Journey's Beyond The Nest: September 2021

Thursday, 30 September 2021

Days 90-93 Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park, and Lamberts Centre of Australia

Days 90-93 Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park, and Lambert’s Centre of Australia

It was an easy driving day on the bitumen from Watarrka to Yalara, the locality near Uluru. On the way we stopped at Curtin Springs for diesel, and they had one of those trees painted blue. I have noticed them around the place, but never knew what they signified, until today.

https://www.bluetreeproject.com.au/

Our mission is to help spark difficult conversations and encourage people to speak up when battling mental health concerns.

By spreading the paint and spreading the message that "it’s OK to not be OK", we can help break down the stigma that’s still largely attached to mental health.

We drove onto Yalara and checked into the campground.. There was lots of complaining on Wikicamps about the price of camping here, but we’re in the middle of nowhere, so it is what it is. The unpowered lawns (yes, actual lawns) were pretty spacious, and we were able to choose a spot that we could set up the car and trailer alongside the lawn. The local IGA is well stocked but predictably pricey (just an observation, not complaining!)
A 3 day pass to access Uluru and Kata Tjuta is $38 per adult, children are free. The park opens at 5am and closes at 7pm, to accommodate people wanting to take sunrise and sunset photos. At Kata Tjuta we went to the Valley of the Winds walk. The K-team turned back at the 1^st lookout, and then did some maths in the air-conditioned car, and Ben and Nicole continued on to the 2^nd lookout, in the shimmering heat.
Some friends from Adelaide happened to be at Uluru at the same time as us, so we met them at the sunset carpark at 6pm and waited for the magic moment. It was pretty amazing. To see Uluru up close was breath-taking. We were looking forward to tomorrow when we would get even closer.

The next morning our alarm sounded at 5:30am. Collective groans. But we got up and ate something and got going, as we’d booked a bike hire for 7am to ride around the base of Uluru. The bikes had 3 speeds, one brake and seats with questionable comfort, but it was a better option for us than walking the 10km around the base, or paying megabucks for a Segway tour or helicopter ride. It took us 2.5hr to complete the circuit, stopping to ooh and ahh along the way, and taking photos only at non-sensitive sites. (The rock details and features at sensitive sites are like sacred scripture to Anangu people - they describe culturally important information, and should only be viewed in their original location and by specific people. It is inappropriate for images of sensitive sites to be viewed elsewhere.)
After returning the bikes and the helmets, we did a cultural tour – a ranger-guided tour of the Mala walk. Really interesting. https://parksaustralia.gov.au/uluru/do/ranger-guided-activities/ranger-guided-mala-walk/

On our last day we bid our Adelaide friends goodbye as they headed off to Watarrka, and we headed east to Lambert’s Geographical Centre of Australia, which Ben really wanted to tick off his bucket list. https://www.ga.gov.au/scientific-topics/national-location-information/dimensions/centre-of-australia-states-territories#heading-4 The location itself was full of flies and prickles, and we couldn’t get out of there fast enough the next morning. But Ben was happy at having ticked it off his list :)

Kata Tjuta

Kata Tjuta - up close and personal

Our friends from Adelaide decided to leg it around the rock rather than cycle. I might point out that they walked around in 2hrs, and it took us almost 3hrs to cycle.

Days 88-89 Watarrka National Park (Kings Canyon)

Days 88-89 Watarrka National Park

We stayed at the Kings Canyon Resort and Holiday Park. There was a bushfire nearby a few days ago and the resort was evacuated. Their sunset viewing platform was damaged but everything else seems OK. As is normal in the red centre, we camped on red dust in the unpowered section. The Amenities are new and pretty good. There are stable-like doors on them to keep the dingoes out. There seems to be lots of building/renovating going on here, and it was a bit mismatched, e.g. there were abundant picnic/dishwashing areas around the park, but the plugs were the wrong size for the sinks, so we couldn’t actually wash our dishes there. Some amenities were still being worked on / completed. There was a beautiful big swimming pool but it was freezing, and full of gum leaves and dead hornets, so it wasn’t very appealing. Keith was brave and swam in it but even he didn’t stay in long. A friend told us that the resort has just changed hands, so maybe they’re in a transition. It was all perfectly adequate for our needs though, and very reasonably priced. There is a petrol station at the entrance to the park that is also a general store. There is H+ mobile reception here, but it’s a bit hit and miss, because the tower is on the roof of the reception building, about 300 metres away from our camp site.

We went to Kings Canyon itself (6km drive from the resort, https://nt.gov.au/leisure/parks-reserves/find-a-park/find-a-park-to-visit/watarrka-national-park ) and Ben and Nicole did the 6km Rim Loop, which takes 3-4 hours according to the sign. They did it in 3hrs. The K-team chose the shorter, easier walk along the creek, which took about 45 minutes. There were lots of flies, but also interesting info boards and sculptures of birds and animals along the way. After all that we had a rest/recovery afternoon back at camp.

Ben and Nicole heading to the start of the rim walk.

And up the stairs they go...

Sunday, 26 September 2021

Days 84-87 – Tjoritja (West MacDonnell Ranges)

(Kate)

Days 84-87 – Tjoritja (West MacDonnell Ranges)

There are lots of gorges to visit and walks to do in the West MacDonnell Ranges – it wasn’t possible for us to visit them all, so we visited a few.

Simpson’s Gap was an easy 15 minute walk from the carpark. There was some water there, and the rock formations were stunning.

Angkerle Atwatye (Standley Chasm) had a kiosk that made wonderful coffee, and is one of the stopping points for folks walking the Larapinta trail. Kate chatted with a walker from NZ who was walking the trail with a friend. She told us about a young walker who for some reason could not return to his home in Melbourne, and so to pass the time was simply walking the trail from one end to the other. And back again. And so on. He is known amongst the other walkers as “trail Jesus”. The walk to the chasm itself was beautiful – an oasis of plants and wildlife. Well worth the entry fee.

Ellery Creek Big Hole is one of the largest permanent waterholes in the West MacDonnells. It is deep and very cold, so caution is advised for swimming. People have died swimming in this waterhole. Nicole dipped her big toe in the water and declared “no way”. It was super-cold.

Finke River Two Mile Bush camping area – one of the best free camps we have experienced so far. Loads of space - enough for plenty of people, without crowding each other. High clearance 4WD and lowered tyres essential to avoid geographical embarrassment (i.e. getting bogged). Ben did some repairs on the trailer brakes while we were there, as they had suffered an injury.

Ormiston Gorge. A must-do walk. There is also a café here, which we used to fuel up on caffeine before our walk. There were some adorable golden coloured pigeons with mohawks that strutted around the outdoor café at high speed. I heard someone call them spinifex pigeons. We did the Ghost Gum loop which was grade 3, 1.5 hours. It was challenging but the reward of the views and stunning rock formations was worth it.

Palm Valley. We stayed at the campground here, which was 4WD-only access from the highway, but it was easy enough for the Deli and Ben’s expert driving. The campground was nice – good amenities, and untreated water available from a tank. There were massive communal fire pits (BYO wood) which were great venues for chatting to other travellers and swapping stories. We did the Mpulungkinya walk itself the next day, a 5km loop, recommended time 2 hrs, which was very challenging for the “K team” (Kate and Keith) but Nicole and Ben, who can both walk the legs off an emu, thought it was brilliant. It’s worth noting that you can walk from the campground to the start of the walk, but we drove for the 4WD challenge – yeeha. Lots of rocky steps, but nothing that the Deli and Ben couldn’t handle. We were all so wrecked after doing this walk that we decided to stay another night and go to bed early.

The Boggy Hole Track. The BHT runs between Larapinta Drive, near Hermannsburg, and the Ernest Giles Road. It’s 70km, but it’s NOT a short cut. It took us about 6 hours, of challenging 4WDing. We checked with the ranger at Palm Valley before we left, on the condition of the road, and he said it was all good. We stopped at the Boggy Hole itself to make lunch, and noticed lots of previous campfires, so lots of people travel this road for the adventure.