Australian Outback Adventure - Day 2 - Kata Tjuta

Kata Juta Climb

Saturday, October 20, 2012 - The Olgas or Kata Tjuta

Way Outback Itinerary - Day 2:

From a lookout close to our campsite we can view sunrise over Uluru (Ayers Rock) and Kata Tjuta (The Olgas) before rolling up the swags and heading off to Kata Tjuta for a leisurely 7km walk through the "Valley of the Winds". After a stop at the Resort for fuel and refreshments, we're off to Kings Creek Cattle Station for our second night's private bush camp, complete with bush toilet and shower.
With nobody else for miles, this camp has stunning views out over the George Gill Ranges and gives you a real feel for the outback. Dinner around the campfire makes for a very social time with another night out under the stars.

• Uluru (Ayers Rock) and Kata Tjuta (the Olgas) Sunrise   
• Kata Tjuta   
• Ayers Rock Resort
• Curtin Springs   
• Kings Creek Station   
• Outback Bush Camp

We awoke at 5:00 a.m., as Dave was stoking the campfire and bringing the water up to coffee heat.  Our breakfast consisted of dried cereals, milk, canned fruit, toast and vegemite or jams, and a very muddy pressed coffee.  We stripped the sheet and pillow case from our swags and tucked these into our sleeping bags.  The swags were rerolled and tossed into a lean-to for the next travelers.  The sleeping bag, sheet, and pillow stays with each traveler for trip.  At 6:00 a.m. in the morning it was still in the upper 80's.

Again the sunrise was obscured by the clouds and bush fire haze. 

At Uluru. there were some breaks in the clouds to catch a cloud glow but not enough to give the rock an early glow.  Another photographic disappointment...but still an exciting way to start the morning.

We took our leave when the sun disappeared completely in the clouds and headed to the Olgas, Kata Tjuta, another eroded mountain valley and pushed-up sandstone rock formations. Kata Tjuta represents many heads to the indigenous people.  

We were on the hiking trail by 8:00 am, slightly behind and in front of other hikers who were also doing the Valley of the Winds in front of the heat of the day.

The 7 km walk was a variety of terrain with stretches of steep ups and downs.  We wove through the "heads and shoulders" of the rocks.  

Over the Shoulders of Kata Tjuta

By 10:00 the clouds started to blow away, and the blazing sun made his entrance and began to fry the land. Rocks are brilliant red now, yeah.  But the heat is overwhelming.  We are drinking a lot of water, but it seems to instantly ooze out of our pores.

This is Australia

This is the mountain range

We did the Full Circuit, Grade 4 - Difficult

We find a place to rest in the shade.  Our guide draws pictures in the sand of Australias geologic evolution and explained the flora and fauna of the area.  The scenery is magnificent.  The inbound trails close at 11:00 a.m. due to the extreme heat.  We were just returning to the 4x4 by 11:00 and were glad to get into an air conditioned environment as there was no winds on this walk today.  On our way back to Ayers Rock we passed by a large salt lake.

After our trek we returned to Ayers Rock Resort where we fixed our lunch and had some time to go swimming if we chose to do so.  I chose to stand in the pool shower fully clothed to try and scrub some of the red dust off my clothes and at the same time cool down.  I did this twice in 2 hours, each time drying off completely.  Two of our fellow travelers were taking their leave after lunch so we drove them to the airport.  Then the remaining 14 continued on to Kings Creek Station,  but not before we stopped and gathered some more wood to add to the stash from the day before.  There were fewer terror shrieks, today.  We are all getting with the program.

When we arrived at the station camp ground, we wove between some tidy tents on green clean lawns, and stopped  at the campground shower facilities to cleanup before heading to our private bush camp. I have to say I felt envious of the cleanliness of the refined campsites here, but also felt gutsy pride that the  two of us were down and dirty bush camping in the outback.  As we were approaching our camp a small herd of about six camels galloped in front of the bus faster than I could get the camera focused. There are still, 994,000 wild camels we have yet to see.  Hopefully, we will see some more.

Our camp shed was smaller tonight and less equipped than the night before. 

Rolled Up Swags

 Our years of hiking and backpacking in Yosemite had prepared us far better than some of the urban young people on the trip.  Immediately, Dave started the fires, one in the circle and another under the camp barbie griddle.   

Our Bedroom

Then he gave us a tour of the bush toilet and shower.  We could see why we stopped to shower at the campground and were much appreciative of him making those arrangements.  There was a steam donkey boiler that needed to be wood fired for 45 minutes for a single shower.  It would have taken us all night to each take a shower.   The toilet actually flushed, kind of, but the ground around the toilet was covered with  biting ants. I think this may have been the origin of ants in your pants.  Needless to stay, Russ and I chose to make our own toilet arrangements discretely off the ant beaten path.

Modern Facility with bug protection and privacy

We  set about making dinner, chopping and slicing vegetables and chicken for a stir fry on the griddle.  While the worker bees got dinner ready, the slackers sat by the fire.  After dinner, Dave shooed the workers out of the kitchen and started calling in some of the others to do the cleanup.  He even shooed worker bee Russ out of the kitchen before cleanup started.  While we appreciated the effort, it would have been better to have had some chore organization in advance to reduce some of the building resentment towards those who were willing to let others do the lion's share of the chores.  We were a microcosm of life. 

Another annoying behavior of some of the group was the boarding house table grab, particularly at lunch time.  While there was plenty of food prepared, the first through the line were making two and three sandwiches right off the bat.  By the time some of us who hung back and let others go first, we found little left on the platters.  Our fellow passengers were nice but not all were well schooled in consideration of others...the "me generation" at its worst.

Late to the table one morning, the coffee was gone.  Dave made one last pot before cleanup (granted this was a small pot for the number in the group).  I was first to pour  myself 3/4's of a small metal cup and filled the rest with milk.   A few folks jumped up for a second cup.  The pot was empty before I even took a sip or others who had yet to get coffee had gotten any.   Feeling rather selfish myself with my full cup, I shared my cup with two others, seemingly unnoticed by those who were onto their second cups

Anyone who knows me, knows I really need my morning coffee, so sharing was a big deal for me. I would hope that someone would do the same for me if the circumstances were reversed.  I know the recipients were grateful.  Instant coffee and teas for a large group would have been more efficient, but then us city slickers wouldn't fully appreciate the thick muddy campfire coffee of the bush.  At least we weren't chasing down a camel to milk for our morning cupper.

We set up our swags once again and pulled away from the blazing fire.  There was enough of a cloud cover where we still could not see the stars.  The dingos were howling and some of the group was a bit nervous. Dave told us that he thought they were less than a kilometer away.  Great!   Truth be told, I was a bit nervous too,  but it didn't prevent me from dropping quickly off to sleep.  Bush camping, bouncing around in a 4x4, and the heat is exhausting.  We just hope the dingos stay away as we drift to sleep.