Yulara (for Mar. 3)
We started the day with a tour around the resort on the resort shuttle with a stop at the resort that we were originally booked into and that we had visited last night. We wanted to see what it looked like in the daylight. Then we went to the Visitor Center where they had an excellent museum type of area. They had dioramas of the desert wildlife, explanations of the geology, and displays about the history and culture of the area. Very good!
From there we grabbed lunch and went to wait for our tour. Today’s trip was to Kata Tjuta or the Olgas. This is a cluster of dome shaped mountains west of Ayers Rock. It and Uluru were formed by runoff from ancient mountains. Kata Tjuta is a conglomerate of stones and sand and mud from nearer the old mountains. Uluru is sandstone from further downstream that was folded millions of years ago so that its layers are now almost vertical. We viewed Kata Tjuta from a couple of lookouts before taking a hike up Walpa Gorge between two of the domes. Regrettably, the day was pretty cloudy and the pictures don’t seem to adequately capture the colour or the scale of the experience. 
From there we went to a viewing area for sunset at Uluru. There were about 20 buses there and each one had a complimentary spread laid out. We had wine, cheese, crackers, cut up vegetables, and dip. It was quite a carnival type of atmosphere as people who had been on the bus together all day started making acquaintances and striking up conversation. And, although there are still quite a few Japanese here, there are less than Cairns and there don’t seem to be any other Orientals or Indians. Our bus had a lot of Canadians and Germans and quite a few Aussies. We met a couple from Ottawa. He works for Nortel.
On our way to the viewing site, we came across a herd of about 20 wild camels. Our driver said it was fairly rare given the size of the desert, the bush and sand dunes, the number of camels, and the number of roads.
Uluru is famous for the changing colours as it captures the sun’s last rays of the day. Although it was a pretty cloudy day, we did get a few rays of sunshine that lit the rock up nicely, but far from the full show. At 7:30 we headed back to the resort for an early night prior to tomorrow’s 5:35 AM pickup for Uluru sunrise. Or so we thought.
When we got back to our room there was a message that our room was now available at the original resort or we could stay where we were for an upcharge of $60. The upgraded room we were in wasn’t too fancy, so we weren’t sure what we were getting into, but there is no way we were going to pay and extra $60 on principle, so we moved over. The new place is not the Ritz. It isn’t a dump, but it is pretty basic – like no bathroom in the room! Oh well, it is only one night. We hurriedly threw our stuff together for the transfer, had a quick swim, blogged today’s excitement, and hit the sack a little after 10.
From there we grabbed lunch and went to wait for our tour. Today’s trip was to Kata Tjuta or the Olgas. This is a cluster of dome shaped mountains west of Ayers Rock. It and Uluru were formed by runoff from ancient mountains. Kata Tjuta is a conglomerate of stones and sand and mud from nearer the old mountains. Uluru is sandstone from further downstream that was folded millions of years ago so that its layers are now almost vertical. We viewed Kata Tjuta from a couple of lookouts before taking a hike up Walpa Gorge between two of the domes. Regrettably, the day was pretty cloudy and the pictures don’t seem to adequately capture the colour or the scale of the experience. 
From there we went to a viewing area for sunset at Uluru. There were about 20 buses there and each one had a complimentary spread laid out. We had wine, cheese, crackers, cut up vegetables, and dip. It was quite a carnival type of atmosphere as people who had been on the bus together all day started making acquaintances and striking up conversation. And, although there are still quite a few Japanese here, there are less than Cairns and there don’t seem to be any other Orientals or Indians. Our bus had a lot of Canadians and Germans and quite a few Aussies. We met a couple from Ottawa. He works for Nortel.
On our way to the viewing site, we came across a herd of about 20 wild camels. Our driver said it was fairly rare given the size of the desert, the bush and sand dunes, the number of camels, and the number of roads.
Uluru is famous for the changing colours as it captures the sun’s last rays of the day. Although it was a pretty cloudy day, we did get a few rays of sunshine that lit the rock up nicely, but far from the full show. At 7:30 we headed back to the resort for an early night prior to tomorrow’s 5:35 AM pickup for Uluru sunrise. Or so we thought.When we got back to our room there was a message that our room was now available at the original resort or we could stay where we were for an upcharge of $60. The upgraded room we were in wasn’t too fancy, so we weren’t sure what we were getting into, but there is no way we were going to pay and extra $60 on principle, so we moved over. The new place is not the Ritz. It isn’t a dump, but it is pretty basic – like no bathroom in the room! Oh well, it is only one night. We hurriedly threw our stuff together for the transfer, had a quick swim, blogged today’s excitement, and hit the sack a little after 10.
posted by Celeste at
8:11 p.m.
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