Day 90 – The Red Centre

We were picked up early by Leo, our coach driver for the journey to Yulara (Uluru Resort). He was a funny guy, wearing knee high socks and sporting a bushy moustache, he spoke with a South African/Australian accent that occasionally sounded Scottish. As we left Alice he gave us a commentary on pretty much everything we passed; he did this for the whole journey.

So we headed out of Alice and made one of only two turns on the journey onto the Stuart Highway. We had a rendition of Stuart’s exploits to reach the North. Sitting back I gazed out at the landscape. With all the recent rain fresh vegetation had sprouted and cast a green veil over the red dirt. I dozed off and awoke shortly before our first stop/tourist trap a camel farm by Leo explaining about the wild camels and how they were now being used.

I was quite happy to stop at the farm because along with the camels they had emu and kangaroos. It was the first time I’d seen either so felt a bit like a kid going to the zoo for the first time. The roos were really friendly and bounded over to me, eating some of  the green grass I passed through the fence. The camels were impressive, being the largest species on the planet, they gazed down at me with thoughtful looks, either that of they thought “smile for another tourist”.

Not long after leaving the camel farm we made our final right turn onto the Lasseter Highway and learnt about the misfortune of Lasseter and his gold wreath. Apparently somewhere out there is a huge gold wreath that he found then died trying to re-discover. By now the rain really started coming down and I felt privileged to be seeing a landscape that’s usually barren. Aside from the greenery I saw ground water gathering and rivers beginning to flow once more.

Next stop was at the side off the road for a view of Mount Conner, a horse shoe shaped mountain that rises out of the flat land. Behind the viewing area a lake was beginning to fill where usually it was dry a dry salt bed.

The final leg of the journey took a little over an hour and shortly before arrival in Yalara I got my first glimpse of Uluru. The light was poor but even with dulled colours it looked more impressive than I’d imagined. After check-in we went up to a viewing area within the hotel grounds. By now the weather had begun to turn, blue sky’s appeared in the distance and “The Rock”, as locals call it, began to change colour. I likened the effect to that of the Grand Canyon.

We managed to arrange a couple of tours, one for the afternoon and one for tomorrow morning. The afternoon on would take us to Kata Tjuta and then Uluru for sunset. The following day we’d be off to Uluru again to see it as sunrise. With the weather as it is we hoped this would give us a chance of seeing it in the best light.

We were picked up late afternoon by the Uluru Express and set off on the 50 odd kilometres to Kata Tjuta. We were the only ones aboard so it felt like we were getting a private tour. Kata Tjuta, for those that don’t know, is an outcrop of rock similar to Uluru but shaped rather differently; its has an undulating profile and numerous valleys. With the rock some distance away we stopped at a viewing platform on the dunes.

As we neared our destination, Walpa Gorge, the weather had lifted, leaving a cloud strewn blue sky and a climbing temperature. Leaving the bus we walked the path up the gorge with blazing sun on our backs. My initial thought was that it’d be awesome to climb the walls of the valley. The steeps sides have many pot marks, some considerable in size, and are a deep ochre with charcoal coloured water channels running down them. As we walked I heard an enchanting birdsong that echoed around the gorge. I wish I could have recorded it.

We escaped the gorge just as a large number of coached descended and headed towards Uluru. By now it had gone from dull colour to the bright red you see in the traditional pictures. We got to stop at the side of the road to pick up more passengers, giving us time to  take the best shots of the day. We then headed to the base of the rock before driving round it and back out to the sunset car park. At the base of the rock the light had still looked good but by the car park a large cloud had covered the sun and we didn’t get to see the rock on fire. Still we got some superb shots and there’s hope for tomorrow morning.

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