Blogs from Kata Tjuta, Northern Territory, Australia, Oceania - page 2

The excitement built up on the long 5 hour drive from Alice Springs to the Uluru Kata Tjuta National Park. This was to be the fulfilment of a lifetime ambition to see Uluru (Ayers rock). A boring drive was anticipated through a flat terrain of red desert but in fact there was quite a lot of greenery with some trees and shrubs. Overall the journey was quite scenic and didn't seem to take too long. There was however the sheer sense of isolation and being in the middle of nowhere far from civilisation. In fact we hardly saw any vehicles en route. Just the occasional road train with supplies or a coach with tourists. We felt very much alone in the emptiness of the red centre of Australia. Our first view of Uluru was from the ... read more

There is a feast for the eyes in the Red Centre of Australia. Just when you think Uluru is the ultimate in rock majesty, you drive 60ks west to Kata Tjuta. With the transition of the land back to the tribal owners, Ayres Rock became Uluru, and The Olgas has returned to the Aboriginal name, Kata Tjuta. Why have a Russian Princess name tagged to an ancient Aboriginal sacred place? I'm all for the new names even though I don't support or endorse some of their sacred beliefs. They deserve respect if nothing else. This is a very odd set of rocky domes spread over an area probably 2 times larger than Uluru, but with passes and gorges running between the multiple of domes. The formation can be seen way back before Uluru when travelling on ... read more

Day 119, 08/01/12 Up at 5:30am and took a drive to Kata Tjuta, we did a walk around the rocks and learned all the history again, both scientific and aboriginal. Then we went to Uluru which was just amazing, that is one big rock. Got lots of photos and did a small walk called the Mala walk learning about the Aboriginal stories around the rock. We watched the sunset over the rock and had a better camp ground tonight with showers, toilets and lights! We had a great laugh in the evening playing a card game called spoons, we also played snap. I don't know why but for some reason they were just hilarious and we all had a fun night over some beers. Because there was a lot of ants, flys, mossies, big black bugs ... read more

A early morning wake up takes up to the 36 domes of The Olgas, covering an area of 21.68 km2 (8.37 sq mi), composed of conglomerate, a sedimentary rock consisting of cobbles and boulders cemented by a matrix of sandstone. The highest point, Mount Olga, is 1,066 m (3,497 ft) above sea level, and (650 ft) higher than Uluru. The hike today is 8k in the Valley of the Winds. It is cold, cloudy, misty and windy. Walking on rocks and in standing water. The hike is very difficult but we all take it slow, some decide to take an easier route. The scenery is so amazing. We see kanagroos on the ridge above us. The longer we hike the warmer it gets as the day proceeds and and by the end of the hike it ... read more

Entry by Rich Monday 15/12/08 Our adventure in the 'red centre' of Australia started early (very early) on Monday morning. Early starts are a big feature of this trip and we were up at 5 a.m ready to be picked up outside our hotel at 5.45. Our Australian tour guide, Mark, was pleased that we had a relatively small bag between us as space on the tour bus is at a premium. Being amongst the first onto the bus also allowed us to get some good seats too! We met Louise who is from Sunderland but has been working in Australia for the last few months. There were many other nationalities represented in our tour group - Dutch, Swiss, Irish, Portugese, Danish and German. There was also a good age range with a couple of young ... read more