Day 35 Yulara (Uluru and Kata Tjuta)

The biggest sacrifices are made for the greatest rewards they say.  Another early wake up this morning, and a walk to the lookout through the very brisk morning air for sunrise.  Officially, the weather bureau says that it got down to approx 3 Deg C.  the thermometer said 1 Deg C, but that was without factoring in the 45 knott wind that was blowing.  With wind chill, it was easily sub zero this morning, but we stood on the lookout for the best part of half an hour.  I have now come to realise that I am not fully prepared for the snow fields, and will require gloves...good gloves, because my fingers were stinging with cold by the time I got back to the caravan. 

Sun rise was beautiful (golden and crisp) with the rock off to our East catching the early morning rays.  We also had a vantage point that looked out to Kata Tjuta towards the North from the campground.

We tried to keep the kids interested, but the cold got the better of them before sun up, and Emma was the only one brave enough to stay with us at the lookout.  Ashley and Rowan retreated for the warmth inside the caravan.

We had a good hearty breakfast hoping to do some walks, possibly climb the rock and have a good day out.  Our first disappointment though was that the strong winds have closed the rock climb, so that probably won't be available whilst we are here.  I can't see the wind dying down any time soon as there is a massive high being fed by Antarctic winds that has formed right over us. 


We spent the morning at the cultural centre learning about the Anangu people, and the claim for title of the land after the commonwealth took it for national park back in the 50's.  We learnt alot about the cultural significance of the rock and the surrounding landmarks, and the spirituality of the place.  It is difficult not to be moved in some way by the size of Uluru, the colour and the grandeur. 

Having said that I am now vexed with a conflict.  The traditional owners ask that the rock be respected and not climbed due to cultural significance.  They also cite personal safety and some other very good reasons for not climbing the rock.  35 people have died in the attempt.  As an Australian born, I feel a connection to this place as well and would like to climb the rock as have many before me.  I would like to experience it.  Knowing the cultural significance of the place, I understand that need to be respectful, and will therefore refrain from littering, toileting and general stupidity whilst doing it.  So to climb or not to climb is the question.  I guess I will figure that one out if the weather permits an attempt.

I finally found a pair of clap sticks that had the tone I was looking for, and they are made from Red Rivergum.  Unfortunately though, Lisa was freezing and hadn't layered enough this morning, so we had to return to the caravan before we could do any exploring.  We had a bite of lunch and packed a bag for afternoon tea (Which we left on the kitchen table) and set off for Kata Tjuta (The Olga's).  We stopped at a lookout on the way and looked over the red dunes and desert oaks to both Kata Tjuta and Uluru in the distance.



From the lookout we drove around to the valley of the winds where we decided we would attempt our first walk.  The temperature was hovering around a searing 14 Degrees so again this was a walk that required beanie, jacket and for the girls, scarf and gloves.  The Valley of the Winds is aptly named, and the gale came smashing through the gorge and was directly in our face as we made our way along the rocky path.  Kata Tjuta at this point is very tall, and most of our vista was of the tall rock face to our right until we arrived at the lookout.



We decided not to try Rowans poor tired legs over another 3.5km return walk to the next lookout, so turned tail back to the car and travelled the short distance around to Walpa Gorge.  There was a rocky walk up into the gorge, and for the most part we were walking in shade as we were heading into the late part of the afternoon.  At the end of the gorge was a small billabong where there were many native trees growing.  Some unique to this region and noted as very rare. 

In a strange twist of fate, the wind that was blowing in our face all the way through the gorge, changed direction and blew into our face for the entire walk out of the gorge as well...YAY!

It was a quick drive around to the sunset viewing stop for Kata Tjuta, and we decided that we weren't going to stay, but go back to Uluru for the sunset there. 



Rowan who had made it through the whole day unscathed had his big stack of the day drawing blood from his palms.  It just wouldn't be right to have a day without the first aid kit.  Poor kid.  There isn't that much bark left on him to knock off now.  I don't know who he slighted in a previous life, but he certainly is good at finding the ground with hands, knees or face.  So I busily took a couple of photos whilst Lisa patched him up.  She's such a good mum.  No Dettol Baths for our boy.

Our final stop for the day was the sunset lookout at Uluru.  If you come to Yulara at any point in your life, this is the only thing that you MUST do.  I have put a montage together of the changing colours at the top of this blog, and have included a couple of other choice shots.  There must have been 300 people at the carpark viewing area, and another 1000 at the tour bus parking area for this moment.  The Sun set is directly behind my vantage point, but the colour changes on the rock over  the 15 minutes we were there was fantastic.

I am hopeful that we will be able to do this again tomorrow night as I would like to take the montage from a tripod to get all of the photos identical, but we will see how that goes.  Sorry for the gushing commentary all, but WOW.  Even though we didn't do too much today, the sights and sounds of the desert and the two monoliths here are Awesome!