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Australia - 2005-04-18 - 4 - Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park - The Olgas (Kata Tjuta) - Valley of the Winds Walk (Page 1)
The reason that almost everyone comes here is Ayers Rock (Aboriginals
call it Uluru). However, we decided to put that off for a day & concentrate
on checking out The Olgas (Aboriginals call it Kata Tjuta). The first
thing we were surprised at was the cost of the park. It costs $25 per
person for 3 days & that is the only pass you can get. Seeing both Ayers
Rock & the Olgas gives you a weird feeling because they both have this
blue glow about them when you are driving up to them, like they are not
natural. It is like they are painted into the landscape & don't really
belong there, because is basically flat around everywhere except where
they are at. When you get up to the Olgas you see the size of them. They
are so massive & yet each is very different. We decided to do the full
Valley of the Winds walk (which we found out later was almost closed for
the day because it was too hot). It is a 4 hour track that takes you into
& through the Olgas. It is absolutely an incredible walk & is tough in
certain places. The walk has 2 lookout points. The first is Kanu which
provides a good lookout but is more of a place to checkout the rocks around
where you are at. I was intrigued by how the rock would change color from
deep reds, to black, to orange in different places. It is like all of
this was put here at different times, from different places. As you can
see from the pictures on the first page I was in full sun & fly gear.
I had a long sleeved thin shirt on to protect from sunburn. I also had
my cap & bandanna on to protect my head from the flies. They go for your
mouth, nose, eyes & inside your ears, it is just crazy. We also had our
warm water with us, which we ended up refilling 2 times on the track where
we could. The second page of pictures is basically the walk between the
different rocks. The third page is of the second lookout, Karingana. It
was more of a lookout than the first one & had some great views. While
we were there we met this nice group of German people. The one lady took
Adrian & I's picture. Another person from their group asked if I was having
an issue with the flies (which the obvious answer to was yes). So she
gave me her fly head net because she said she didn't like it. That was
quite the find because it worked like magic. I could breathe better &
it was not as hot as the bandanna. I ended up wearing that for the walks
during the next 4-5 days. Page 3 has a picture of me wearing that if you
are having trouble visualizing it. The last page is the end of the walk.
The walk is one of the top 10 I have done in Australia & was absolutely
stunning in certain locales.
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