Roadtrip - Uluru and Kata Tjuta

Kings Canyon

Kings Canyon in Watarrka National Park is 450 odd kilometers from Alice Springs and you get to make 2 right turns to get there, woohoo. The drive was spiced up a little as the size of our potential roadkill increased significantly. We were no longer in fear of hitting a kangaroo or emu, NO, the stakes had been raised to cattle, horses and camels. Yes, you read that correctly, camels! Explorers of central Australia used camels on their expeditions as they are built to withstand desert conditions. Some of these expeditions failed or the animals simply ran away and now there are thousands of camels free in the deserts of Australia.

A fire that was directly next to the road

At Kings Canyon we walked the rim, it began with a challenging 500-step climb up the side of the canyon. It was worth every step, 6km in just over 2 hours and as the sun rose further and further into the sky the colours of the rock just kept on changing. We got to see all sorts of rock, a pooping lizard and some incredibly ancient plants in the Garden of Eden.  Since that walk wasn’t enough we then did the 2.6 km Kings Creek Walk tracing the bottom of the gorge. It was recommended that we finish the walks by 10am or else it would be too hot and the risk of heat stroke and injury is significantly greater. Whilst we didn’t see a dingo out in the wild (Dinky the singing dingo doesn’t count) we did get to enjoy listening to them howl and bark at night whilst we enjoyed a quiet cold beer or 2.

Pooping lizard

High risk walking conditions

Uluru

Next we went to Anangu land (the local indigenous community’s name) which is home to Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park. Our first glimpse of Uluru was midafternoon when it was surrounded by heat haze.  This didn’t last long as a small short storm cleared the afternoon air and changed the colour of the rock.

We met up with a Ranger at the base of the rock in the morning and during a walk along part of it we listened and learned about indigenous culture at Uluru. When you look at the photo, do you see a mans head and face or a picture of a brain?

Mans face?? or Human brain??

Culturally this is a man looking south to where his family was hiding in safety. There are lots of local stories about why Uluru looks the way it does and it was interesting to learn some of them. After the Rangers walk The House of Spaz walked around the entire 10km base of Uluru (with respect to the local owners we didn’t climb it). It was a long and hot walk, we each drank over 3 liters of water in just over 2 ½ hours but it was incredible. The colour of the rock, the sky, the trees was awesome!The storm in the afternoon made The other Spaz think that the rock looked like it had snow on it but Spaz thought that it was just reflecting the colour of the clouds (so unimaginative ((or logical, have your pick)).

Rain jacket at the rock!

Waterfalls :-)

Looks like snow has fallen on it

Awesome sunset

Kata Tjuta 

After the base walk we headed over to Kata Tjuta to have lunch and walk into the Valley of the Kings. The other Spaz was hot and bothered and not in the mood to walk into the first lookout (track was closed after that due to high temperatures) so we drove a round a little then retreated back to the pool. Whilst sitting by the pool we watched a MASSIVE storm front come towards us. It was 3 monsoons coming together. It rained for over an hour (what the Ranger told us was needed to see waterfalls at Uluru) so we got in the car. It was amazing to be wearing our rain jackets at Uluru and to see waterfalls running down and off the rock where only 5 hours earlier, the other Spaz was suffering with the heat. After speaking to a few locals we learned that this was a once in a year phenomenon and we got to see it :-) We then stayed to watch sunset at Uluru and we were treated to rainbows over the rock :-)

Magical! And for The other Spaz THE highlight of the trip!

The red center

Dirt?? or Suntan??