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 1st lookout, and then did some maths in the air-conditioned car, and Ben and Nicole continued on to the 2nd 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.





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