4th - 5th May. Uluru/ Kata Tjuta

On 4th May we departed Alice Springs for Yulara (aka Ayers Rock Resort). It was a 6 hour coach journey including a couple of stops. The scenery was just like we saw from The Ghan - desert, eucalypts and the occasional mountain range.
In the early 1970's the pressure of unstructured tourism near the base of Uluru was having detrimental effects on the environment surrounding Uluru and Kata Tjuta. So a new tourist town (Yulara/Ayers Rock Resort) was built 14 kilometres away and completed in 1984. It can hardly be called a town as it is a group of 4, maybe 5, really large hotels. There is a small shopping mall but I didn't get to see it - not enough time.
I was really excited about this part of the Australian adventure as Uluru has been on my 'bucket list' for as long as I can remember.
On arrival at the Outback Pioneer Hotel & Lodge we had just enough time for a bag of fries for lunch before our first trip of the area. We headed for Kata Tjuta (aka The Olgas) with it's 36 domes.

I went for a long walk into the Walpa Gorge between Mt Olga and Mt Walpa. (Tom stayed in the coach as he couldn't tolerate the flies).





It was about half an hour of uneven walking but I made it to the end:


It was a fabulous walk.
We left Kata Tjuta around 5pm in order to be at Uluru for sunset .... we needn't have bothered - there wasn't one due to too much cloud cover. Sunset at Uluru is an organised circus:


All coach operators lay on wine or soft drinks and nibbles for all. It was a great atmosphere even though the sunset let us down.
Thursday 5th May was a REALLY early start. We were collected at 0550 in order to be at Uluru for sunrise due at 0615. Again the sun let us down as the famous rock didn't glow red at all


But we did see the most amazing sunrise


We were then taken on a one-hour cultural walk around the base of the rock when our guide pointed out many natural features of the rock, sacred sites which we were not allowed to photograph, aboriginal paintings and he told us traditional stories relating to this sacred site. I took many, many photographs and here are a couple. If you want to see more go to my Picasaweb site where I have uploaded them all. https://picasaweb.google.com/judystevens17








It was just amazing. An unforgettable and somewhat spiritual experience. I loved it.
I flew out of Ayers Rock Airport for Cairns at 2.30pm and was delighted that I was able to see both Uluru and the resort from the air.


Fabulous!
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