At our last overnight stop on the border between South Australia and the Northern Territory, we camped next to a very smart caravan and spent an entertaining evening with Wally and Carolyn. They have taken a year out and are travelling around Australia and were able to provide us with a lot of information about what to see and where to stay. We were to catch up with them again at Yulara.
The sun shone as we headed north once again on the Stuart Highway, then turned west on to the Lassiter Highway towards Yulara.
Eighty kilometres an hour (50mph) is a good speed to travel on sealed desert roads. It’s fast enough to make progress over the very long distances between places whilst providing reasonable fuel economy and plenty of opportunity to take in the scenery. With windows wide open (Vin Rouge has no air conditioning) we also take in the smells of the desert. Granted there’s a hot, dusty background aroma, but also traces of wattle flowers in bloom, the familiar smell of eucalyptus and pine trees, and periodic wafts of sweetness that come from – well we just don’t know. Occasionally our nostrils are assaulted by the pungent stench of a rotting carcase, but thankfully that has been a rarity on this trip. Defender owners will appreciate that we don’t particularly pick up on desert sounds! However, we cruised along enjoying the scenery with only a few heavy footed erks rushing past us in their air conditioned boxes seeing little but the road ahead.
Stopping off at Curtin Springs for a cold drink, we took in two of the local sights, Mount Connor, which we’d not heard of but is somewhat larger than Uluru (Ayers Rock) and is almost symmetrical . . .
. . . and the shower block which is smaller but completely symmetrical.
The Lassiter Highway goes to Yulara, which is the resort for people who want to see Uluru. It’s so organised that there is no other option. Ker-ching go the tills as tourists line up to pay $25 each to look at a rock and lots more dollars to stay over. It’s all rather commercialised. However, seeing Uluru at sunset is rather special, even if you’re in a line of cars with hundreds of others. And there was another Land Rover owner to chat with.
The rock does seem to have some kind of mysticism. As the sun goes down it changes colour by the minute.
Sunrise the following morning and we’re once again looking at the rock. Just to convince you of our dedication, I’ll add that sunset is almost half an hour’s drive from Yulara, sunrise is 45 minutes drive, so it was a late night followed by an early morning. I hope you’re impressed by all this dedication.
The aboriginals do not like people to climb the rock and so with new friends Wally and Carolyn we walked all the way around it, taking all the extra paths to see the rock pool . . . .
and ages old art in what is known as the ‘teaching cave’
In total the walk was about 12 kilometres and as the day grew hotter, it began to take its toll.
Then it was goodbye to Uluru . . .
and hello to Kata Tjuta (the Olgas) another strange rock formation not far from ‘the rock’.
Another walk in the mid morning heat and we were ready to move on, besides, it was getting expensive in the tourist areas. A fill with diesel and we were off again, this time to King’s Canyon where we once again met up with Wally and Carolyn.
The next day was time to return to unmade roads and after lowering the tyre pressures we took the Mereenie Loop Road to the McDonnell Range. The road was very rough, corrugations most of the way and we crashed and bashed our way along for about 200 kilometres, although it seemed much longer. We passed feral camels and horses, and a few scrawny cattle but not much traffic.
This is what corrugations look like close up. They’re rock hard!
Eventually we arrived at Redbank Gorge and took the ‘so called’ path to the end. It was more of a scramble over rocks than a walk, and the gorge held in the heat.
But we finally made it to the rock pool at the end and were able to splash cold water over us to revive ready for the scramble back again.
It was rather pretty, but also rather exhausting. A short drive took us to Glen Helen Gorge where we set up camp and watched the sun bring the day to a close bathing the sheer rock cliff behind us in a wonderful golden hue.
We were knackered!
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