On Wednesday morning I checked out of the hotel and had a couple of tasks to take care of before I left Coober Pedy. I needed fuel first, and then I had to visit the most useful vending machine in the outback. This may exist elsewhere, but its the only one I know of – a water station. For just $1.00 you can get 30 litres of water. One of my jerry cans was nearly empty so I wanted to fill it up. Unfortunately, the station seems to just start when you put the coin in and keeps going until 30 litres is dispensed. I wasnt ready, and the jerry can only holds 20 litres so some water was wasted. It probably could be a bit more efficient and allow you to stop and start it (or I was doing it wrong always a possibility!)
With that done, I was on my way, heading north for the Northern Territory border. While I was confident that I would be allowed to cross, there was still a little trepidation. The drive was not terribly exciting. I was overtaken once by a police officer but besides a couple of road trains
and a caravan or two, there was not much traffic at all. Some of the terrain was greener than I expected, but mostly it was the flat, arid outback I expected.
Arriving at the Northern Territory border, I stopped at the police checkpoint. I provided all the paperwork, including my quarantine documentation and Covid test results, and was allowed to proceed into the Territory. The officer did give me some stick when I asked to borrow his pen so I could sign my declaration – he said You have a jack, but no pen?. I told him that I had no need of a pen in the bush.
I continued but declined to use all of the 130kph speed limit because I was in no rush and didnt need to increase my fuel usage. After turning off the Stuart Highway it was back to 110kph speed limit.
The first sight of interest appeared in the distance and my first thought was Uluru. But it was still over 100km to Uluru, so I knew it was not it. As I saw more, I could tell it was the wrong shape. A sign indicated the Mount Connor lookout
coming up and I remembered my sister mentioning it once because her son is named Connor. I stopped for a photo and pushed on.
My original plan for staying in Uluru was to stay in a cabin at the campground but while I was on Googs Track I had the thought that I might be able to get a good deal on a hotel room due to the current situation and lack of international tourists. I rang them in Coober Pedy and found they had a 50% discount if you stay 4 or more nights. As I was staying for 4 nights, I changed my booking to the Sails in the Dessert hotel. I might as well live it up!
I arrived at the hotel and checked in. My first impression was that there were so many people, but now that I have been here a few days, I can tell that it is relatively empty. Im not sure I would have enjoyed visiting Uluru anywhere near as much if it were full of tourists though, so Ive been pretty lucky. Someone told me there are currently 500 people staying at the resort (across 3 hotels and
the campground) which is a lot more than I encountered in Coffin Bay or on Googs Track but is well short of the usual 5,500!
After the long drive, I settled for room service and an early night. I knew I had 3 days to go so I didnt get up for the sunrise on Thursday. In fact, I probably left it a bit late to head out to the rock. I stopped along the way for a photo from the sunset lookout and arrived at the Mala carpark at about 9:30. I was planning to do the 10km base walk around Uluru and thought that would be fine.
As I prepared to set out, I saw most people were heading clockwise so I decided to go counterclockwise. At first this seemed like a great idea. I headed around the southern side of the rock and the walk was very pleasant in the shade. I passed a few people heading the other way, but mostly I was alone. It was very peaceful.
The biggest surprise was how green it was in places.
