Our time in Yulara

OUR TIME IN YULARA

We jumped out of bed before the sunrise to race to the sunrise car park to watch the sun change the colour of Ayres Rock.  It was sooooo very cold.  Someone even asked if we were English or Victorian as only those 2 specifications were appropriate for our attire. Most people were dressed in snow gear LOL

We then headed to the base of Ayres Rock with the hope of climbing it.  Unfortunately, due to wind, the climb was closed so we started off with the base walk around.  It was 11kms in total and the girls didn’t complain once.  On the other hand, Brad needed an afternoon nap!

 

Day 2 here and the climb was open!  We packed up quickly and made the mad dash to make sure it wouldn’t close before we got there.

We started the walk at 10.10.  It was surprisingly tough.  We made plenty of stops along the way and were so happy when we made it to the first major rest point, where we took a long rest before starting up the last leg.

So we made it to the marker on the top!  Not as flat as I remember (I climbed it 26 years ago).  So proud of us all.  Paige was the star of the day and she just powered through and kept at us to keep moving when we wanted a rest. 

So after the climb up, of course is the climb back down.  Lucky for the chain.  On the way down I saw a man having a rest on his way up and thought he looked a lot like Mr Foley (ENPS Principal) and believe it or not, it was! Could not believe we saw him.  The girls found that amusing.  Just before stepping off the Rock we all held hands and stepped off together.

After the walk we headed back to camp and the girls talked me into taking them for a swim at the pool.  The water was so very cold they simply just jumped in and jumped out.  I did the swimming supervision duty on my own as Brad was sitting at the van with both his knee and his beer on ice.  A bit tough on the old body LOL  (not that I can talk, I was a bit stiff too).

At the end of the day we were 2 pairs of leggings lost as the twins both went down on their bums at different points.  That night we were all very tired and had an early one. 

THE OLGAS

As we did the climb the day before, we decided to move onto Kings Canyon after a quick trip out to the Olgas.

There are two walks on offer at the Olgas, a long one and a short on.  We opted for the short walk as our legs had not fully recovered from climbing Ayres Rock the day before.  It was surprising how different the geology of the Olgas are compared to Ayres Rock.  The Olgas were like masses of smaller rocks moulded together.  The walk through the gorge was shaded and sunlight would only get into the gorge for a short time each day, and yet there was so much vegetation.