4 July 2016 – 177 758
Uluru!!
Up at 5:30am and away!
We were lined up to buy our entry passes to Uluru-Kata Tjuta National
Park at opening time – 6:30am at this time of year.
https://parksaustralia.gov.au/uluru/ This took quite a while, but we were soon at the Uluru Sunrise Viewing Point of Talinguru Nyakunytjaku with hundreds and hundreds of other visitors. Before the sun rose the sandstone of Uluru had a texture of velvet. Unfortunately, the clouds prevented the sun lighting up the rock, but rather it gradually got light. We enjoyed a picnic breakfast in the car park and then headed to the Cultural Centre – this had lots of good information, as well as a documentary video that seemed to engage children and adults alike. There was also a “I chose not to climb” register, which we will complete when we have done all the other activities at the National Park. I had decided not to climb as requested by the owners of the land, however the climb was closed due to forecast rain anyway.
https://parksaustralia.gov.au/uluru/ This took quite a while, but we were soon at the Uluru Sunrise Viewing Point of Talinguru Nyakunytjaku with hundreds and hundreds of other visitors. Before the sun rose the sandstone of Uluru had a texture of velvet. Unfortunately, the clouds prevented the sun lighting up the rock, but rather it gradually got light. We enjoyed a picnic breakfast in the car park and then headed to the Cultural Centre – this had lots of good information, as well as a documentary video that seemed to engage children and adults alike. There was also a “I chose not to climb” register, which we will complete when we have done all the other activities at the National Park. I had decided not to climb as requested by the owners of the land, however the climb was closed due to forecast rain anyway.
The base walk was a flat easy walking track; however, some areas were slightly more difficult due to large puddles on the track – I am sure that drainage of the track is not often an issue in the desert. The walk was really interesting, the levels of erosion of the sandstone varied greatly in degree and pattern. There were also noticeable differences in the microclimate as we moved in and out of gorges. We got rained on!!, twice and had the sun come out beautifully, all in the space of 4 hours. Some of the waterfalls flowed from the rain – amazing to see. When Uluru was rained on, the way the sun reflected off the surface it looked like snow! The colours of the striations in the sandstone from the layers varied with the light. After our walk we headed back to Yulara to cook up a stir fry for our main meal. We then took this with us back out to the Uluru sunset viewing area where we selected our spot and had a picnic dinner.
Sunset on Uluru was worth the cold – and it certainly was cold – the colours changed as the sun angle changed, we were blessed with a completely clear sky for sunset. After the sun had set the rock appeared to glow with retained light. Home for a hot shower, then sleep.
Mum
No comments:
Post a Comment