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Published: August 27th 2009
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Olgas
View from lookout Olgas, Kings Canyon and the beginnings of the Alice
With the sudden appearance of rain, our time at Yulara (Ayers Rock township) became restful and an entire day was spent watching DVDs. The next day was brighter so we ventured to the Olgas for another walk.
The Olgas (Kata Tjuta) are a cluster of 36 rock domes - the largest being over 500 metres high. This is higher than Uluru’s 348m and certainly impressive, but the fact that Uluru stands alone gives it a much more striking appearance.
Our first walk was to the Gorge. This is not a long walk, and it allowed us to see some of the rocks up close and to appreciate their varying colors and textures. We also met more tourists along the way. The majority of tourists we have met have been from European nations, America and Canada. Some foreign tourists stand out like a sore thumb because when you say “G’day” to them, they look shocked and don’t reply! It is obvious that a passing greeting is not something they are used to, and we have reached the point where we can’t help but laugh at the difference. With all fairness
Olgas
We are enjoying having Beau as our photographer! though, these are people in the 25 - 35 year age bracket who probably don’t know what “Gday” means - perhaps they figure it is a snake warning or something.
The Gorge walk was lovely, but we were keen to walk the Valley of the Winds walk, which takes the walker through the rocks and takes about 3 hours. We perhaps put this on the children too soon after the torture of Uluru, because there was a lot of whining from the younger two, which meant once we reached the first viewing area we decided to turn back. We didn’t want the kids to feel like our tour is going to be punishment!
Perhaps if we had done the whole Valley of the Winds walk we might feel differently, but both Grady and I felt disappointed by our time at the Olgas - like we expected more. They are certainly an imposing display of rocks, but they weren’t inspiring like Uluru.
Our final day at Yulara ended with a view of Uluru from the camp lookout - a moment both Grady and myself stored away to remember again at another time. Surrounded by our children and the new friends
Olgas
Walk to the gorge...Chloe is such a poser! we had all made, there was a feeling of contentment and appreciation for the place we were in.
Before packing up the next morning we received sad news that Grady’s uncle (whom we had visited in Horsham) had passed away that morning. Grady loves this side of his family very much and he was deeply troubled by the news as well as Seth. It was horrible for Grady to be away from his family when he knew they were all suffering, so it was a good day to drive and we passed the time on the way to Kings Canyon listening to the gospel music of Johnny Cash.
Kings Canyon
Kings Canyon Resort is not as flash as Yulara - the amenities are quite ordinary, and the store is shockingly expensive ($4 for a litre of milk, $8 for 6 muesli bars, for example). However, there are grassed areas and the pool is nice with grass also. Coming from Victoria, I appreciate the greenness and lack of dust, and both Grady and myself preferred the Kings Canyon resort to Yulara.
A few families had mentioned to us to make sure we saw the “Roadies” show when we stayed
Olgas
Gorge walk there, so the next night we ventured to the barbecue area for a watch. The Roadies did a great show involving the kids and performing Aussie favorites like “Click go the shears”, “Waltzing Matilda” and “Give me a home among the gum trees”. The kids were allowed to stand up the front with hand clappers and a few other instruments and thoroughly enjoyed themselves.
The next day we decided to walk up and around Kings Canyon - a 6km walk with an expected time of 4 hours. The hardest part is the first 600m which is a steep climb up many steps. Just before starting the climb we met up with another family who were doing the 1 hour Kings Creek walk and we convinced them to come with us.
Having another little girl meant that Chloe was quite the little sprite and didn’t need to be pushed to keep up. We were really proud of the kids and really enjoyed the walk.
We took the side track to the Garden of Eden, which is a valley area with a few ferns and the boys had a dip in the waterhole. Beyond this was a great photo opportunity and we
Kings Canyon
Family shot from Garden of Eden lookout valued having others there to photograph us together, rather than one of us missing out.
Kings Canyon has walls 270m high that were created in a single event and it was interesting to read a plaque at the top which explained that the ripples in the rock were evidence of water covering the surface many years ago. Not two days before we had been reading to the kids of Noah and the Great Flood and it was great to see the evidence of this, even in outback Australia.
The detour we had taken added another 1.2kms to total the walk at 7.2kms, so it was not surprising that Chloe needed encouragement to make the last 1km back to the carpark. We were really proud of the kids for persisting at this walk - without their stamina we would not have seen the gorgeous display of the red rock formations and cutting walls of the canyon. They were a stunning sight and an experience equal to Uluru.
Back at the Resort, we decided to watch the Roadies for a second night. This time, Petrea of the Roadies announced to the audience that there was a “star” amongst us, and we
Kings Canyon
Jagged edge of the canyon from Garden of Eden laughed because the previous night she had told Grady he was the spitting image of the actor in “Numbers”. This night she kept the joke going by mentioning intermittently about someone who acts in “Numbers” until, toward the end of the performance, she asked the audience if they had figured it out, pointed at Grady and said he had been in Numbers and was also the stunt double for a very big Hollywood star but was not allowed to say who. We had a bit of a laugh but you could tell the audience was trying to figure out if she was serious or not and when we left Petrea gave a massive wave during her performance, which made it even more funny. Petrea herself didn’t realize how seriously people took her until afterwards when people were showing their dismay that they hadn’t taken the opportunity to get an autograph!
We returned to find our friends Tim and Michelle with their “tribe of 5” were our new neighbours, much to the delight of both us and the kids. They kindly offered to babysit the following night so Grady and I could go out for tea, which was a real treat!
Kings Canyon
Very hard to show the beauty with a camera... very happy to have seen it! It was a guilty pleasure to have steak followed by the best citrus tart I have ever had - the chef there is top notch, that’s for sure. We really appreciated our babysitters who had 9 kids in our van watching “The Mask” and “Spongebob” and did a great job.
From our 4 nights at Kings, we left for Alice Springs armed with phone numbers from Petrea and a little box of supplies. Whilst in Alice we have done nothing but go to the supermarket and hang around the caravan park. Grady is making some repairs to the van (crawling around on the ground, just like home) and the kids are enjoying playing with Tim and Michelle’s crew who are our neighbours again!
I read once that the third week on the road is the hardest, and we have found that this last week has been a difficult one mentally at times. We’ve enjoyed what has been before us, but our thoughts have been with Grady’s family and we are just glad we can have a bit of R & R in the one place for a little while.
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sharon
non-member comment
jealous
Hey guys, Love the pics especially chloe in her pose. Looks like your having so much fun. Totally jealous. We recently drove to Adelaide and found the 10 hour trip quite difficult (the kids were fine, Sharon got cabin fever being in the car). Looking forward to more exciting adventures of the beverly hill...Lewis'. Love Sharon Jon and kiddy winks