Ayres Rock and The Olgas

The Olgas - Valley of the Winds

We arrived at Yulara 'resort' on Saturday afternoon after traveling 750 km from Coober Pedy, well worth the long trip. We immediately set up camp and climbed the sand dune directly behind our tent and saw Uluru. What a magnificent sight! We grabbed a drink and watched the sun set, unfortunetly I think the changing colours of Uluru is a set up by the tourist board and photoshopped by photographers. For 3 mornings and nights we have watched sunrise and sunset with no surperb colour change. Each night the weather has been different. (We were very lucky to miss a big storm in Coober Pedy - the section of the Oodnadatta Track that we took was closed shortly after we travelled it due to too much rain). It was also cold! Top temperatures were only 20 degrees.

The Olgas - Walpa Gorge

1^st May

We spent the day at The Olgas. The first hike was to explore The Valley of the Winds. This was just over 7 km walk that scrambles over rocks and through a gorge. There were many wild flowers in bloom, which Tim stopped to take many photos of.  There were many insects about including a very large and colourful centipede that Declan thought he should take home. Back at the car the kids were exhausted but with a bit of encouragement (and lollies) they were ready to do a relatively short walk (2.6km) through Walpa Gorge. This gorge has plants that are endemic only to Walpa Gorge. (They can’t be found anywhere else in the world.)

Back at camp we spent more time getting to know the other campers. Declan met another Declan, which it seems we’ll be following each other around NT and WA. Thomas also met up with a boy from his class who has also take the term off to do pretty much the same trip as us, so looks like we’ll be seeing them again too.

Looking out from Ayres Rock to the Olgas

2^nd May

The sun was out but it was still quite windy so we resigned ourselves to not walking up the rock. Tom was particularly disappointed. We thought we’d head out and do the circuit (10km) walk around Ayres rock instead. As we were packing a picnic lunch Declan scootered back to camp in delight as they had opened Ayres Rock.

Once at the rock Declan was very nervous about the climb. He had overheard the neighbours discussing that if you slipped you would fall off and die. In actual fact 35 people have died climbing Ayres Rock. The indigenous people also prefer you not to climb it too.

Uluru - Up the chain

So with great excitement from Tom and nervousness from Declan we started the ascent. The climb begins with a chain and is very steep going up one of the spurs. Unfortunately a busload of tourists had just landed and it was very busy. We nick-named them the “White Glove Gang’ as they all wore white cotton gloves. Most of these people stopped at the top of the chain and then descended again, so the next two thirds of the climb was quiet but windy and cold. Declan was over his initial nerves by this stage so the rest of the climb went quickly. At one place we came over a bluff and onto the southern side of the rock when Tim’s hat blew off. We thought it was a goner when it landed in a stinking green puddle of water!

Ayres Rock is full of hollows and ridges carved out by the wind and the rain. There was still quite a bit of water and plants on top of it. It took us about an hour and fifteen minutes to go up and 45 minutes to come back down.

The views were stunning!

Base of Uluru - Mala Walk

We did two more short walks instead of walking the circumference of the rock. Both take you through culturally significant places of the Aboriginal people. In some areas you couldn’t take photos. We saw Aboriginal artwork and billabongs with the contrasting colours of the green gum trees against the red of Ayres Rock beautiful. Our photos don't do it justice.