Uluru and Kata Tjuta

Sorry for the hiatus guys!  I've been suffering a bit of bad luck with the health of my left foot over the last two weeks and haven't felt like blogging.  The latest incident last night began with me starting to move my sewing table and not realising that one of the shelves in it was loose - and ended with me in emergency having my toe x-rayed and the side of my foot plastered, yes, my big toe is broken and I am on crutches!!!

Anyhow, back to the trip.

DAY 5:  This was our day for Uluru.  We headed out relatively early to do the walk out to the Mutitjulu Waterhole.  On the way we found some gorgeous rock art...

which the kids had fun trying to interpret as they've all done a few Aboriginal studies at school.  The walk culminated in a beautiful still pool...

where the peace was only broken by the buzzing of flies.  Don't you love the fly nets?  An absolute necessity!  We then did the walk into Kantju Gorge where the kids found a rock outcrop that looked all the world like a cresting wave...

We followed up the walks with lunch and a visit to the cultural centre - well worth the visit.  It really gives you an insight into the Aboriginal beliefs about the area and why it is so sacred to them.  

Then back to Yulara for a swim (and some much needed laundry!) before we headed out to watch the sunset.  We managed to snag one of the viewing platforms where the kids and I set up to do some painting...

 as Uluru dressed up in it's evening finery...

That night hubby and I were startled by what we initially thought was a mouse or rat scurrying around under the trailer.  But then we noticed it was hopping!  We were being visited by a little marsupial mouse and the next morning the kids and I scouted around for it's footprints...

DAY 6:  We then headed out to Kata Tjuta for the day.  We started with the Walpa Gorge walk...

admired the local wildlife on the way...

and found this gorgeous pool at the end.

Then we did the Valley of the Winds walk up to the 1st lookout - where the kids took a well-deserved rest!

Oh, and check out the next generation of tree huggers!!

We're back!!

Our two week road trip ended on Monday with a triumphant return to Perth.  For those that are interested I have a bit of a map to show you where we went - all 5,815 kilometres of it!

The trip is a bit long to talk about in one post so I'll just tell you about the first four days this time.

DAY ONE:  Perth to Kalgoorlie.  Left early from home - breakfast along the way.  This road is well used and winds through from Perth, through the wheat belt and into the southern goldfields.

DAY TWO:  Kalgoorlie to Tjukayirla Roadhouse.  Now the fun really began.  Kalgoorlie through to Laverton is bitumen. Laverton is where the Great Central Road starts - and so do the dirt roads.

The car still looks relatively clean here!  This bit of road is fairly good - since the graders have been through recently.  That night we stayed in the camp ground of a little roadhouse called Tjukayirla (often called Chucka for short.  We met a couple from Perth with their two teenage kids also doing the same trip and a couple from Brisbane (he Swiss, she Peruvian) going the other way.  They own a 4WD and campervan hire company and were returning one of their vehicles to Perth - more on them later.  The kids got to experience their first open fire ever...

...and reckon that bread toasted on an open fire tastes SOO much better.

DAY THREE:  Tjukayirla Roadhouse to Warakuna.  Camels!!

(And flies!!  Oh boy - the flies!)  Before we left the roadhouse however we had a minor mechanical drama to deal with.  As we were pulling out, the camper trailer wheel started making horrible squealing noises.  Our new Swiss mate Bruno (who also turned out to be an auto mechanic in a previous life)  had the trailer up on a jack in a jiffy, wheel off, drum off and the three small rocks that were causing the noise out.  Ten minutes later off we went.  What a legend - thanks Bruno.  This turned out be a day of more wildlife - more camels, snakes (on the road!), goannas (also on the road) and some very unfortunate birds who wanted to try flying across the road as we were going past.

DAY FOUR:  Warakuna to Yulara.  We started the day with a visit to the Giles Meteorological Station...

where the kids got to pretend to be radar dish operators...

and watch the daily release of the weather balloon.

We stopped along the way to look at various historical sites, including this tree which has a plaque with all the names of the original road builders - and their dog, Lassie!

A couple of hours later and we were in a different state...

Still lots of dirt driving to go.  We drove through the most spectacular scenery as around this area are the Petermann Ranges.  We finally made it off the dirt with about 40 km to go until we reached Yulara.  5 km later hubby shouts, "The back window's up!"  Lou jumps out to close it only to find that the back window no longer exists.  Somewhere along the last stretch of track the tailgate had popped open, forcing the back window up which then smashed when going over a bump.  Thank goodness it was in the canopy of the ute and not the car - or it would have made for a very breezy trip - no chance of getting another one till we got back to Perth.

Then we saw this...

Our first view of Kata Tjuta, or the Olgas as most people know it.  To be followed further on by...

Our fist view of Uluru.  Magnificent.  Yulara township beckoned, with The Pioneer Hotel for beer and pizza.  But we couldn't go to dinner without first going up to the lookout behind our trailer for our first sunset...

Just gorgeous - the photo doesn't really do the colours justice.

More tomorrow!