Saturday March 27, 2010 – Yulara

After breakfast we headed for the National Park again. This time we went to Kata Tjuta. On our way to the west side we stopped at the Kata Tjuta dune viewing area. There was a short walk up to the viewing area. It was nice to see this area from the ground and up close. We continued around to the west side and did the Walpa Gorge walk. It was 1.3 km walk into the gorge. Most of the path was over bare conglomerate. It was very uneven to walk on. Reminded me of walking on old cobble stone streets. There were big bolder of conglomerate all over the place. You could see many holes in the side of the gorge walls. Some of the holes had vegetation growing in them. It was nice to do the walk before it got too hot. Some of the walks are closed when it is too hot. Just less than half of the walk was in the shade. There was some fresh water in the gorge, again because of the rain. There was lots of beautiful green vegetation in the gorge. After the problem with my hip the day before, I was glad to be able to do this walk. There were not many people doing the walk at this time either. That added to the sense of spirituality to the area.

We headed back toward Uluru. I remembered a short walk on the south side of the rock. It was the Kuniya walk which was gentle and easy. There was a waterhole further along the path. Water was running into it. It was so nice to stand quietly and just listen to the gentle sound of nature. There was lots of lush vegetation around this area. After all the walking my hip was saying enough, so we headed back to our accommodation. It was so nice to have a swim in the pool.

We had paid for a tour out to the park which started at 2:35 so we only had a short time to eat and get ready. We realized we should not have signed up for this tour as it was doing what we did in the morning. It was so hot I did not do any of the walks. Charles did them hoping to see if different light might make things look differently. He said it made a difference. While everyone went of the Walpa Gorge walk I sat in a shaded area to wait. Another tour started with a description with dirt drawings, on how all this formed geologically. It was very informative. Two school groups arrived with much the same explanations. What a wonderful learning experience.

We then headed back to Uluru to watch the sunset. We were served wine or lemonade with dried fruit or peanuts. There were so many people to watch the sunset and its effect on the colour of the rock. Uluru turned from red to a purple shade as the sun set. We got back just after 7pm. We are really glad we came to see these geological phenomenons.