Day 19 - Yulara

The first thing we did today was visit the Cultural Centre near the base of Uluru. We got to see some Aboriginal paintings and woodwork. Phoebe learnt that the Aunties and Grandmothers taught the young girls how to find food and animals. As they say, it takes a whole tribe to raise a child. We ate lunch there and then headed for Kata Tjuta. I'm still unsure how to pronounce it so I'm sticking with The Olgas for now. Once again photos don' do justice to the sheer size of these boulders.

We hiked 2.6 to the end of Walpa Gorge and back, with a few complaints from grumpy hikers.

 

I think this is where Dad, Ray and I went on a hike back in the '80s. It turned into an adventure, as we had to walk under massive boulders, shuffle between the two sides of the gorge with two feet on one side and our hips on the other, 6 feet in the air with water below us and cling up using slippery weather worn tree trunks. As a 13 year old tomboy, it was a highlight of that trip, right up there with Mum crushing the top of the campervan on an overhanging tree branch. Now the adventure is reduced as you can only walk half way in. The views are still great.

Rain leaves iron deposits as it pours down the sides.

 

The water also makes these impressions in the rock, many have crows living in them.

George was a bit tired, but a banana gave us all the energy for the next hike along the Valley of the Winds to the lookout.

George at the first lookout.

We were only going to walk to the first lookout at 2.2 km, but got carried away and found ourselves at the second lookout.

The journey to the second lookout had some highlights to balance out the hard work getting there.

 

So in total we walked 8 km today. Lexi had the occasional rest.

I am so impressed with all my girls, I didn't know they had it in them.

We are contemplating the 10.6 km Uluru base walk tomorrow, given the performance today.

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