Outback Part 3

So, you last left us listening to some music at the Ayers Rock resort (still so named despite the renaming of the actual rock to Uluru... I guess there are probably lots of legal reasons etc. why).

The next day we got up nice and late and headed for the Olgas, or Kata Tjuta as they are now named. A holy site for the indigenous people as we found out the following day, and not one that women are meant to look at too intently. We were planning to do the whole 6km hike but when we got there we discovered that the track was closed part of the way due to extreme conditions - that's temperatures in excess of 36 C. I guess they don't want stupid tourists going out there and endangering themselves and stretching the resources of their mountain rescue units!

We bumped into a Japanese guy that we had met at the resort earlier and walked with him, I think that he wanted to do the whole walk and was disappointed when we decided to turn back. We left him there and suspected that he went back and did the walk. We did see him later so we were relieved that he had survived!

We still managed to do two other shorter walks (1 h each) so there was plenty to see.
The pictures say it all though...

The highlight of the day though was the "Sounds of silence" dinner that we went to that evening. Billed as a dinner in the desert with only the stars and the sounds of nature (and the didgeridoo) it was everything it claimed to be. First we were picked up at the resort and taken out into the desert and deposited beside a small sand dune with a viewing platform on top. There we were served a champagne reception with yummy canapes of kangaroo, crocodile and salmon while we watched the sun set with a fantastic view of both Uluru and the Kata Tjutas. We met a lovely older couple whose kids were grown so they sold their house and decided to go on a whirlwind trip of the world. More power to them, I hope that we do the same when we're their age!!

After the sun set, we were led down from the platform to the desert floor below where several tables were set out. We ended up sitting and chatting with the couple we met during the dinner and enjoyed a delicious three course dinner. This was a particularly nice change from the pasta we had been cooking and eating every night for the last week!!

After dinner there was a performance by a guy on a digeridoo and a demonstration/explaination of the night sky - the stars were fantastic and very clear. A really lovely day and night.

Outback Part 2

Just sitting outside and listening to an old Aussie bloke strumming his guitar on the little stage at the Pioneer bar in Ayers Rock resort. It's been a few days since we last wrote a post and it's not because nothing has happened, rather, it's more a reflection of the price and availability of Internet access in this country! [again we apologise for the lack of pictures for a different reason this time]

So a recap...

Coober Pedy was a bit of an odd place. Situated conveniently between Adelaide and Alice Springs, its claim to fame is that it is where a large number of opals have been found so now every man and his dog there has opal-fever. There are mounds of desert earth everywhere where miners have blown holes in the earth in their search. We stayed in the oddest possible backpacker hostel, it was located two stories underground, dug out of the limestone rock which means that it was also incredibly cool even with the 40 degree temperature outside. Beautiful, but strange... a bit like the hobbit-like owner...

We didn't stay there too long though, we were up early the next morning and set off for our first destination in the red centre - Kings Canyon. Why, I can hear you ask, didn't we go to the most famous big rock first? Well, we are flying out of Ayers Rock airport to Cairns on Sunday, so we thought we'd do the sights around first and then head to the main attraction.

The trek up there was uneventful, if beautiful. We've met several people before we set out who have described their journey to the red centre as indescribably dull but we didn't think so. The scenery, vegetation, the views of the straight roads going on for miles and miles where so different from anything that either of us had ever seen before that we were enthralled. There were funky rock formations, red sand dunes, weird looking trees, random road kill, a 130 km/h speed limit. We also met a lot of fellow backpackers and campers with fascination stories of where they had been and where they were going.

We got to Kings Canyon just after 7pm and booked ourselves into their self-catering lodge. Then discovered that no kitchen utensils were provided and that we would have to rent them from the petrol station that had just closed. So, sandwiches for us that night then :(

After three days driving we felt that we needed a rest day, so we decided to spend the next day at the pool just relaxing and chatting to the other travellers that had the same plan. Yes there was a pool in the middle of the desert, a real treat so this counts as a lovely day in our book :)

And this leads up up to today. After doing nothing yesterday, we decided that for balance we needed to do the most extensive (6k) walk around the rim of Kings Canyon and in order to avoid the blistering heat, we woke up early, packed our stuff into the car, checked out and headed to the Canyon. The walk did turn out to be blisteringly hot but only at the end and we were prepared with our hats, lots of water, our cameras and for me, my trusty fly shield. A masterpiece of engineering because those flies are something to be reckoned with! To put it mildly, Kings Canyon is stunning. Its at the end of the McDougall range which is a mountain range that stands out in a normally flat, featureless scene, like Uluru. So it is quite impressive in itself, but when you get up there and see the steep cliff faces of the huge canyon in the middle... takes your breath away. Then the flies get in which takes away some of the wonder which is why you need fly nets... but it is truly beautiful. The walk, with all its various stops took us just over three hours so just after midday we got back to our car and headed on.

No, even though they look just next to each other on the map, Kings Canyon and Ayers Rock are actually about 3 hours drive away from each other. So here we are, sitting down in the outside eating area at the Ayers Rock resort, listing to an old Aussie guy strumming away at his guitar.