Our Big Trip of OZ - 24/09/11 - ~16/01/12: Wed 12 Oct – Sat 16 Oct

Wednesday morning we packed up and left Kings Canyon bound for Ayers Rock (Uluru). I aired the tyres back up (free air, which is a rare thing for Kings Canyon, as everything else is horrendous (eg $40 for a six pack – yep, $40. Easy justification to Karen as to why I had to stock up with beer in Qld!) Then put 30l of fuel in at a cost of $65 ($2-19 / L), the rest from jerry can fuel that cost 80c/ L less from back in Qld. Fuel management – I’m all over it…..

Checked into the only camping ground in Yulara after lunch and set up camp with the family from Sth Oz, whom we met back at Ormiston Gorge. They had also arrived at Kings Canyon the same time as us, so we travelled together a bit. Did a bit of a shop at the local IGA (quite reasonable given the location) before heading out to the rock national park. First up, we had to purchase a pass to enter - $25 each (kids free), that was good for three days. We then headed to the sunset lookout with the others and cooked dinner out there. That was quite a scene – very special indeed.

On Thursday, we headed back out along the 18km route south of Yulara to the base of the rock to check out the climb. It was closed due to the howling wind (no wind back at camp), so we did the 10km base walk around the rock. Scott reckoned it was a bit boring – looking at a rock for 3 hrs! Yeah, whatever, Scott! The rest of the day, we were pretty much good for nothing, so we hopped on the shuttle bus that runs continuously around the Yulara loop road. This road links all the different resorts and campground that are owned by the same outfit and also meant that we could use any of the resort pools. Now, Sails in the desert resort is a flash outfit, so all we did was go over there, grab a sun lounger, a nice white towel off the rack and kick back around the pool, all whilst being waited on for food & drinks – now that’s camping!

Friday saw us head out to the Olgas, some 50kms west of Yulara. This area is just as specky as the rock itself, with the massive dome like rocks comprising of 36 ‘heads’.

We did the 7.5km valley of the winds walk, which took about 3hrs. This walk was more work than the flat, base walk the previous day, so in the afternoon, we were good for nothing except the resort pool with a book again!! That evening, we headed out to another lookout around the other side of the rock, so that we could get some shots of the Olgas.

Saturday, and the White family from S.A (‘White’ as in surname..) left, so we were on our own again. We were over walking, having covered our fair share by foot, so we spent the day getting things ready for life on the road again. Got one last session over at the resort pool