Today we headed out early-ish again, with the aim of getting out to Kata Tjuṯa before many of the crowds and tour buses. Whilst we would love to have done the full Valley of the Winds walk, a 4+ hour walk is probably just one step too far for a couple of the kids. So we opted for a couple of the shorter walks.
A quick note, there’s only a few photos today – there are quite a few sections of Kata Tjuṯa that are sensitive to Anaṉgu, because the rock features describe culturally important information, and that information should only be viewed in its place. Because of that, they ask that photos not be taken – and we’re obviously very respectful of that request. More info about that here if you’re interested.
Out first stop was at the dune viewing area, on the south side of Kata Tjuṯa. It’s the perfect place to start the day from. Not only do you get an incredible broad view of the range, but there’s a lot of information about the plants and animals that live in the space between the tali (sand dunes) and puḻi (rocky areas).
The first walk we then headed to was into Waḻpa Gorge. It was a bit hilly and rocky, but just incredible views. We all quickly realised just how green everything is inside Waḻpa Gorge – there’s just so much more water in there than elsewhere in the National Park. Annoyingly, the sun was out, but it was still a little cool as we started – Daniel and I opted for no jumper. However, 10 minutes in, we regretted our decision when we realised that, of course, it’s a gorge and there’s no sun beyond the first 10 minutes of the walk! A quick run back to the car to get jumpers though ended up being pointless, because I left the keys with the others! By that time I was over it, so we pressed on without jumpers – and we survived. And the views at the end looking into the gorge were just spectacular.
We then headed up to the Valley of the Winds, planning to walk into the Karu Lookout (which is the first lookout). We walked along to that lookout reasonably quickly, and enjoyed looking out at the amazing views. From there, we decided that we’d actually press on to the second lookout, Karingana, given it was only another 1.6km on, and then coming back out. That turned out to be quite a hard walk. The Karingana lookout is about a third of the way around the whole Valley of the Winds loop, but it’s quite hilly in sections as well. But we made it to the lookout – and it was totally worth it. The views down into the valley and the gorge there were just phenomenal. The walk back out was still difficult, but not as hard as the walk in.
Hilariously, I’ve just read on the Park website that completing the full Valley of the Winds loop is actually easier than walking to the second lookout and returning. We all just shared a great laugh at that, and did a collective face-palm.
In lieu of some photos of the spectacular photos of Kata Tjuṯa from inside the Valley of the Winds, here’s Eliza having a break along the way, and also the beautiful Kata Tjuṯa wattle that we saw everywhere today.
This afternoon we ended up with a bit of free time. We headed to the Camel Farm with the intention to have a short camel ride. Partly for something to do, partly to say we rode a camel around Uluru (even if it was just at the farm). Unfortunately, they were short-staffed today, and so there weren’t any camel rides! But we still spent some time wandering around their displays to learn more about the camels and their impact on the Australian outback. There wasn’t a lot of focus on the damage the wild camels are now doing in Central Australia (probably expected, given their farm was about feeling good about camels), but the information and understanding on how much was able to be built through Central Australia (such as the Overland Telegraph) thanks to camels, was pretty cool. We ventured outside to meet some of the camels, and even watch a camel doing their whole eating, swallowing, regurgitating thing – which was amazing, but disgusting!
Tomorrow we have another little bit of fun to have around Uluṟu before we head up to Kings Canyon!
