Week 4 - Ayers Rock, The Olgas, Kings Canyon to Alice Springs


We spent four nights at Yulara Resort near Ayers Rock (Uluru). After setting up the van we went for a walk around the resort and did some shopping. It’s quite warm during the days with 24-28 degrees, but chilly at night down to 8 degrees. In the morning we drove the 10km to Ayers Rock and entered the National Park. 



 sunset colours


The locals ask that you don’t climb the rock as it is sacred to them. This didn’t stop the busloads of Asians from climbing and making fools of themselves on all fours on the rock. We went for a walk around the base of the rock and were amazed by the sheer size and geology of the rock. There are many holes and caves where the water has eroded the rock away, leaving black scars along the rock.



 Finally found a wave!

 In the afternoon we went to the ishop (information desk) and booked a trip to the Field of Light for that night.  The Field of Light is an artist’s installation where he has arranged 50000 blown glass globes around the scrub and lit them with coloured solar lights.  The effect is amazing as the display constantly changes and really stands out against the starry sky.

We also booked a flight in a helicopter for the next day and found ourselves flying over Ayers Rock and the Olgas (Kata Tjuta). The flight went for about half an hour and is a perfect way to see the rocks. The scale from the air is amazing. We really enjoyed the flight and highly recommend this to anyone thinking of coming here.





After out helicopter flight we had an early lunch then drove the 50km to the Olgas. The Olgas are a group of domed rocks with huge valleys between. They are made of conglomerate, which is thousands of rocks glued together with sand and mud which then hardens over millions of years to form solid rock. We went on two really long walks through the Valley of the Winds and the Walpa Gorge. We were very tired after these walks.

 The track is like walking on the moon might be!
That's Nanna holding up the cliff!




The next day we found out it was the annual Uluru Camel Cup, a country race meeting with a difference. The camels race around a horseshoe shaped track and really lope along quite fast. There was a country Ball on the night and a heavily contested Fashions on the Field. We were lucky to time our visit with this event which was lots of fun.



We visited Ayers Rock one more time in the afternoon before we left the next day for Kings Canyon. I think Nanna could have stayed at Uluru for weeks, she really loved the rock.


We paid $2.15 a litre for diesel at Yulara. There is only one petrol station! The drive to Kings Canyon was a long one. We saw brumbies and wild camels wandering near the road. We settled in before a walk around the resort campground. There are dingoes which roam around the campground and the people next door to us had their shoes taken by a dingo, well one shoe anyway. It’s important not to leave any food outside your van and never to feed the dingoes as they are wild animals. We could hear them howling during the night – eerie!
The next day we got up early and drove into Kings Canyon. We decided to do the Canyon Rim walk which is very steep to start off with. We have been doing lots of bushwalks so we are getting fitter it seems. Nanna did really well and made it up the steep climb. I kept telling her she was nearly there (but we were really only 1/2 way up.  





The views were outstanding with steep cliffs dropping down into valleys. The walk took us nearly 3 hours. The top of the canyon is made from layers of sandstones which have weathered into domes. 





 Pa found a beach, well a fossil beach. Only 400 million years too late!


Nanna even found a fossil of a fish but we couldn't get it out of the rock. There would be millions of fossils around here.

We had lunch then decided to do the canyon walk along the bottom of the canyon. This was a quick walk as there had been a rock fall from the cliffs and the walk was cut off by huge boulders about 1 km in.


The drone took some good picture from the air. You can see the steep track we went up running from the bottom right of the picture below and up the ridge to the top. To give some scale it was a 350m climb almost straight up 600 steps.

We left Kings canyon the next day and drove 350km to a free camp on the Finke River. To get there we again passed through Erldunda, the exact Centre of Australia (or so they claim). We paid $1.99 a litre for diesel here.

At the free camp we met a couple who pulled in in front of us and they came from Burrill Lake! Go figure. 


We arrived in Alice Springs today and went to Woolies to stock up after being in the wild for the past week. We had no tv, mobile coverage or shops to stock up so we were pretty low on food. We stay here for 4 night before heading up the Stuart Highway towards Darwin.

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