Uluru 12th - 16th September

It was about a four and a half hour drive to Uluru. On the way, about 30 minutes before arrival, Mount Connor appeared. Many travellers mistake this mountain for Uluru. We took it as a sign we were getting close.

Lisa’s parents were due to fly into Uluru at 1:15 and as soon as we got mobile phone reception we got in contact with them. We arranged to drop into their hotel before heading to our campsite. We left all three kids with them and set up our camp only five minutes away. Kids enjoyed a swim and we all enjoyed showers in a tiled, clean bathroom. That night Granny and Papa treated us to a gourmet dinner at a restaurant in their hotel to celebrate Papa’s 70th birthday which passed while we had been away. It was an extremely nice change from pasta and cheese or sausages in bread.

Over the next few days with Granny and Papa we: -

                Visited Walpa Gorge in Kata Tjuta (the Olgas). Here we walked 45 minutes into the gorge.

Went to the cultural centre and listened to an Aboriginal elder talk about the significance of Uluru. We learnt about the importance of respecting this as a sacred place of spiritual importance.

                All seven of us completed the base walk of Uluru, walking around the rock. Jasper and Archie walked some of it, alternating between rides in the pram, rides on Papa’s shoulders and rides on Boyd’s shoulders. The rest of us completed the 11 kms on our own two feet.

                We hosted Granny and Papa to a camp style dinner of chicken on the BBQ in wraps with hommous, cucumber and capsicum.

                We were treated to a second dinner out. This time it was in a “café” in the Yulara town square.

                We enjoyed three consecutive days of showers.

Early on our third morning Lisa drove back out to Kata Tjuta to embark upon a second walk. She left at 6am and returned about 10am after getting a new perspective on these rocks. She managed to do a more difficult walk that the boys would have found too difficult so we didn’t tackle it on our previous visit.

Granny and Papa left us later that morning. We were considerably cleaner, well fed and ready to tackle the last few weeks of our adventure.

That afternoon was extremely windy. Red dusty sand became airborne in gusty squalls. It got everywhere and although we battened down the hatches, everything in our tent got covered in a film of red.

Our next stop is King’s Canyon.