showers/toilets. We were not sure how long it would take us to put up the tent and def thought we should do in daylight but managed to do so pretty effortlessly in 10 mins. Then drove off to Uluru (Ayers Rock) to buy our passes ($25 AUD) 3 days is about 10k drive away. First went to the Cultural Centre to find out about the significance of the rock to Aborigines and particularly the Anangu the local people which was interesting. There is a lot of info about the sacredness of parts of the rock and how they don't want people to climb it for safety and spiritual reasons. We then went to the sunset spot to see the sunset (funnily enough) which was pretty busy but amazing. The rock itself is bright red and most of the landscape is green with a lot of trees and bushes (a lot less deserty than we imagined) and red earth. Is completely flat until you see the rock protrude out of nowhere and is massive and lots of different shapes in the side of it. As the sun set the rock obviously got darker and darker and the sun then seemd to disappear and about 5 minutes later the rock then went bright red and was absolutely beautiful. We were not disappointed.
After this we then went back to Yulara to find some reasonable priced food and buy supplies at the supermarket which was also pretty extortionate. Having said that we are in the middle of nowhere and they have got a captive audience so it could be a lot worse! We then go for dinner to the Outback Pioneer Barbecue Restaurant where we get a plate of raw crocodile, emu, kangaroo and cook it on the barbie plus as much as we want salad, jacket potatoes etc. Was good fun despite the Aussie singer in the background trying to get us to participate in some great tunes and dances! Back to the tent to get some sleep ready for an even earlier start tomorrow and have a v fitful night sleep. Get up at 5am to get to Uluru for sunrise before the 6.59 sunrise and Dave gets some great photos. Is v similar to sunset but fewer people and pretty cold at this time in the morning! We then drive to another spot to have our brekkie (marmite sandwiches - fantastic!. We then saw quite a lot of people doing the climb up the rock (although it is shut quite a lot due to wind) which I was surprised about, but we decided not to. Instead we start our 11km walk around the base of Uluru where you can see all the different rock formations, many of which are sacred sites you can't photograph, aboriginal paintings and water holes, wildlife etc. Was actually a good walk and not too hot at this time of day. Then decided to drive to Kata Tjuta (about 40km away) to see this rock which is more like several big globuley rocks. On the way we have to stop for a sleep as we are both shattered at this point. We then try to find a barbie here (as there is one at Uluru) for our sausage lunch but there isn't one so instead we make some tuna sandwiches (fortunately had a tin with us as no other supplies until back in Yulara) followed by a mint Aero (its great having Cadburys chocolate out here). We then do the 'Valley of the Winds' walk which is up through the rocks and includes 2 fantastic lookout points where you are literally between 2 of the massive rocks and can see several in the distance and the flat desert between you. Was a more difficult walk than the previous one but was worth it. Was about 7km and was pretty hot too plus my knee started to hurt again but we still managed it. Only criticism would be that it should be called 'Valley of the Flies' not 'Winds' although it was pretty breezy there were far more flies bugging you all the way round which was incredibly annoying and almost made us want to get one of the stupid cork hats!!
After that walk we were then going to do the hour long gorge walk also here but I wimped out and Dave decided it didn't look that good so instead we went to the sunset viewing point here and had another sleep before we went to the viewing platform which was in front of Kata Tjuta and you could see Uluru in the distance. Was lovely sunset with a few clouds but this didn't help the rocks go as red as yesterday so was less impressive from that respect. Drove back to Yulara in a rush to find a barbie to cook our sausages which was doomed never to work as one barbie didn't work and then when we found one that did our lighter (bought in Moscow and never used) didn't work so abandoned that plan and went to the take-away instead. Were in a rush as going to the observatory for 20.30. Just managed to make it and spent an hour outside in the darkness where you have never seen so many stars as there is so little light pollution and no buildings around you at all. Were given a talk about the skies here and what we could see e.g. Southern Cross, different star signs, etc which was pretty interesting then looked through the very powerful telescopes to see stars closer up and realise they were several stars or reddy colours, etc. We then looked at the moon which was amazing - could see all the craters and was so clear and then Saturn where we could see the rings. Both seriously considering buying a telescope when we get home (although suspect one this powerful would be a bit out of our league).
By this time we were flagging so back to campsite and virtually conked out as we zipped up our sleeping bags! Managed to force ourselves up again for sunrise again on Saturday and went to the Uluru sunset point as Dave wanted to get some silhouette shots of the rock. Was beautiful again and great to see from another perspective. Then drove around the rock one last time. Went back to the tent and had another couple of hours sleep before we took it down and had our brekkie. Back to airport for our 12.40 flight to Cairns. More thumbnails ...
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