The Red Centre - Kata Tjuta

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Kata Tjuta

Our most recent adventure began in the Red Centre with friends from school, Carolyn and Terry. We spent a day in Alice Springs, checking out the aboriginal art stores and tasting the local cuisine. The evening was spent around the pool at our hotel. Daytime temperatures were in the mid 30s but the evenings were uncharactieristically warm (high teens) for the desert.

Our 'Outback' experience began with the 6am pickup for our 5 day camping safari with Sahara Adventures. Our tour guide, Debora, was wide awake and cheerful as she picked us up at our hotel - Tom and I were barely alive. The whole 4WD busload dozed on an off as we rode south through the MacDonnell Ranges and into a very barren, flat landscape.

Our first stop was a couple of hours into our trip at a camel farm. We got a close-up look at the camels, but decided to stay on our own two feet for the time being (Sarah was pretty sure her allergies include smelly dromedaries). Terry and Carolyn were more adventurous. We had a few more stops along the way, including one to pick up wood for the campfire. The environment was very desolate - small shrubs and stunted, burned-out trees mostly (very dry firewood).

We reached our campsite at Yulara around 1pm with 16 campers (picked up 6 at Yulara). After lunch, we drove to Kata Tjuta (the Olgas) for a short walk into the Walpa Gorge. Kata Tjuta is aboriginal for “many heads” and that’s just what these rock formations looked like as we approached from many kilometres away. We had the opportunity to view the formations from many different perspectives and distances. How these rocks have been pushed up through the barren desert over millions of years really is an awesome natural phenomenon.

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Photos

From the front seat
For some reason they put these rocks right in the middle of the road.

Oh yeah, well you've got camel lips!
I think this guy looked so happy because he was the only one without a massive bone through his nose.

Moloch horridus
Unfortunately, the only thorny devils we saw in the wild were road kill. This guy was a resident at the Reptile Park in Alice Springs.

The Todd River
The main river through Alice Springs contains water for only a few days each year.

Friendly Beardies
These bearded dragons were very happy to pose for the camera.

Kata Tjuta (Many Heads)
Kata Tjuta just before the walk.

Getting up close with Kata
Well, it sounds better than "... up close with Olga".

Kata Tjuta - Walpa Gorge
One of our shorter walks was through the Walpa Gorge. There was a beautiful contrast between the blue/green vegetation and the red rocks.

Tom, Sarah and Olga
I think I see why they changed the name... Olga just doesn't work for me.

Kata Tjuta
A view from the roadside.

Optimistic trees - Kata Tjuta
These trees looked like they were watching the clouds for rain.

Walpa Gorge
A short walk along Walpa Gorge at Kata Tjuta.

Walpa Gorge - Kata Tjuta
This photo shows just how red the rocks are here in "The Red Centre".

Kata Tjuta - a different view
Kata Tjuta. The vegetation in the foreground is typical of Australia's Red Centre.

Sahara Adventures
This was the tour company that organised our 5 day camping trip through The Red Centre.

Not the "young girls' bus"
The two buses were divided into "The young girls" and "us". This is "us".