Uluru, Australia Day Two

Today was our full day to walk around Uluru and see the other rock formation called Kata Tjuta, so we got an early start and headed out. The walk around the base of Uluru us 10.6 kms and we headed out on the trail about 10:30 a.m. The visitor brochure said the walk should take about 3.5 hours but we ended up doing it in about 2.5 hours - and that’s with stops along the way! The weather was sunny and probably in the mid 70’s. Now, we had planed ahead and purchased some sun screen before we left Sydney knowing we’d be out in the sun for an extended period of time so we dutifully slathered it on before we left. We learned quickly that one of the trademark features of this area are the small black flies which can be pretty bothersome but apparently the scent of the sunscreen we were wearing made us unusually attractive to them. They were literally swarming around us…..I mean, it was constant. We were constantly waving our hands around our heads trying to ward them off as we walked and finally tore the map in half so we could each have a better fan to keep them off. At least they weren’t biting, but they were oh so annoying. Other than that, though, it was a really gorgeous walk. Not too many people on the trail, so that made it really enjoyable as we were often the only people on it. When we got back to the beginning of the trail, we looked up to see the people walking up the trail to the top of the rock. It was really interesting how they made the trail up to the top - it was basically a guide wire strung along a series of large metal stakes driven into the rock that people used as a handrail. Man, it was really steep! Apparently it can also be quite slippery after a rainstorm as well. Hmmm…….I think we’ll stick to the base trail.

After we finished the base walk, we drove up to café at the cultural center for lunch and then on to visit the other nearby rock formations, The Olgas. They are a bit farther away and it took about a half hour to drive there. Unfortunately, since we had worn our new sandals for the base walk, I ended up with the beginnings of a blister on my right foot so when we finally got there, I changed back into my hiking shoes which REALLY helped. At The Olgas, we decided to just do the Walpa Gorge walk, which took about an hour. This was probably more impressive than Uluru simply because there were lots of rock formations in one area as opposed to just one, and the walk took you down a really interesting gorge between two huge red sandstone rocks. Loved that!

So, we’ve been here and seen the infamous Ayer’s Rock. We were definitely here the right amount of time and are now MORE than ready to move on. We both think it is a really cool and interesting place to explore but definitely a one time thing. Afterall, once you see the rocks, there really is absolutely nothing else out here but lots of red sand and desert scrub trees! So it’s off to Perth tomorrow and back to some (hopefully) more beautiful ocean scenery……stay tuned!