Spent 3 nights, 2 days here exploring these geological wonders. First day we decided to do the Uluru base walk which took us about 3.5 hrs and it was about 35+ when we finished. It's a truly amazing piece of rock which holds a lot of significance culturally for the Aboriginals as well. There are many scared sites plus caves and overhangs that used to be areas used as kitchens, shelter and teaching. The Rock itself changes complexion with the light and weather plus has many details which you only see when you walk around. There are tiered waterfalls, honeycomb sections eroded by the wind, natural lines and ridges which all add to the beauty and character. There were still a few waterholes so these were thronged with 1000s of zebra finches and 100s of budgies risking life to get a drop of water whilst the kites and hawks hovered overhead waiting to pounce and snatch. Finished the walk red, hot and sweaty so spent to afternoon with the kids in the pool and washing clothes.
Didn't cool down much that night so very unpleasant for sleeping. Couple of showers but was so dry and hot that they literally evaporated straight away off the tent Some dumb ass locals also tried to steal from our fridge which was next to the tent so we heard them and dunk got up and scared them off. They also had stolen a few icy blocks from the camp kitchen but dropped them. An interesting way to meet your fellow campers who helped us trying to make sure they had buggered off. Shortly after that we had a thunder storm which woke everyone and a few mm of rain and a bit of gusty stuff but no damage.
Pretty exciting to be in the desert when it rains so drove out and around the rock in time to see a few small waterfalls and the totally changed complexion of the rock resulting from a bit of water. It changes so fast thou that within a couple of hours it was all blue skies and dried out again. The kids loved the local art so went back to the gallery for them to get some small pieces. The bigger ones which are very striking cost anywhere from $15-20000!! I think I need to get a job before splashing out on that. All the paintings are done right there and proceeds going back into the local community thou and didn't have a made in XYZ (not Australia) sticker on it.
Onto Kata Tjuta then for a later then expected start to the valley of wind walk. This is a 7.5km walk thru the domes, gorges and valleys of Kata Tjuta and is incredible. It's closed by 11am thou if the temp goes above 35. It was a much cooler more pleasant day thou and we completed the hike in about 2 hours. It's a really fun, spectacular walk as you wind in and around the domes then out the other side. Saw a big perentie lizard and some beautiful Variegated fairy wrens which are just tiny and so gregarious. Also heaps of zebra finches but they are now so common we don't even look at them anymore!! Think this walk is probably even more specy then Uluru and we really enjoyed it. Forgot to bring lunch in our hurry to see the wet rock so had to have cake instead! Did walpa gorge as well which is very steep sided but kind of under whelming compared to the other stuff we had seen.
Brilliant showing the kids this area and they really enjoyed it. So glad we spent a few days here. Everyone should and there's accommodation for all budgets at the resort. Also brought back some great memories of the few days we had spent here with Dunks folks in 2005 (we'd just done a 24 hr rogaine with friend Matt so I suspect we ate their fridge and food supplies out!).
Also the backpacking trip in Bob the beer Monster (a reliably unreliable yellow Ford Falcon station wagon which we coerced around Oz) which conked out in the forecourt of the servo. Cheers to the wonderful times Trish, Tara, Declan and Karen (RIP legend). As Dunk said he was glad he didn't have to camp near any of our former selves!!
Also wonderful to see the desert transformed by a bit of water. It was truly beautiful yesterday.
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