Valley of the Winds vistas

Yesterday, we went back into Uluru- Kata Tjuta National Park and did the base walk for Uluru in the morning.  They have taken the track out wider in places and it now takes 10.6 kms!  The older two decided to try and climb again but of course, that was subject to weather conditions.  You can ask them how they got on with that challenge!

In the afternoon, we moved on to the Olgas (Kata-Tjuta) and did the amazing Valley of the Winds walk.  Though beautiful and thoroughly enjoyable, it was another 8kms!  Our legs were starting to feel heavy, especially with the climb from the afternoon before...and I left my camera back at the caravan so will have to rely on others for the photos I put up.

Andrew took this shot this morning. People climbing look like little ants.  Can you see them?

They shut the climb down after two hours due to strong winds at the summit.

A photo of the valley from Adam:

Andrew's photos of sunrise:

After some deliberation (letting our feet do some of the talking), we decided not to try and fit King's Canyon into one day, with more long walks, and to head back to Alice today and spend some time in the West Macs tomorrow. 

Before leaving today, there was time for one more visit to the park.  Most of you will faint with shock but it was Andrew who woke me at 6am and said, “Do you want to go back in for sunrise?” Yes, he can manage the crack of dawn after all!  I managed to find clothes I had not donned in months - jeans, a long sleeve shirt, a fleece top AND a jacket.  It was cold out there this morning and would you believe, after all my debating about sunsets v sunrises that we had a spectacularly lit sky this morning?

TRAVELLER’S TIPS:

If you want to climb Uluru, be prepared to go whenever you see it open as the weather can change and they will shut it down pretty quickly.  We met several people who had missed out because they decided to do the base walk first and then found later, they couldn’t go up.

You get three days for the National Park - why not use all of them and do different things on each day? We were at Uluru for a late climb and sunset, for a full day that included Kata-Tjuta for sunset and then a sunrise viewing this morning.

Those fly nets they try to sell you?  Didn’t need them for the rock but I wore one for the Olgas.  If you don’t like being inundated by flies, have one on hand.