Uluru, Kata Tjuta and Kings Canyon

This part of our blogging has to be recognising 3 special people with special birthdays! All with a zero on the end. That is my Mum who turns 80, Dean (our oldest boy), and Kristie our niece who turn 30 this month. To all of you we say 'rock on'. Wish we could be with you but will certainly contact you when we can get some phone and internet contact back. We saw this 'Wicked' camper with the following slogan on the back and some cruel people immediately thought of Dean.

Wicked camper partying

Finally the day came to go to the Rock! The very centre of Australia.

kms from Alice to anywhere in the red centre

It is still a further 450 kms from Alice Springs. En route there are various roadhouses with unusual things to offer the tourists and entice us in for petrol, drinks and indeed overnight if we needed to. See the photos of the more unusual things you can see at a roadhouse. Camel rides are on offer as well.

a sculpted echidna at roadhouse

a sculpted lizard

friends for Pookie!

quirky things - clothes tree

As we were getting closer to Uluru we saw all sorts of rocks that you would think was Ayers Rock. These are some of the photos of the rocks we saw. We even saw a salt lake at one of the rocks we viewed. Finally we could see the real rock from a distance.

Mt Ebenezer

Mt Connor

a salt lake en route to Uluru

the rock

It is a truly amazing sight and I think every Australian who is travelling around the world should at least spend some time checking out their own backyard. We have seen it on TV and photos but nothing compares to seeing it in real life! There are so many tourists from Europe coming here that I don't think we met too many Aussies. Plenty of French people for Wendy to practise her French speaking and also Germans, Italians and Dutch. Most travelling in motorhomes or 4x4's.

The rock (Uluru) is revered each morning and evening with sunrise and sunset. At sunset you would find the best spot in the car park made especially for viewings and take your chairs and nibbles to get the best photos. Needless to say we and all the other tourists here have taken thousands of photos of the rock. We hope we don't bore you with these photos and I will just pick some of the best taken with my humble camera. More are of course on the video.

sunset Uluru 2

the rock by day

sunset at Uluru 1

sunset Uluru 3

We have walked around the base as well and seen sunset at various angles in the National park. Even at Ayers Rock resort where there are 4 hotels, a youth hostel and caravan park have dunes you can walk to. The rock is visible in most areas. The dunes are red with spinifex grasses on them as well as wattle trees, desert oaks and shrubs. A unique bush setting more like a semi-desert. We even saw rabbits in the dunes and thankfully no lizards or snakes.

boardwalk in the dunes to view the rock

rabbit at the dunes

viewing from dunes at Ayers Rock resort caravan park

You can also do a lot of walking around the resort and national park and rent a bike. It is pretty flat everywhere. Lucky we are getting good winter weather to make this all the more comfortable. Often it has been around 1 degree at night and around 17-20 degrees by day with wind. Fantastic! About 3 weeks ago it was both 6 degrees by night and the same in the day.

The Olgas or Kata Tjuta (Aboriginal name) are equally spectacular. There are about 34 rocks there. They are about 55 kms from Ayers Rock resort. We did a walk called Valley of the Winds (7kms) which was amazing. Check out the photos.

Valley of the Winds walk at Olgas

Valley of the Winds walk

The other walk we did was the Walpa Gorge which only goes for 2 kms. Whilst there you would of course have to stay for the sunset and nibbles/drinks viewing of the Olgas. See our photos.

more colours of the Olgas

sunset at the Olgas

sunset at Kata Tjuta (Olgas)

sunset of the Olgas

Most days the rock was closed for climbing due to wind but finally one of the days we were there, it was open. Check out the list of reasons it may be closed. Last year apparently it was only open for about 20 days.

reasons climb is closed

There are also 5 plaques on the side of the rock face of people who have died climbing the rock. It serves to remind you how dangerous it can be.

some of those who didn't survive the climb!

Geoff and I went planning to climb the rock. I got as far as 'chicken rocks' as you will see in the photos - I was joined by quite a few fellow travellers who thought it would be possible but alas it was not (in our minds of course). There is a sizeable gap between the rocks and the start of the chain and a bit of a steep climb. The shoe traction was really good but without something to hold on to, I chickened out and Geoff who has a fear of heights had no worries. He climbed to the top. Very brave man! The word 'chicken pants' comes to mind for me.

start of the climb

chicken rocks to the chain view!

Finally the last night we were there I treated us to 'Dinner under the Stars'. We were taken by coach to a secret location around the resort and up on a dune. It was still daylight so that we could see the sun setting on both Uluru and Kata Tjuta! Champagne in hand and canapes and a whole lot of newfound friends from overseas we shared a very special scene. After that we were shown to our dinner tables for a 6 course meal with wine and beer included (all you can drink). We tried!! We sat at a table of 10 people. Had a heap of laughs with the tourists from around the globe. Gas lamps were all around, a fire pit (it came down to 1 degree) and of course the stars. Later on we were entertained by a talk about the stars and also playing of the didgeridoo. You could get a retirement job here Matt prattling on about the stars whilst drinking all you can!

view of rock with cocktails at dinner under the stars

dinner under the stars

dinner under the stars!

sunset - dinner under the stars

Happy birthday Dean, Kristie and Mum. The special dinner we had is to celebrate your milestone birthdays and we hope that one day you will be doing this dinner. We have loved the Red Centre and will certainly want to visit it again.

We finally left heading for Kings Canyon which was 350 kms from Uluru. Our caravan park spot is facing the canyon and every evening we have cocktails watching the sunset on the canyon. The walk here is also around 7 kms but climbing the canyon and the views/rocks were exceptional. The word 'sheer' comes to mind. Another unique location not to be missed. Check out the photos.

rock face - rim walk of Kings Canyon

a moonscape at Kings Canyon

notice the people on the rock face

rim walk at Kings Canyon

There are also quite a few dingoes around so we are very mindful of locking up our food. They are fortunately shy and will run away but still lurking around for an opportunity to get some food.

We left the Kings Canyon and stayed at a roadhouse called Stuart's Well. The overnight camping was free but we had dinner there and were entertained by a singing dingo. He not only sings with a various range of notes but also plays the piano. Very funny. He is world famous and has had articles written about him all over the world. As well he has made TV appearances. His name is Dinky the singing dingo. For those of you curious about this check out youtube and put in Dinky the singing dingo. A very entertaining evening.

Dinky the singing dingo

piano playing Dinky the singing dingo

Not only the dingo entertaining us but also his owner who is a pioneer of this area and discovering the Kings Canyon. He is part of the Cotterill family and there is a whole history of how Uluru and the Canyon tours started and the accommodations during the 50's and 60's. Also the misfortune that happened at his resort of Wallahra. He also talked about dingoes and how they are not the vermin that we make them out to be. They do have a use in the Australian country. Certainly dingo was a perfect ambassador for his breed. Obviously domesticated but still has dingo behaviours. They are more a wolf than a dog believe it or not. I will leave you with photos of Dinky. We are heading off to northern parts of Australia next in about 2 days time. Kakadu, Lichfield NP and Darwin. This means we may be out of range for a few days until civilisation.

PS Also a big hug for my niece Tanya, who also has a birthday this month and luckily is not as old as the others!