Ayers Rock NT

We have really enjoyed our time at Ayers Rock Resort and made the most of our visits to Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park. The days have been absolutely beautiful, clear blue skies and the sun shining from first light. The nights on the other hand have been so very cold.

Our first full day was spent at Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park. It costs $25.00 per adult for a 3 day park pass. You really need the 3 days to appreciate all that the National Park has to offer. We arrived at Uluru at 9.00am as we intended to climb the rock. I got out of the car and started talking myself out of it when I saw how steep it was. I completed the climb when I was 17 and didn't have anything to prove to anyone and besides that I knew my knees would be very angry with me. So I  started up the rock for about 10metres and then announced to everyone that I was once again going to be the bag holder. Chris continued on with the kids and coached them through it. Lach and Mel did it the easiest of them all. They all found it quite tough at times due to the gradient of the slope but when they came down 2 hours later they were really proud of the achievement.

Straight after completing the climb we all walked the 10.6km walk around the base of Ayers Rock. The kids were surprisingly keen to do it, as if the climb wasn't enough exercise for one day! But towards the end they were struggling to get one foot in front of the other. The enormity of the rock is hard to describe, it really does have to be seen.With weary legs we got in the car and headed across to the cultural centre for a look around and a refreshing drink as it was 2.00pm at this point.

After the short rest at the cultural centre we headed across to Kata Tjuta, otherwise known as The Olgas. We did the Walpa Gorge walk and went to the sunset viewing point to watch the sunset across the rocks. It was amazing how the colors change in a matter of minutes. And no they didn't go shades of pink, purple and green as the kids thought they would! It was beautiful hues of browns and reds. The sunset experience finished around 6.00pm so we headed back to the campsite, got showered and went out for a well deserved dinner at Geckos Café which is based within the resort.

The following morning Chris made a few repairs to the car and we packed him up and sent him off to the airport for his trip back to Melbourne to meet his work commitments. We decided that we would go and have a camel ride that afternoon. It was a wonderful experience traveling through the outback on the back of a camel and we found it very informative. For me the scariest part was when they stood up and sat down as you get thrown around a little bit and really need to hold on as you get thrust forward. Our camels names were Connor and Apollo, thankfully they were very well behaved and provided us lovely memories of our first camel ride together. That evening we went to Uluru and watched the sunset across the rock.

Today is our last day at Ayers Rock and I started it by taking myself to the National Park to watch the sunrise across the rock. My fingers were so cold I couldn't operate the buttons on the camera. I realised why when I looked at the time on my phone and noticed that it said it was -2 degrees at Yulara. The early start was worth it as it was beautiful and I have a few nice pics to choose from for memory sake. Mid morning Lachie and I went into town to listen to an aboriginal man talk about
boomerangs and weapons used in hunting. We both found it very rewarding and a great learning experience. The rest of the day was spent doing washing and getting ready to move on tomorrow to Kings Canyon.

Looking Down From The Ayers Rock Climb - Not From The Top

Kata Tjuta

Kata Tjuta At Sunset

Sunrise Ayers Rock

 

Following The White Line On Top Of Ayers Rock

Cadney Roadhouse SA to Ayers Rock NT

We got off to a great start today as we had a reasonably big day on the road ahead of us. Everything went smoothly as Chris and I shared the driving again as it is so tiring driving on the open roads that just seem to go on and on and on. We quickly set up the van in a pretty squishy powered site within the campground. The campground is full so it's bumper to bumper. We went for a walk around the resort and headed upto a lookout to take our first pic of the rock. Not the best light as it was around six and the sun was starting to go down.I'm counting on many more photo opportunitys arising in the next few days

Our First Sighting Of The Rock

Port August SA to Cadney Homestead SA

It was proving to be a little cold at night even though the days have been beautiful. Chris and Bec did a little shopping before we left Port and planned to head to Coober Pedy. The roads are long and desolate. Not a lot to look at along the way. So it can be quite monotonous. Chris has done the majority of the driving, but I have been doing 200-250km a day to make it a little easier for him. We pulled into Coober Pedy at around 4.00pm. We drove through town looking for the caravan park we thought we might stay at and bought some fuel. We decided that we would take a chance and continue onto Cadney Roadhouse that we had found on google which was a further 150km down the road. The gamble paid off as the facilities were pretty basic but clean and the owners really seemed to take care of the property. We were glad that we did the extra 150km today because it meant that we would have an easier day onto Ayers Rock the next day.

Berri SA To Port Augusta SA

We woke to the most beautiful morning on the Murray River. It was quite cold but the sun was shining and the river tranquil. We got away around 10.00am for another day on the road. We were making good time and just before Port August the road was closed due to flooding. We then had to detour inland which added a further 100km onto our day. We were intending on going onto Glendambo but decided to stay at Port Augusta. Not much to report by way of pictures because it wasn't photo worthy. We stocked up with supplies and fixed a couple of niggles with the car and took the opportunity to go out for dinner. Not too many trip advisor ratings of restaurants in Port Augusta but we took a chance and went out for Chinese which ended up being quite nice.

After Finally Hitting The Road

We left Melbourne's 110km an hour winds behind us on Tuesday morning. Not the best day to choose to travel, but we didn't encounter any difficulties. We had originally planned to stay in Mildura for the night. When we got there we went out for dinner to a pizza and pasta restaurant and chatted about keeping going for another couple of hours. We googled free camping from the car and found a couple of options to camp beside the Murray River. We decided to push on to South Australia and eventually got as far as Berri. We arrived about 11:00pm and it was pitch black making it a little hard to set up. We were also trying not to disturb the other campers who were all asleep. We had no idea what we would wake up to! Much to our delight it was just beautiful!

Murray River - Martins Bend - Berri SA

Our Rig - First Night Went To Plan

Lach And I Enjoyed A Morning Kick Of The Footy

Our Plan Before We Hit The Road

Our plan at this stage is to see Alice Springs, Ayers Rock, Kings Canyon, Oodnadatta Track, Strezlecki Track, Simpson Desert, Lake Eyre, Flinders Ranges and possibly some of outback Queensland. Follow our journey and see what we can manage to squish into 4-5 weeks. Looking forward hitting the roads and laying our eyes on the blue skies and red dirt of Central Australia.