Canyons, kings and kangaroos

Saturday 30th December 2006

An early start today to do the walk around King’s Canyon. We began the walk at 7am, first a steep accent up 100 metres to the “rim” of the canyon, the reward was sensational – a stunning 6km walk through amazing landscape, stunning rock formations, sheer cliffs. Our journey then required a four hour drive to Ulura (until 1985 it was known at Ayres Rock when the government gave it back to the aborigionas). Our good deed for the day was to help a french guy help an aborigional who’s family car had run out of petrol some 40km down the road,so with aborigony and petrol canistar in the car (and of course contact details from the french guy who had helped get to the service stop) we set off, limited conversation in the car of course, as aborigionals speak very little english, an adventure and a half I must say. Plenty of wasaroo’s (was a ‘roo) or deadies on the road but we didn’t come across any live ones thank goodness as they can do tremendous damage to vehicles and I have heard that Skippy doesn’t have insurance either. Ulura resort is just that, a complex with a number of hotels, what they call a “shopping centre” which is a square with mostly touristy shops around, and a small supermarket, and a very expensive petrol station all very complexy spick and span with only red sand in sight. All very nice at first glance. A trip to Kata Tjuta otherwise known as the Olgas – 36 steep-sided domes was on the cards for late afternoon after refuelling on tea. The Olgas are a masterpiece of bouldering rocks some 40km from the resort, a magnificent site. One of the walks was closed due to the heat but the shorter walk was still open, so we opted to do a walk called “Walpa Gorge” with waterbottles in hand any necessity out here in such a heat. We’d timed it so that we could see sunset over the Olgas, however what we thought was the end of sunset happened to be an amazing array of colours lightening up the sky as we drove back to the resort, we werent patient enough, I must remember that for tomorrow’s sunrise at 5.50am. Still a fanscinating sight that will always stick in my mind