Kata Tjuta, not the Olgas

Kata Tjuta is an amazing outcrop of 36 domes rising from the desert in the Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park. Kata Tjuta is Pitjantjatjara meaning 'many heads'.

Kata Tjuta viewed from the dune lookout

Some of you may know of, or have walked,  the Valley of the Winds. There is another shorter and easier walk, Walpa (windy) Gorge. It is a 2.6 km return Grade 3 walk. The gorge is a desert refuge for plants and animals. The track is rocky and rises gently with bridges over an impermanent stream.

The beginning of the Walpa walk.

You will be happy to know that there are no ugly trolls under any of the bridges on the walk, as we Billy Goats Gruff  dispatched them in the traditional fashion

The Sun sets on Uluru

Any mention of Uluru would not be complete without the obligatory sunset photos.  However, communing with the rock at sunset is not the solitary, spiritual experience you may imagine. It is to be done in designated areas...one for folks in cars and the other for paying bus/coach types. Check out the picture below...see all those shadows in the foreground?  That is only a tiny sample of the couple of hundred people who joined me to gaze in awe the night we was there.

It is an amazing thing to see and different every night. Well worth elbowing others out of the way.

Uluru - Mala walk

You can walk the whole perimeter if Uluru which is around 10 kms... or enjoy views of the rock from the Mala walk which is a leisurely 2 kms return. It is named for the small marsupial hare-wallaby once numerous but now scarce because of predation by foxes and feral cats. A breeding program hopes to remedy this. The track visits significant indigenous ceremonial sites and has informative signs. To fully enjoy the experience, I suggest you take an enthusiastic five year old boy with you.

The teaching cave, where the grandparents schooled the  small children. 

Entrance to one of the women's caves.

Inside one of the women's caves

Rocks smoothed by thousands of years of grinding grass seeds to make flour.

The pool at the end of the walk is a permanent water source, recently refreshed by run-off from a rain event which happen only about six times a year. 

The Tjukurpa and Anangu people request tourists do not climb the rock due to its spiritual significance. On the day we were there, several people were on the climb totally disregarding the closed gate and signs declaring the climb closed due to high winds on the summit.

Look closely, you can see the fools up there. No wonder the Tjukurpa and Anangu call people who climb, 'ants'.

Horizons #6 and # 7.

Somewhere along the Lassiter Highway - a celebration of the red!

View of Kata Tjuta and Uluru (if you look closely) from the dune viewing area on the way to Kata Tjuta.