Coober Pedey to Uluru

  Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park, Northern Territory, Australia
Tuesday, May 13, 2008

The flight from Cooper Pedey to Uluru was our longest to date lasting just under 4 hours.  A favorable wind aided us and shaved many minutes off our flight time.  The terrain along this flight remained desert but the views were becoming more interesting.  At the very beginning of the day we spotted a dust cloud off in the distance.  This turned out to be a land train.   Land trains are over sized tractor trailers towing giant double decker trailers sometimes 3 trailers long.  This one was towing only two and appeared to be hauling cattle.  The land train kicked up a trail of dust at least 20 miles long.  It was probably much longer but at our altitude 20 miles was the approximate distance of the horizon for us.
Our first stop was at oonadetta.  This was another small airfield which served to supply us with enough fuel to make it over the next leg with enough gas to spare, hopefully.  During this leg it was crucial that the pilots lean their engines properly to conserve fuel.  The tail wind also helped them greatly.  

After fueling we were off on the 3 hour leg of our journey.  One of the way points along the way was an ancient crater.  The crater is so old you can just make out the ring that has eroded down to almost nothing with some vegetation on it to help outline it.   This is a good time to mention the general topography of Australia.  It is the flattest continent in the world as it has gone the longest without major geological upheaval or Teutonic stress.  As a result the once enormous mountain ranges have eroded and the center of the continent was once a great inland sea.  Now the inland is a great flood plane that only sees water periodically but when it does virtually the entire area floods.  The highest peak here is just over 7,000 feet but we will encounter nothing over 5,000 feet or so.  This doesn't make the terrain any less spectacular just at times very alien to what I have seen before.
As we approach Uluru we saw what looked like the monolith off in the distance.  This turned out to not be Ayers Rock but Mt. Conner.  This Mt. is a little taller and has much straighter sides then Uluru.  This can be confusing because the two mountains are not all that far from the air.   After about 20 more minutes we were finally able to see the peak we were aiming for Ayers Rock or as is now politically correct to refer to it as Uluru, the name for it originally given by the Aboriginals.
The airport here was somewhat busy but we lucked out and arrived during a lull.  We were then bussed to our destination the luxury resort Sails in the Desert not far from the base of Uluru.  The hotel was spectacular and we were treated that night to a "Dinner Under the Stars" which if one ever makes it out here should never be missed.