5 July 2016 – 177 854
Kata Tjuta!!
Again, up at 5:30am and away. https://parksaustralia.gov.au/uluru/do/walks/
Straight through the gates this morning, before opening time and off to Kata Tjuta dune sunrise viewing area. Once again we were foiled by the clouds, but still beautiful to see the detail appear out of the darkness, with the cloud coming and going from the tops of the highest domes. From the Kata Tjuta sunrise viewing point you can also see Uluru, which was in cloud and being rained upon. I wore hiking socks and boots, thermal long pants, jeans, tank top, black thermal long sleeved top, blue thermal long sleeved top, long sleeved blouse, windproof jacket zipped all the way up the neck, scarf, beanie and gloves – and was still freezing!!
Picnic breakfast was held inside the car this
morning due to the cold. Valley of the Winds full circuit was the plan for
today (12.5km) – it was very obvious how it got its name as the wind pours
through this gap in the rocks. The view
from Karu lookout was good, but the one from Karingana lookout was
amazing. To walk through the domes gave
me a much greater idea of the scale and grandeur of these rocks.
Again we were fortunate enough to see water
in places that only infrequently have water – there were lots of wildflowers,
plenty of tadpoles in the streams – the area responds to rain here more than
temperature in deciding when life should proceed.
We headed to the sunset
viewing area to have a picnic meal and investigate the sunset options. Walpa
Gorge walk was our next stop (4.4km), this goes deep between two rocks and is
partially in shade and partially in full sun – not surprisingly this involved
taking layers on and off as the temperature varies enormously. Once again, the
size and height of these domes was on a grand scale. The rock itself is very very different to the
sandstone of Uluru – Kata Tjuta reminded me of rocky road, with all the various
size, shape and coloured chunks held together by a silty mudstone; even where
rocks have broken, you have the pieces sticking out or holes remaining from
where the chunks stay whole and the mudstone cracking keeps some and loses
some. 
Sunset was very cold again, despite all the clothes we were wearing and the heavy cloud cover. At times we thought we might get some amazing cloud colour, but the cloud was too thick. And just when everyone was ready to give up and go home, the sun broke below the clouds and lit the domes a brilliant orange that glowed. Truly beautiful – definitely worth the wait. Back to camp for hot food and sleep. What an amazing last two days!!!
Mum
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