Uluru, the Olgas, King's Canyon
Trip Start
Feb 10, 2005
1
5
Trip End
Jul 17, 2005
Uluru, Australia
Saturday, April 2, 2005
Uluru is beautiful at sunrise but sunset is even better. Thankfully Shorty knew where to go and when so we were usually the first people to get to viewing spots. After seeing it as sunset on the first days I realized: I'm watching a rock change colors for 45 minutes. But walking around it and hearing Aboriginal beliefs and practices made it much more interesting. It really is massive! I walked around it, 9km, in the morning. Don't bother me about not climbing it, (you wouldn't if you saw how steep and scary it was :/ ). True, grandmas were climbing it but there's no way I would.
Day 2: The Olgas
What am amazing walk! Spotted a skippy (kangaroo) watching us pass on our way to view the sunset. The Olgas took my breath away (yeah yeah i'm cheesy). It's rough terrain but that makes it challenging to climb and more amazing when you reach a viewing spot. There was one spot on the trail, where you climb a hill and then come upon a valley with massive rocks on each side. Something out of The Lion King! The "Valley of the Winds" walk was great (and minimal mozzies :P). This was my first time in the desert and I never expected anything like this. The Olgas are a set of huge rocks clumped together that form valleys, little corners and strong winds. The contrast with the desert is surprising.
Day 3: King's Canyon.
This was the last leg of the tour. We started off on location before 6am when the temperature was 25 degrees, and returned around noon when it was 35! We started on Heart-Attack Hill (trust me, there's a reason it's called that). Three breaks later we made it to the top and were already sore! The sunrise was amazing because we were seated at the top of the canyon looking out across its sides with the desert in the background. The rim walk was great. It wasn't flat but entirely covered in rock that was eroded at different heights so it was constant up and down. We hiked down, through and up from, the Garden of Eden (the bottom of the canyon enclosed on all sides, completely with tall lush ghost and gum trees and a water hole with a duck). Shorty told us about some Aboriginal medicines derived from native plants. Here's some I remember: crushed termite mound with dry grass eases hunger pains/ bloodwood will kill you/ pine tree sap can be used as chewing gum/ Aboriginals used a certain plant to blind their bad kids for a day to teach them a lesson. Walking King's Canyon was really windy but that kept the flies at a distance and cooled you down. Also, there's this native plant pronounced "pinchi" which apparently makes cannabis look like child's play (vital info. from the tour guide ;)
