With Australias International travel ban still in place, my recovery from foot surgery now I needed to get out and about again. So I headed off to a place, which I have visited on many occassions, lived there for a short time and always seems to draw me back, the Red Centre of Australia and Alice Springs.
Having flown into Alice Springs, I headed into town and was greeted by their great town sign, the red dust and Northern Territory flag, just sets it up for me.
Next morning, I headed off and picked up my home for the next week, a Britz High Top camper van. I had never driven one of these before and after stocking up on food at a local supermarket, I headed off on the open road to Yulara, to visit Uluru - Kata Tjuta National Park.
The first part of the journey, is to head south down the Track to the Erldunda Roadhouse, a drive of about 200kms. Approximately 100kms outside Alice Springs is the Cannoball Run Monument. This marks the spot, where in 1994, two drivers and two officials died whilst participating in the Northern Territories Cannonball Run. With
unrestricted speed limits on some Northern Territory roads then, an event was created to go from Darwin to Alice Springs and return, a distance of approximately 4,000 kms. Car enthusiasts from around the world brought their high powered vehicles to participate. Speeds in excess of 200kms an hour were recorded. Unfortunately, a Ferrari lost control, skidded and crashed into a checkpoint, killing its occupants and two officials.
So I arrive at the Erlduna Roadhouse, I refuel, you never want to run out of fuel here and head off down the Lasseter Highway to Yulara. I have driven this road twice before, the first time from memory in 1975 in a Greyhound bus when the road was not sealed but a dirt road. On the way back, the driver stopped in the middle of the night for his rest stop, built a fire, boiled a billy and we drank tea under the vast Australian night sky. Quite an experience.
So after about another 250kms drive, I checked into the Ayers Rock Resort Campground and found my site. I decided to head out to the National Park and join the hordes that every evening visits the Car Sunset viewing area.
The area was packed with people taking up whatever vantage place they could get to watch the sun go down on the Rock.There is a fee to enter the National Park of AUD$38 for three days, which allows you to visit Uluru and also Kata Tjuta (The Olgas), money well spent !
Next morning I headed back out to the National Park to do the Uluru Base Walk. You are not allowed to climb the Rock now, but I had done this back in 1975 and I will show you a photo of the climb. The Base walk is about 10.6kms long and suggested to take about 3.5 hours. It is a very pleasant walk, not hard at all, very flat in fact. There are lots of great photo opportunities along the way and some areas which are culturally sensetive and photos not allowed. As above the path is easy and no special gear is required, just take a good amount of water, good shoes, sunscreen and a hat. I did see many tourists, who I am the walk, but will be burnt and sore the next day.
the whole aura of the area. If I was to be negative about one thing, it was that tourists were allowed to hire bicycles and segways to go around the Rock. It just seemed to me to take something away from the experience and the feeling, for my liking.
Next morning I was off in my Britz van, back to the National Park and to Kata Tjuta, formerly called the Olgas. I headed to a walk called the Valley of the Winds, which is listed as 7.4 kms. The walk started off fine and at the first lookout called Karu lookout some people bailed out.
After finishing the Valley of the Winds walk, I drove over to the Walpa Gorge Walk. This is a short very easy walk up into the Gorge.
From there, I started the drive to Watarrka National Park to visit the Kings Canyon. This is a 300kms drive and I arrived in the late afternoon.
