Along the highway, approx 30km outside of Coober Pedy, in the distance we saw a caravan doing a U turn. Todd was annoyed because he thought he would have to slow down. When we got closer they had pulled off the road because they had stopped to help another traveller that had broken down. As we drove slowly past we saw that it was Todd's parents. We stopped in front and walked back to see what was wrong. Their car had blown a top radiator hose. Todd taped up the split and they limped back to Coober Pedy to get it fixed.
Late that afternoon they caught up with us at the Northern Territory border. They were very lucky that their car could be fixed so quick at Coober Pedy.
We stayed the night at the rest area on the Northern Territory and South Australian border.The rest area was a tared car park with room for 8 to 10 vans.
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As we were driving along the Lasserters Highway out to Uluru we saw another huge rock called Mt Connor. Mt Connor is not as popular as Uluru because it is on the Curtin Springs Cattle Station which is private property.Helicopter and 4wd tours are available to see Mt Connor.Because Mt Connor is very flat on top the helicopter can land on it.
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| Mt Connor |
We arrived at Ayres rock on Thursday the 12th of May in the afternoon and stayed at Ayres rock resort.
The resort caters for all budgets from camping and caravan sites to cabins and hotels. It has a grocery shop, hairdresser, souvenir shops, petrol station and a free shuttle bus that runs all day in a continuous loop around the resort.
After we had settled in we walked up to the look out in the caravan park and watched the sun set on Uluru. A lot of people were at the look out. Some were set up with table and chairs and had classes of wine and plates of food. Friday we drove out to Uluru to have a look at it. (It costs $25 an adult for a 3 day pass to enter the National Park.) We went to the cultural centre then drove around the rock.
Saturday we went out to Uluru again with Todd's parents.
Todd, Careena and I decided to walk around the base of the rock. (It was a great day for walking because the day was quite cool.) It was over 10klms and took us approx 3 1/2 hours. It was amazing to see how much the rock changed as we walked around it. Even the Flora changed. It was grassy in places and well treed in other places. About 3/4 of the way around we all needed to go to the toilet so we had to hurry back to the start.
The aboriginals allow people to climb the rock but they ask out of respect that you don't.
On the days that we were there the climb to the top of Uluru was closed due to High winds on the Summit .
In the afternoon we had a drink with Val and Tony at a bar at Sails hotel in the resort for our 17th wedding anniversary then we all had dinner at our caravan.Todd cooked a B.B.Q.
The kids didn't get up early enough to see the sunrise on Ayres rock but they didn't care.
The following are photos of our walk.
I have seen a lot of photos of Uluru but nothing prepares you for seeing the real thing. Both Uluru and The Olgas look like they have been photoshoped into the scenery. They are both magnificent and look out of place in the surrounding scenery.
Sunday we went out to Kata Tjuta --The Olgas and the 5 of us did a 5k, medium to hard grade walk called the valley of the winds. The kids did well with Alanna and Luke leading most of the way.
The following are photos of our walk.
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It was a most enjoyable walk and we were all exhausted at the end of the day.
In the evening Todd was looking through the car and found little holes in unopened packs of chips and in the soft esky there were little nibble holes. We started to wonder if there was a mouse in the car but we didn't know how it got in there.
Todd thought that there was nothing for the mouse to drink but then remembered that we had a cask of water in the back. When he checked it there was a little hole in the bottom so we had to throw it out.
We didn't see the mouse until we got to Kings Canyon.
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