Uluru - Kata Tjuta

We've spent a week at Yulara, which is the purpose built resort to service Uluru and Kata Tjuta (formally known as Ayers Rock and The Olgas). We visited every day, and did all the walks on offer, as well as going at both sunrise and sunset to see the changing colours. The day we went to the sunset was a bit cloudy and thus a bit disappointing (see photo left with the 2 of us) but the sunrise day was perfect (see below). Except that was the only day of our stay that was chilly, particularly at sunrise at 7:05! Lucky that we didn't visit in Summer, when the sun rises before 6, you'd have to get out of bed by about 4:45 to get there in time.

Some of the walks were quite taxing, particularly the Valley of the Winds at Kata Tjuta, which was 7.6km with some very steep climbs, while others were very gentle, such as a 1km flat walk into a waterhole at the base of Uluru. We didn't even know there was permanent water at Uluru, but there are several waterholes that are at least semi-permanent. Although the area around is certainly arid, it is by no means the treeless desert that we had always imagined. There are some quite large trees around both Uluru and Kata Tjuta, and even on the flat plains there is scrub and spinifex grass.

We didn't climb Uluru, the local people who have ownership and joint management of the nataional park ask that you don't, as it violates their spiritual beliefs, particularly when people die up there as apparently they do fairly regularly. Besides, it looked extremely difficult! We did however walk around the base, which is 9.4km but totally flat. The place absolutely swarms with tourists, you see them setting off up the rock climb without even a hat, or pass them on the base walk with no water or food even when the day is 33 degrees.

A cool change finally came through a couple of days ago, resulting in our chilly morning, and now we can look forward to a series of perfect mid-20s days and good sleeping temperatures overnight. We went from tossing and turning with just a sheet over us to the Winter doona in the space of 2 nights!