A Walk in Kata-Tjuta

posted in: Northern Territory

After Tennant Creek we drove to Alice Springs, where we spent just one night before moving on to Yulara, near Uluru (aka Ayer’s Rock).  We decided we’d spend time in Alice after we’d visited Uluru. Welcome to Alice Springs! | How Many More Minutes? The distances are incredible.  There’s just nothing out here.  See this?  In 124 km we need to turn left onto Uluru Road.  It’s about 450km from Alice to Yulara with only tiny towns and a couple of petrol stations along the way.  With nothing in between. A Walk in Kata-Tjuta | How Many More Minutes? We were keeping an eye out for Uluru.  In the book Are We There Yet? the dad sees Uluru when they are about 35km away.  So we are happily driving along and we see this huge mountain and we’re wondering how we can possibly see Uluru from so far away.  We were still at least 100km away.  As we got closer we could see the shape more distinctly and knew it was not Uluru.  We had a look at the map and eventually there was a sign saying this is Mt Conner.  Locals call it Fool-uru.  Why have we never heard of Mt Conner?  It’s huge.  It’s 300 metres high.  But it’s on private land and you have to book a tour to get close to it.  How come Uluru and Kata Tjuta get all the glory?  Mt Conner | How Many More Minutes? There’s one huge campground in Yulara.  It’s also home to several lodges.  There’s no camping in the national park, so Yulara is a busy place.  We stayed four nights since they have a special if you stay that long and the national park pass is good for three days.  Doesn’t that work out just right?  :)  We opted to go to Kata-Tjuta the first day.  If you aren’t from Australia you’ve probably only heard of Uluru/Ayer’s Rock.  Kata Tjuta, also known as the Olgas, is nearby and in the same national park. A Walk in Kata-Tjuta | How Many More Minutes? It’s a series of large boulders which are spectacular, they change shape from every view. A Walk in Kata-Tjuta | How Many More Minutes? There are a few different walks you can do there, we opted to do just the Walpa Gorge Walk. A Walk in Kata-Tjuta | How Many More Minutes? As you can imagine from the name, it’s a walk through a gorge.  Mostly you are walking on solid rock, there are a few bridges along the way. A Walk in Kata-Tjuta | How Many More Minutes? A Walk in Kata-Tjuta | How Many More Minutes? A Walk in Kata-Tjuta | How Many More Minutes? Bridges and steps keep us going with a 2yo.  Look!  Another bridge, hurry! A Walk in Kata-Tjuta | How Many More Minutes? There was a small waterhole along the way that of course we had a hard time keeping the kids away from, they always want to throw rocks in them. A Walk in Kata-Tjuta | How Many More Minutes? It’s hard to grasp in a photograph how very tall these were. A Walk in Kata-Tjuta | How Many More Minutes? A Walk in Kata-Tjuta | How Many More Minutes? There’s not much at the end, you can see where the rocks come together and that’s about it.  The walk goes into the gorge and back out the same trail.  We had a bit of a rest and a snack and headed back the way we’d come. A Walk in Kata-Tjuta | How Many More Minutes?A Walk in Kata-Tjuta | How Many More Minutes? On the way back TurboBug (2) had the GPS and was pretending it was a camera.  We’d have to smile for him while he said ‘Click!’. A Walk in Kata-Tjuta | How Many More Minutes? A Walk in Kata-Tjuta | How Many More Minutes?A Walk in Kata-Tjuta | How Many More Minutes? A Walk in Kata-Tjuta | How Many More Minutes? Some of us thought we’d never make it back. A Walk in Kata-Tjuta | How Many More Minutes? The view looking out from the gorge, it’s all so very flat, isn’t it? Welcome to Alice Springs! | How Many More Minutes? The view looking back in.  TurboBug hitched himself a ride. A Walk in Kata-Tjuta | How Many More Minutes? Glad to be done, it was a hot morning.  We didn’t try to do any more that day, we didn’t want to overdue it in the heat.  That night we watched the sunset at Uluru.  A Walk in Kata-Tjuta | How Many More Minutes? This was our only visit to Kata-Tjuta, I would have liked to watch the sunset here but it was a bit of a drive, further than Uluru so we opted to just spend the one day here.  Uluru is where gastro started its run through the family, so we had to take it a bit easy. A Walk in Kata-Tjuta | How Many More Minutes? Look how much it changes from different viewpoints! A Walk in Kata-Tjuta | How Many More Minutes? I must admit that I’d never heard of Kata-Tjuta until sometime after I’d moved to Australia.  This trip has been so good for me in learning my Aussie geography, I hope it’s all sinking in for the kids too.  🙂

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