The West MacDonnell Ranges

(Magyar összefoglaló a végén)

Rev. John Flynn's grave

Friday, 14 Sep, Alice Springs - After a second round of tests, our serviceman found out that the problem with our fridge is the thermostat, but they don't have it in stock, it will have to be ordered from the supplier (Dometic), and who knows how long it will take to get it here. Not good news, but in the meantime the fridge is now working on full strength by bypasing the thermostat. We'll see what happens next week when we come back.

Simpson's Gap

Walking to Simpson's Gap

In the morning we went out to the West Mac-Donnell Ranges to visit the two closest attractions. Simpson's Gap is just 17 kms from the town. There is an easy 20-min walk from the car park to the gap between two impressive steep rough rock faces where Roe creek passes through the mountain range. The creek bed is mostly dry, but there was some water in a few lower holes. We obeyed the signs and resisted the temptation to swim...

Standley Chasm

Standley Chasm is a further 20 km away, a narrow gap carved into the sandstone by the Finke river. Another 20-minute walk leads up to the chasm along the riverbed surrounded by lush dark green vegetation, very different from the area outside this valley. Some of them, like the cycad palms, are remainders from a long-gone wetter era. There was some water streaming down between the rocks. The Chasm itself is quite short and narrow, about 4-5 m wide, but very impressive between the 80 m high reddish vertical walls. We were there exactly at the right time, around 11 am when the sun starts to light up one side and the reflection the other, and were lucky to be alone in the gap. Two busloads of tourists arrived just when we left, they would have a very different experience in there.
In the afternoon back in Alice we went for another walk around the town centre, looking for the old Stuart Town Gaol (not very impressive), then went shopping to fill up our reserves for the next few days.

Glen Helen Resort

Saturday, 15 Sep, Glen Helen Resort - We came out to this place in the morning, about 130 km from Alice Springs, along the Namatjira Drive. This is at the West end of the West MacDonnell Ranges. The "resort" is at an old homestead, just beside Glen Helen Gorge, at the foot of an impressive vertical red rock wall. While it does not live up to the image one would normally associate with the word "resort", it is quite a nice place apart from the dusty barren campground, but that's acceptable in the desert.  

The restaurant at Glen Helen Resort

This will be our base camp for the next few days, to discover the attractions in the surrounding area.

Glen Helen Gorge

We got here by 10.30, so we had enough time to go down to the Gorge, only a 15-minute walk from the homestead. This gorge is one of several along the Finke River which starts not far from here and goes down 700 kms to the Simpson Desert. Of course most of the time it is just a dry riverbed, but there are several permanent waterholes along the way, one of them right here, across the gorge. 

It was interesting to see quite a lot of water, surrounded by reeds and many birds, ducks and cormorants, and they say there are nine species of native desert fish in the water. For this reason we could only get to the entrance of the gorge, but we spent some time just watching the birds and the water, a nice quiet place.

Mt Sonder

After lunch we went on a tour, first stopping at the nearby lookout. The main attraction is Mt Sonder, the fourth highest mountain in Central Australia, 1300+ m high, but all around the scenery is very pretty, with the Finke river just below the lookout (and quite a lot of water in it), and the MacDonnell Ranges on both sides. 

Redbank Gorge

Then we went to Redbank Gorge, an even narrower and more exotic gorge than the Glen Helen. This one is also full of very cold water, so we just sat around the entrance and enjoyed the view and the many colours of the rough rock faces. 

Rock colours

In  full gear

While travelling in the outback, one thing I was surprised about so far was the lack of flies. Not any more. From what I read and heard about the outback I expected a continuous torment from flies, and so far there was nothing like that. Now it seems they woke up with the warmth of spring, and started to be a nuisance when walking. Fortunately we were well prepared for this attack, and now were happy to put on our fly-protection screens and just laugh at them from behind.

A rock wallaby

Just in front of the gorge we also saw a black-footed rock wallaby, sitting immobile on a rock of almost the same colour as her skin, so it was very hard to recognise it. It is a very rare and endangered animal, we were glad to see one. We also saw a dingo, sitting just a few metres from us passing by and scratching fervently, seemingly very much used to humans; not such a good sight.

Serpentine Gorge from the lookout

Sunday, 16 Sep, Glen Helen Resort - We did a lot of "work" today. First we went to Serpentine Gorge, about 40 km back towards Alice Springs. The walking track to the gorge is about 1.3 km, an easy walk, but then we climbed up to a lookout, which was a bit harder, but the wonderful view we got up there was worth the effort. We also saw another rock wallaby sunning very close on a rock ledge, it was cute. Back down, we walked to the entrance of the gorge, again blocked by a deep waterhole so we could only appreciate the view from that point. 

Serpentine Gorge

The Big Hole

Next we went to the Ellery Creek Big Hole, a very popular wide waterhole, with lots of people coming out from Alice Springs, especially on a Sunday morning. Some brave people, Germans obviously, ventured into the cold water, for us it was enough to take in the view.

The Ochre Pits

On the way back we stopped at the Ochre Pits, a very nice spot where a range of colourful ochre walls are visible at the side of a creek. It is an important place for aboriginals mining the ochre and taking it to all over Central Australia. 

Ochre Pits

The choir in Ormiston Gorge

After lunch we went to Ormiston Gorge, where a local acapella choir from Alice Springs, Asante Sana, gave a performance as part of the Alice Springs Desert Festival. They sang mostly South African songs, with an enthusiastic black choirmaster from Melbourne who comes here for a few months every winter to lead the choir. The setting was very nice, the high walls of the gorge creating a natural amphitheatre with good acoustics above a central waterhole. This is quite a large gorge, with lots more to see, we'll have to come back tomorrow to discover the rest of it.

Ormiston Gorge from above

Monday, 17 Sep, Glen Helen Resort - We went back to Ormiston Gorge this morning. First we climbed up to a lookout with stunning views of the gorge, the creek and the surrounding mountains. We came down on the opposite side which led down to the gorge itself. This one is quite long and although there is a lot of water in it at several ponds, one can get through the rocks sandy creekbed. The rocks has an amazing variety of forms, textures and colours, we could never had enough to see. It was a good and relatively easy walk and a very enjoyable place. 

Ormiston Gorge

We were back at the resort by 11, and spent the rest of the day just doing nothing and enjoying the view of that impressive read vertical wall in front of us. In the evening we listened to the live music in the lounge of the homestead/resort, a one-man show of guitar and singing. A guy of around 50 years from Adelaide, a high school guitar teacher, he was a good guitar player, not as good but passable as singer, and his repertoire was enjoyable. A pleasant finish to our stay at Glen Helen.

The Lutheran Mission in Hermannsburg

Tuesday, 18 Sep, Alice Springs - We came back to Alice Springs this morning, but made a detour to Hermannsburg to visit the old Lutheran mission establised in the 1870s by two German missionaires. There are about half a dozen old buildings, all in a very poor shape, with lots of old photos and information tables describing the history of the mission and the life of people, aboriginals and missionaries who lived there. 

The old church

This was also the birthplace and main inspiration of Albert Namatjira the famous aborignal painter. The art gallery of the mission shows lots of old original photographs and paintings, not only from Albert but from many of his children who attempted to follow in his footsteps (with not the same level of success).

37 degrees in the van

Back in Alice, in the same caravan park as last week, we are now waiting for our fridge to be repaired, but so far the spare part has not yet arrived. Unfortunately the weather is not very pleasant, windy, dusty and extremely hot. This afternoon we had 37.4 degrees in the van, and about the same outside. And it is expected to be even hotter in the next few days according to the forecast...

Our itinerary can be seen at the following Google Map:
http://g.co/maps/wcwv8 
(Note that to see the route after Bowen, you need to move down to the bottom of the left panel, and select the following pages!)
(Note 2: don't be fooled by the fact that Google maps shows only 4 pages on the first page. If you click on page 4, the next page (5) will appear in the list, then 6 and etc. as you move to the next page. I don't know why it is done in this silly way, but I can't change it, sorry)

A mult hét többi részét és a hétvégét AS-től nyugatra, a West MacDonnell ranges (hegyvonulat) vidékén töltöttük. Egy Glen Helen Resort nevű helyen szálltunk meg, ami nemigen felel meg a képnek ami a "resort" szóról eszünkbe jut, de igazán kellemes hely (a portól eltekintve), egy régi "homestead" (farmház) és nagyon szép a környezete, egy közel 100 m magas függőleges vörös sziklafal tövében. Itt táboroztunk le 3 napra, és végigjártuk a környék nevezetességeit. Ezek többnyire "gorge"-ok, vagyis meredek sziklafalakba vájt szűk szurdokok. Nehéz elképzelni hogy ezen a száraz sivatagos vidéken ahol leginkább csak kiszáradt patakmedreket lehet látni, ilyen munkát tud végezni a víz, de hát sokmillió év alatt ez is megtörténik. Végigjártuk az összes elérhető gorge-ot, sajnos a legtöbbe csak a bejáratáig lehet bejutni, mert ott van egy mélyebb vízmedence ahol egész évben megmarad a víz. Mindegyik egész más és mindegyik szép, fantasztikus érdekes szikla-formációk, színek és felületek, nem lehet megunni. Nem sorolom fel a neveket, de a képeken láthatjátok. Tegnap volt egy koncert is az egyikben, szintén a Desert Festival keretében, egy 70-tagú helyi kórus énekelt többnyire dél-afrikai dalokat, többet Kati is ismert.
Hétfőn reggel visszamentünk ebbe a (Ormiston) gorge-ba, hogy ezt is tüzetesebben megnézzük, felmásztunk egy kilátóhoz, aztán egy darabig a patakmederben - ez volt a kivétel, ahol bele lehetett menni száraz lábbal, pedig elég sok víz is volt benne -, de aztán kifogytunk a látnivalókból, már 11-re itthon voltunk és itthon is maradtunk pihenni délután. Este lementünk a "resort" előcsarnokába ahol élő zene volt, egy ötven körüli pasas Adelaide-ből gitározott (nagyon jól) és énekelt (kevésbé jól de élvezhetően), többnyire kedvünkre való műsort csinált.
Kedden (szep. 18) reggel indultunk vissza de előbb tettünk egy kitérőt Hermansburg-ba, ahol egy Luteránus misszió működött valamikor, 1870 táján alapította két német pap, és működött még a 60-as években is, most inkább múzeum. Van egy fél tucat eredeti épület, elég lerobbant állapotban, bennük sok régi fénykép és információs tábla. Itt születet 1901-ben és élt a leghíresebb aboriginal festő, Albert Namatjira, sok régi fénykép és festmény (reprodukció) látható tőle és a gyerkeitől akik követték apjuk példáját (de kevesebb sikerrel).
Délutánra visszaértünk Alice Springs-be, és most várjuk a fridzsiderünk javítását, de még nem érkezett meg a pótalkatrész. Sajnos az idő elég kellemetlen, zeles, poros és nagyon meleg, délután 37.4 fok volt a lakókocsinkban, és kint is hasonló. Ráadásul a következő napokra még melegebbet jósolnak... 

Az útvonalunk a következo Google Map-on látható:
http://g.co/maps/wcwv8
(A Bowen utáni szakaszokhoz le kell menni a baloldali panel aljára, és a következo oldalakra kattintani!!)

Alice Springs

(Magyar összefoglaló a végén)

Tuesday, 11 Sep, Alice Springs - We left the Kings Canyon Resort early and travelled to Alice Springs, through the Lasseter and Stuart Hwy, about 500 kms. We got here by about 1.30 pm for a late lunch, a bit of rest, then a quick drive-around the town centre, looking for some important business, such as a hair cut for Kate that was well overdue, and some shopping as well. It seems we came back to the summer weather, at least at lunchtime there was 30 degrees in the van - we'll see what happens during the night...

The town centre and the Gap from ANZAC Hill

Wednesday, 12 Sep, Alice Springs - The night was quite cold again, it was 11 degrees in the van at dawn. This place has a climate of extremes, early afternoon it was 34 degrees again, and the humidity is not more than 20 %. We have to change clothes 3 times a day according to the changes in temperature. 
In the morning we went up to ANZAC Hill, just beside the town centre. Beside the war memorial it has wonderful views all over the town and surroundings. The MacDonnel Ranges and the Gap where the Todd river passes through are very impressive from up there. We drove across and along the river, which now is a wide dry sandy bed with some beautiful river gums here and there but can be a torrent after the rare heavy rain.

John Flynn Memorial Church

We walked around the centre to discover some historical buildings: the Rev John Flynn Memorial Church (the founder of the Royal Flying Doctor Service), the Adelaide House (the first hospital in central Australia, also designed and established by Flynn), the government residency (where the Queen and her husband stayed at their visit in 1963), and the Old Hartley Street School opened in 1930.

Adelaide House

In the Botanic Gardens

In the (very hot) afternoon we had the car washed, not an easy job after several months of red dirt, then went out to the Botanic Gardens in the hope of an evening performance as part of the Desert Festival. In the end we did not stay for the event, but had a look around in the garden, and learned about the life of Olive Pink a very determined lady, a painter and anthropologist, who studied the aboriginals in the area and fought for their rights against the establishments in the 1930s. She was also the first curator of the Botanic Gardens.

Thursday, 13 Sep, Alice Springs - This morning we got a bad surprise: our 3-way fridge is not working on 240 Volt. So we had to call a service and we were lucky enough that he came within an hour (also lucky that it happened here, not somewhere in the middle of nowhere). He worked on it for 2 hours, but he did not find the cause of the problem. Now we have to try it on gas and see if it works, then, depending on the outcome, he can finish it tomorrow - hopefully. 

Telegraph Station

In the rest of the morning we went out to visit the Old Telegraph Station beside the Todd River, which was in fact more than that, it was a little village, the first European settlement in Central Australia. There are many buildings beautifully restored and lots of info displays explaining the history and use of the buildings. There were a group of school children on excursion out there, studying the early life, doing some projects and, mostly, playing cricket with their male teachers. It was an interesting place, and an enjoyable visit.

Telegraph Station

In the afternoon we had a lot of cooking to do, all our stocks in the freezer that thawed we had to cook and fry, so now we will have a lot of meat and fish to eat in the next few days...

The Night Market on Todd Mall

Then around 6 pm we went into the town centre to visit the Night Market, an event of the Desert Festival. It was not such a big deal, just the usual things on such markets, cheap artefacts, clothes, toys, lots of useless but nice things, food and drinks. 
It seems colourful baby ballerina dresses are much in demand in Alice Springs, at least there was a wide collection on offer... 

A popular activity in AS

Night Market

The people walking around were just as colourful and interesting as the articles. Fortunately the crowd was much less than the 50 thousand expected in one of the festival brochures ...

Our itinerary can be seen at the following Google Map:
http://g.co/maps/wcwv8 
(Note that to see the route after Bowen, you need to move down to the bottom of the left panel, and select the following pages!)


A múlt hét nagyrészét Alice Springs-ben töltöttük, nem egészen saját jószántunkból. Kedden (szep.11) érkeztünk ide, és szerdán észrevettük hogy nem hűt a fridzsiderünk, ami pedig létfontosságú az utazáshoz. Még szerencse hogy itt történt és nem valahol a pusztában, mert itt ki tudtunk hívni egy szervizt (még garanciális minden a lakókocsinkban), és elég gyorsan ki is jöttek, de eltartott két napig míg megállapították hogy a termosztát romlott el, ami viszont nincs nekik itt raktáron, meg kellett rendelni a gyártó cégtől, és még most is várunk rá hogy megérkezzen. Most ideiglenesen kiiktatták a termosztátot, úgyhogy most működik a fridzs, csak teljes erővel, vagyis néha kicsit csonttá fagy benne minden, amit próbálunk elkerülni úgy hogy néha lekapcsoljuk pár órára. Szóval még nem vagyunk túl ezen az ügyön, jövő héten remélhetőleg sikerül megoldani. Persze kiolvadt minden ami a mélyhűtőben volt, nekiálltunk mindent megfőzni-sütni, azóta is azokat esszük.
Ettől eltekintve kellemes napokat töltöttünk Alice Springs-ben, ami meglepően helyes kisváros itt a sivatag közepén. Nem is olyan kicsi, vagy 30ezer lakosa van, nemiegn tudom elképzelni miből is élnek meg itt. Végigjártuk a helyi látnivalókat, kilátó pontot, várostörténeti érdekességeket városon belül és kívül. A legérdekesebb a régi telegráf állomás, az 1870-es évekből, ami egész kis település volt, az első fehérek-lakta hely közép-Ausztráliában. Szépen rende van hozva, és sok érdekes információs tábla ismerteti a történetét. Megnéztük az Adelaide House-t, az első korház az 1920-as évekből, egy presbiter(?) pap, John Flynn szorgalmazta, tervezte és építtette (ő alapította a Royal Flying Doctor szervizt is). Láttuk a Government House-t, ahol 63-ban a királyi pár lakott amikor idelátogattak. Voltunk a botanikus kertben, amit egy helybeli "pionir" hölgy kezdeményezett. Pont most tartanak itt egy Desert Festival-t, aminek keretében mindenféle programok látogathatók, mi elmentünk a csütörtök esti utcavásárra, ami érdekes volt de nem valami nagy szám.

Az útvonalunk a következo Google Map-on látható:
http://g.co/maps/wcwv8
(A Bowen utáni szakaszokhoz le kell menni a baloldali panel aljára, és a következo oldalakra kattintani!!)

Kings Canyon

(Magyar összefoglaló a végén)

Mt Conner

Saturday, 8 Sep, Kings Canyon Resort - In the morning we left Yulara and travelled to Kings Canyon, about 330 km. We picked up a hitch-hiker, a young English guy on his way to Melbourne. We stopped at the Mt Conner lookout, today we had a good view of this strange flat-topped mountain in the distance. The scenery has changed often along the way, and approaching Kings Creek Station finally we saw a group of wild camels, just beside the road. Unfortunately we were travelling too fast to get a photo of them. 

But we had a quick stop at the Kings Canyon Station, a working cattle and camel station, where we could take a photo of a few camels used for riding. 

We set up camp at the Kings Canyon Resort campground, a similar touristy establishment to the one in Yulara. A nice (and expensive) place well located in a little valley so as not to spoil the natural landscape views. 

The George Gill Range from the resort

Late afternoon we went for a walk along the ridge around the resort, with nice views of the George Gill Range in a distance.

The climb to the top

Sunday, 9 Sep, Kings Canyon Resort - We woke up to cloudy skies today, a great surprise in this area. We drove to the Kings Canyon car park, only about 10 km from the resort, and did the Rim Walk, a 6 km loop along the perimeter of the canyon. It starts with a steep climb of more than 100 m to the top of the escarpment and then leads around the canyon, with many great lookout points and interesting rock formations. 

Kings Canyon

The waterhole

The Garden of Eden

At around half-way it leads down into the top part of the canyon itself to a waterhole with lush vegetation around called the Garden of Eden. It was a difficult walk at times but well worth the effort. 

Kings Canyon

We got back to the car park around 12.30, just in time to get home for lunch, then we spent the afternoon resting and recuperating from the morning excursion. Late afternoon we met in the camp with a couple from Sydney, Dick and Jen, and had a good chat with drinks before dinner. I knew Dick from work for over 15 years, it was a pleasant surprise to have met him here in the middle of the continent.

Kathleen Springs

Monday, 10 Sep, Kings Canyon Resort - A clear, sunny day, much hotter than yesterday, we may have been lucky with the weather yesterday, it would have been more difficult to do the rim walk in this heat. We did two easy walks this morning. First the Kathleen Springs walk, about 30 kms from the resort, a 2.6 km return walk along a dry creek bed leading to a spring-fed permanent waterhole at the end of Kathleen Gorge. 

The Canyon from below

Then back at Kings Canyon, we did the 2 km return Kings Creek walk, which goes along the bottom of the valley leading half-way into the canyon where we can view the impressive vertical walls from below.
We were back at the camp by lunchtime for another quiet afternoon of resting and reading, plus some household works.

Tuesday, 11 Sep, Alice Springs - We left the Kings Canyon Resort early and travelled to Alice Springs, through the Lasseter and Stuart Hwy, about 500 kms. We got here by about 1.30 pm for a late lunch, a bit of rest, then a quick drive-around the town centre, looking for some important business, such as a hair cut for Kate that was well overdue, and some shopping as well. It seems we came back to the summer weather, at least at lunchtime there was 30 degrees in the van - we'll see what happens during the night...

Our itinerary can be seen at the following Google Map:
http://g.co/maps/wcwv8 
(Note that to see the route after Bowen, you need to move down to the bottom of the left panel, and select the following pages!)

Szombaton utaztunk a következő állomásra, Kings Canyon-ba. Ez kb 330 km-el arrébb van, közben többször változott a táj, sivatagos, aztán fás-szavannás, és végül megjelentek a George Gill Range hegyvonulatai. A legnagyobb érdekesség az uton az volt, hogy végre láttunk egy csapat vad tevét (mármint vadon élő), amit már nagyon régen emlegettek. Állítólat több millió él a kontinens belsejében, de eddig még egyet sem láttunk. Ezek egész közel az út mellett legelésztek a fák között, de sajnos túl gyorsan mentünk ahhoz hogy fényképet csináljunk róluk. Később megálltunk a King Creek Station-nél, ahol marha mellett tevéket is tartanak (vadon befogott tevéket tenyésztenek, exportra), itt tudtunk fényképet is csinálni a turistáknak tevegelésre ajánlott állatokról. A Kings Canyon resort kempingben szálltunk meg, és délután csak itt pihentünk, és estefelé körülsétáltuk a területet.
Vasárnap délelőtt mentünk a canyon-hoz, egy 6 km-es körútra a kanyon felső peremén, amihez persze előbb fel kellett mászni oda, több mint 100 m magasra, és fönt is jó sok kisebb fel-le mászás volt benne, elég nehéz út volt, de sok szépet láttunk, megint érdekes szikla-formákat, növényeket, a kanyon teljesen függőleges falait. Egy helyen félig lementünk a kanyon-ba, ahol egy szűk völgy alján összegyűlik és megmarad a víz, körülötte sűrű szinte trópikus növény-erdő, úgy hívják hogy az Éden kertje. Jó fárasztó út volt, szerencsére aznap reggel éppen kicsit felhős volt az ég, ami nagy ritkaság itt, hideg szél fújt, így könnyebb volt mint nagy melegben. Dél felé visszaértünk a kempingbe, délután pihegtünk és nyalogattuk a sebeinket. Estefelé találkoztunk egy házaspárral, a férfit jól ismerem vagy 15 éve a munkán keresztül, jól elbeszélgettünk velük egy pohár bor mellett.
Hétfőn is itt maradtunk a King Canyon resort-ban, délelőtt csináltunk még két könnyebb rövid sétát, előbb a Kathleen Springs-hez, aztán vissza a Kings Canyon-hoz, a völgy alján a kiszáradt meder mentén sétáltunk be a kanyon belsejébe, ahol alulról is megnézhettük a látványt.
Kedden indultunk tovább Kings Canyon-tól, egy jó délelőtti utazással eljutottunk Alice Springs-be, a Red Centre "fővárosába". Ez egy elég nagy város, kb 23 ezer lakossal. Délután csak gyorsan körülnéztünk és elintéztünk néhány sürgős tennivalót, pl Katinak hajvágást ami már nagyon esedékes volt, és egy kis bevásárlást. Most egy pár napig itt maradunk, körülnézünk és felkészülünk a következő kalandokra.

Az útvonalunk a következo Google Map-on látható:
http://g.co/maps/wcwv8
(A Bowen utáni szakaszokhoz le kell menni a baloldali panel aljára, és a következo oldalakra kattintani!!)

Uluru and Kata Tjuta

(Magyar összefoglaló a végén)

Curtin Springs Station

Tuesday, 4 Sep, Curtin Springs Station, NT - Today again we travelled all day, 630 kms, from Coober Pedy to Curtin Springs, which is just outside the Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park on the Lasseter Hwy. It was a hot and very windy day, 34 degrees in the afternoon; I like hot better than cold, but it is too much of a good thing, and a bit hard to get used to after the cold days and nights down South. Even now, at 8 pm it is 30 degrees in the van. But I am not complaining, I prefer this to the cold. 

Attractive decoration at Kulgera Pub

The landscape has changed quite frequently on the way, some flat a bare sections alternated with more dense bush and even high trees, undulating small hills. We crossed back to the Northern Territory again, stopped for refuelling at Kulgera Roadhouse, quite an interesting sight. As we approached Curtin Springs, we saw the white-grey smoke clouds in the distance ahead of us, and they got closer and closer; we had a bad feeling about this. It was good luck we did not want to go further today, as the road was closed just at the station. 

This was the view at Curtin Springs

The bushfire front was 7 kms further West. Fortunately the wind was blowing South so we did not smell much smoke, but the view was not very promising. But by around 7 pm the road was reopened, and hopefully we can continue to Uluru without further delay.

After the fire

Wednesday, 5 Sep, Yulara resort campsite - We woke up to a clear, sunny morning, with little wind, but the smoke could still be felt in the air. We travelled the remaining 100 km to Uluru, crossing the area on fire yesterday; mostly just the grass and low bush were burnt down, the trees seemed intact. Yulara is a resort township built to serve the international tourist industry just outside the National Park itself, with some big hotels, supermarket, services, cafes, and there is a caravan park as well. We set up camp and had an early lunch, then spent the afternoon at Uluru. 

 The "rock" was already well visible from the road 40 kms away, then from a lookout at the campsite, and we all saw it many times on photos and on tv, but still it was a shock to see it close. It is enourmously big and magnificent as suddenly emerging from a flat country. Although it is called desert, there is plenty of vegetation around it, grey-blond grass, bush and even tall trees, mostly "desert oak". We went to the Cultural Centre first, introducing the aboriginal history of the area. Then we stopped at the base of the rock itself, at the point where the path to the top starts, but climbing was not allowed due to strong winds at the top. We did not want to climb anyway so we did not mind. But we went on the circular path around the base, a track of 10.6 kms, to view every side and view it from every angle. There are lots of interesting details around it. The vegetation is also quite beautiful and the two together, the rock and its surroundings, make a perfect combination. We were pretty tired by the end, but it was a worthwhile experience. 

After a bit of rest, we finished the day with what "must" be done by everybody: watched the changing colours of Uluru in the sunset lights. One more addition to our collection of memorable sunsets on our journey...

Various views and details of Uluru

Sunset viewing

Flowers in the "desert"
(called 'Bacon and eggs')

Thursday, 6 Sep, Yulara resort campsite - Kate went out to the lookout to see the sunrise over Uluru and the Olgas, I was too lazy to go. Then after breakfast we drove back to the base of Uluru and went along a guided tour with a ranger. It was a very good tour, the ranger turned out to be a very good talker. 

He explained a lot about the local aboriginal culture, the plants, the sites along the base of Uluru, how each site was (and still is) used by the people. He also explained briefly the geology of the rock as well as that of Kata Tjuta, how they were formed and what they are made of. Uluru is of sandstone, once an inland sea floor, broken up and turned almost vertical by tectonic pressure. The most amazing part is that what we see of this monolith is only about 10 % of the whole, the rest is below, down to 6.5 kms! It was a very interesting and enjoyable talk. 

The climbers

Today was another quiet sunny day, the rock was open to climbers, and we saw a lot of people going up and down, like ants on the rock face. We came home for lunch and spent the afternoon at the camp resting and reading.

Kata Tjuta and desert oaks

Friday, 7 Sep, Yulara resort campsite - Today we went to see the other main attraction in this national park, Kata Tjuta (aka The Olgas). Kata Tjuta means "many heads" in the local language; it is a fitting name to this collection of magnificent domes with vertical walls emerging from the desert plain. We went there quite early and did both walks available. 

The Valley of the Winds

 In the morning we did the Valley of the Winds which leads to two lookout points and connected by a 7.4 km circuit track. True to its name, the valley was very windy and cold, we had to put on warm winter jumpers despite the full and strong sunshine. The walk gave us plenty of opportunities to view some domes close-by and others from various angles. They are just as amazing as Uluru. And again, the surrounding vegetation with the grey-blond-green colours fitted very well with the dark red-ochre of the rocks. 

This is the better-known view of Kata Tjuta

Walpa Gorge

After lunch we went on the other, shorter walk into the Walpa Gorge. This easy walk goes in between two almost vertical high walls in a wide valley at the start but gradually narrowing to the end. The air has warmed up a bit by the afternoon but still it was cool enough for a comfortable walk.
On return from Kata Tjuta we made a detour to Uluru, just to have a final look at this unique place and bid farewell to it. 

Our itinerary can be seen at the following Google Map:
http://g.co/maps/wcwv8 
(Note that to see the route after Bowen, you need to move down to the bottom of the left panel, and select the following pages!)

Következő állomásunk Uluru volt, vagy 750 km-el arrébb, amit mésfél napi utazással értünk el, közben ujra visszaértünk Dél-Ausztráliából az "Északi Terület"-re (Northern Territory) és kedden megaludtunk egy Curtin Springs Station nevű helyen. Nem is tudtunk volna továbmenni kedden, mert bozóttűz miatt le volt zárva az út pont ezen a helyen. Szerda reggelre lecsitult a tűz, továbbmenve áthaladtunk a 30-40 km széles megégett területen, de csak az aljnövényzet égett el, a fák megmaradtak épen.
Uluru, más néven Ayers Rock, egy hatalmas monolit kőtömb, 300 m magasra emelkedik ki a lapos, sivatagos környezetéből, már 30-40 km-ről látható de egész közelről megdöbbentő hogy milyen óriási. A környezetét sivatagosnak hívják, de ahhoz képest meglepően sok és dús változatos növényzet borítja, necsak sűrű fű (spinifex), de magasabb fák is, a szürke-szőke és zöld árnyalatok nagyon szép szín-kompozíciót képeznek a szikla vöröses alapszínével (ami a vasoxid-tartalomtól van).
Szerda délután előbb a nemzeti park kulturális központját látogattuk meg, elolvastuk az itt élő népek történetét és hogy mit jelent nekik az Uluru, aztán megcsodáltuk a sziklát közelről, körülgyalogoltunk a tövében, ami egy 10 és fél km-es séta, jól megnéztük minden oldalról minden kis részletét, nagyon érdekes. Aztán kicsit távolabbról megvártuk a naplementét, egy kihagyhatatlan alkalom nézni a szikla változó színeit az esti fényekben.
Csütörtökön délelőtt visszamentünk Uluru-hoz, egy kétórás túravezetésre a szikla oldalánál. Egy park alkalmazott (ranger) tartotta és nagyon jól beszélt, rengeteg érdekes dolgot mesélt a helyi aboriginek életéről és hiedelmeiről, amit most már nagyon tiszteletben tartanak itt, a környező növényzet, fák-bokrok használatáról, a különböző kultikus-vallási szertartásokról amiket a szikla egyes helyein tartottak, és a hely geológiai múltját is röviden elmagyarázta. Tőle tudtuk meg pl. hogy a föld feletti rész csak kb tíz százaléka a tömb teljes méretének, 6 és fél km mélyre nyúlik le az egész, egy valamikori tengerfenéken lerakódott mészkő, amit a földrétegeli erők majdnem függőlegesre állítottak. Nagyon érdekesen és jól beszélt, végre megértettünk sok mindent amit már olvastunk-hallottunk erről a helyről, élvezetes délelőtt volt. Ezen a napon szabad volt a sziklára is felmászni, amit elég sokan kihasználtak, az aboriginelek kifejezett kérése ellenére, akiknek a szikla szent hely ahova nem szabadna felmászni - de nem tiltják meg kategorikusan. Érdekes volt alulról nézni a felmászó embereket, mint apró hagyák, ilyenkor még jobban látszik a szikla hatalmassága.  Délután aztán csak pihentünk a kempingben.
Pénteken egésznapos kirándulásra mentünk a terület másik nevezetességéhez, a Kata Tjuta-hoz, európai neván "the Olgas". Kata Tjuta a helyi nyelven azt jelenti hogy "sok fej", találó név erre a hatalmas felül lekerekedett dóm alakú sziklahegy-együttesre. Kb 50 km-re van az Uluru-tól, korán odaértünk, és végigmentünk a két jelzett gyalogút vonalon. Az első a "Szelek völgyébe" vezetett, egy 7.5 km-es hurok, több kilátóponttal ahonnan több oldalról megcsodálhattuk a hegységet. Ezek is nagyon érdekesek, ugyan egész másmilyen mint az Uluru. Nevéhez híven, jó szeles és hideg volt az út az erős napsütés ellenére. Ebéd után mentünk a másik túrára a Walpa Gorge-ba, egy folyamatosan szűkülő völgyben két magas dóm-hegy föggőleges falai között. Hazafelé mégegyszer megálltunk Uluru-nál egy búcsú-pillantásra. 

Az útvonalunk a következo Google Map-on látható:
http://g.co/maps/wcwv8
(A Bowen utáni szakaszokhoz le kell menni a baloldali panel aljára, és a következo oldalakra kattintani!!)