The Olgas , Kings Canyon and ………… Mice!

Sunrise at Uluru

Sunrise at Uluru woithout Norb

I t was a little chilly as we awoke in our swags at 5:00am so that we could set off to see Uluru at sunrise. After a quick breakfast we broke camp and headed to our viewing spot, along with about 100 of our closest friends. It seems all the tours and individual wanderers are on the same plan. Some years back the park installed viewing platforms to accommodate all the people who want to experience the pageantry of daybreak at Ayers Rock. One guy climbed on the roof covering the platform with a camera on a tripod so he could get a better photo. When the young girl ranger working for the park asked him to come down, his response was there is no sign saying I can’t climb on the roof. This must be how we get those warnings on products that say don’t trim your hedges with a lawn mower or use the power drill to clean ear wax; I expect there will be a sign next year. The flat desert stretched before us to Uluru and then on beyond to the horizon looking like it went all the way to the sun. From our vantage point the sun slowly started to rise to the left of Ayers Rock; first a sliver of light then turning into a full round ball of fiery yellow fury. I’ve seen a lot of sunrises, but there was something palpably mystical about the sunrise as backdrop to the sacred dome sandstone Uluru.  It is an image I will never forget.

The Olgas

A short 30 minute drive brought us to The Olgas (Western name) or Kata Tjura (Aboriginal name). Kata Tjura means “many heads” and there are 36 domed shaped, sandstone rocks in the area. This area too is sacred to the Aborigines, but unlike Uluru, only men were allowed here. We hiked the full 7.5km “Valley of the Wind” circuit. The trail goes through a valley between two of the largest domed heads. Again because of all the rain, the valley was in full bloom. There was even a pool of water in a

Valley of the Wind

place that doesn’t normally have water because the blue trail markers ran right into the pool and you could see them come out on the other side. I was surprised by the number of birds in the valley. We stopped on the side slope of one dome and looked out across the canyon and valley floor into the entrance of a box canyon. Chris said the men would sit in this spot sharpening their spears; waiting for a kangaroo or other animal to wander into the box canyon. They would then follow them in and have them cornered where they could dispatch them with impunity. He said this taught them patience. They must be the most patient people in the world because it would have taken a long time for an animal to come wandering in; I could never be aborigine. Maybe there were more animals around at that time, Chris also added that Australia has wiped out more species than any other country; 19 at last count. We came up out of the valley and crested a small hill between the domes. It was very windy up there,

Endless Road

hence the name “valley of the Winds” and the view was cool. You could see out the end of the canyon to other domed rocks beyond. The rest of the walk was at ground level around the base of the domes.

After a two hour drive we stopped for firewood and another two hours brought us to our last camp. Along the way we were stopped by a police roadblock for a random alcohol test; they even have a show about them on TV. You have to blow zero; there is no tolerance for drinking while driving. Although that shouldn’t be too hard in this area, beers were $70 a case. Of course we

Price for a case of 30 beer...and that's in Australian dollars!

stopped to view the sunset, the other bookend to a perfect day. Camp was another story. There was a shower with hot water, once you got the fire going under the water tank; and it had three walls with no door. There was a flush toilet, but it too had no door. We used the “Coo-ee” system with these. When approach one would yell “Coo-ee”, if there was no response the facility was yours. However the doors were the least of our worries. When the desert blooms everything multiples because of the increased food supplies; there are more berries, flowers, birds, insects and ……mice! The spinifex mice were everywhere in camp and there were A LOT of them; more than enough to do a long term study. We put our bag on a pallet in the camp kitchen and you could see them run underneath. They were scurrying around our feet as we prepared dinner. As we sat around the fire the mice were there too. One girl sat with her feet up the whole time because a mouse had run across them and one guy slept in the bus because he was so freaked out by them. Funny thing was the mice got in the bus and he didn’t sleep a wink. Those of us who slept outside were fine. Chris had told us once the temperature dropped the mice would go to sleep, and they did.

King's Canyon

Garden of Eden

5:00, time to get up and see another sunrise; beautiful as usual. On our last day we would take the 4 hour hike around the rim of “King’s Canyon”. The canyon is basically “V” shaped. You climb about four hundred steps to the top of the canyon at one side of the wide end and hike along the edge until the canyon narrows. You then descend into the “Garden of Eden”; the valley at the bottom of the

canyon, and up the other side. There are various lookouts along the way where you get a chance to peer over the 300 meter vertical cliff face.
There are no railings and they prefer you don’t get to close because of the instability of the rock; the last major rock fall being about 80 years ago. It’s not the Grand Canyon, but it had a grand beauty all its own.

Look at the disco dancer busting a move

We stopped to barbeque for lunch before beginning our 6 hour ride back to Alice Springs. This is where the ruggedness of our bus would be put to the test; about half that time would be travelling on unsealed (i.e. dirt) road. It was a bone jarring, teeth rattling, wash board of a road, so bumpy and

Put another shrimp on the barbie!

noisy you couldn’t hear yourself think. It was funny for the first ten minutes and after that you just wanted it to end. I don’t know how the bus held together. Chris said this was a good road as it had recently been graded; I’d hate to ride on a bad one. The torture finally ended when we stopped for an ice cold beer at the Glen Helen Resort and to switch buses. Three folks would be continuing on for two more days of camping the rest of us would return to Alice. Since the other bus hadn’t arrived we ordered another round and of course the bus immediately showed up. We finished our beers said goodbye to our fellow travelers and headed in opposite directions. On our way back we could see smoke ahead and as we got nearer there were flames on both sides of

The "good" unsealed road

the road. They were doing some “controlled” bush fires, although there was no one around controlling the fires. It was pretty cool to drive through. We still had about an hour to go when a young guy in the back of the bus requested a toilet stop; the beer was too much for him. I was glad he broke down first because I wasn’t sure I could make it all the way. We were still in the middle of nowhere and the gal driving the bus said there were no toilets until we get back to Alice and there really weren’t any trees either, but she immediately pulled the bus over and said have at it. The men went on one side of the road and one girl went on the other side to have a little

Controlled Fire

privacy. Maybe we should have stopped a little sooner to help control the fire. Peeing on the side of the road, what better way to end a great adventure to the Red Centre of the Australian outback.                  

It’s a ripper.

norb