Day 107

Day 107 Ayers Rock.

We went out to the Olgas today for a change of scenery. We drove the 50kms out there and they are certainly a sight to see. The rock is the same as Ayers Rock but it has eroded differently. They have formed a series of domes. The 

Gorge at the Olgas

Down in the gorge

colours are as spectacular as the Rock, just smaller. We drove to the first walk but after unloading the Beast and starting, I could only go about 100m before I had to turn back – sad face. Maureen was able to walk on and went into the gorge, hence the pictures, whilst I sulked in the car. We drove over to the other walk but it was getting too hot for Maureen to walk it, so we just admired it and moved on. We went to the sunset viewing carpark and what a difference. At Ayers Rock, there is a car park about a kilometre

The tracil into the gorge

Looking back out

long that you can park your car and view the rock without having to get out, perfect for me and it would seem the hundred or so there every night (hate to see it in peak season). At the Olgas there is a little carpark surrounded by bushes and you cannot see a thing, you have to hike to a viewing platform. Looks like they had a different planner for this side, not very public friendly at all.

The Walls looking up

Chunks of eroded rock

We had lunch there and then set off for the sunrise viewing platform. This was not much better, but at least I could see some of the Olgas and did not have to hike the 200m+ to the platform. When packing lunch (which was perfect) the cook made a fatal error and had not packed the cake! This was the incentive to head back to camp, not the heat, lack of views and lack of disabled access, but cake.

The Olgas

Maureen at the Olgas

Back at camp, we booked into the local hotel for dinner, had our cuppa and cake and chilled for a while. As the sun started to go down, we headed off to the Rock to watch it go down once again. We were half expecting to see a dingo on the way as we had seen them on two out of our three visists, but no luck tonight. We watched the sun go down and headed back. As I said the other day, this must be horrendous during peak season given the 1km parking bay for cars is 2/3rds full now and there are over 30 buses in their parking area as well and most of those are pretty full.

Sun going

Sun gone

Back at camp, we went to dinner and had a Wildlife Tasting plate of Kangaroo, Wallaby and Buffalo followed by a Buffalo Pie, very nice. The downfall of the night (well our downfall) was their desert bar, it is help yourself! Needless to say we tried them all and they were delicious. Tomorrow we plan to go to King Canyon for a day or so. Our planning over dinner was that we only have 4 weeks left, so we would probably head to say Mildura, leave the van ad dash to Canberra for a few dyas and then head off around the south coast.

Out to Dinner