Well the overflow camping area emptied out with an exodus of cars off to see the sunrise show bright and early. It’s 20km from Yulara to Uluru, plus the anxiety of getting a spot in The Car Park. We left them to it and skipped the crowds. John rode out to The Rock and did a circuit round it, which we will do together tomorrow.
But today was Kata Tjuta day. The best walk to do is the Valley of the Winds – about 7.5km in a loop. This walk takes you between the big boulders, with great views all the way. My knees are screaming with frustration at having to do this walk, but I’ll settle the argument with a bag of frozen peas later this evening.
Here’s a couple of pics from this morning.


And I like this one – it has heaps of beautiful purple wildflowers in the foreground.

The birds have been singing everywhere we’ve stayed so far, and on this walk we found these Budgerigars. Can’t be more specific. I’ve let my bird watching skills drop since Africa.

The frenzy of the sunset snappers goes into overdrive round these parts as the afternoon nears a close. There are huge designated “Sunset Viewing” car parks – separate ones for cars and buses! We came close to losing Harry (unsuccessful attempt) at the Cultural Centre just before sunset, and ended up parking out on the road, rather than near the throng in the car park. Nice move. Thanks for getting lost Harry!
And sunset delivered – big time. Harry took this photo.

I really don’t think the photos do the colour justice. The red colour comes from the rusting of the iron content in the sandstone of the Rock.

Although this isn’t the prime time for seeing wild flowers, there are still plenty around to impress.

For sure, it’s hard to describe the amazing presence that Uluru (or Ayres Rock, or The Rock) has, when you first meet it. Or even on return visits. This my second time, and John’s fourth, to see The Rock. It is, sorry to sound like a teenager, totally awesome. For Fergus and Harry, The Rock surpassed their expectations.
Climbing the Rock? Some say you should and some say you shouldn’t. We did, so we’ll leave it at that.

Here’s the boys on the first (rather steep) section. It seems endless!

The view on the way up, as well as from the top, is breathtaking.
Fergus took this photo.

Mt. Conner is another mesa, about 90km to the east of The Rock, and much larger. I think it is just as impressive as The Rock, but much less known. In 1993, John and I arranged with the land owner of Mt. Conner to leave a key to the gate at the Curtain Springs Road House. We climbed Mt. Conner and could see Uluru in the west. Nowadays, I read that you can only visit this private property by booking a tour ($185) which can include climbing Mt. Conner for an extra $100!!!
Here’s a photo of the view from Uluru with Mt. Conner in the distance.

And in the other direction – Kata Tjuta, formerly The Olgas. Unfortunately looking into the sun. Sorry about that.

I had to walk down the steep descent backwards, as these old knees just won’t do it the normal way. I have deleted the hideous photo one of my children took of me doing that.
Here’s one of John though! There’s been a few planking photos taken in various places, but I thought I’d share this one of John on top of Uluru…….

Fergus had some fun “surfing” the Rock wave – below.

No Fruit Fly quarantine here. Crossing into the Territory, after a bush camp just off the Stuart Highway.

We made our way out to Yulara with hundreds of others. The Camping area was totally full. Not a powered or unpowered site to be had. So we ended up in the “overflow” camping – basically out the back gate on the red dirt. And so did about 50 other vehicles. We actually prefer it!
And here’s a reminder that when you are a long way from anywhere, you must apparently have a lot of money!

First of all – Happy Birthday Lisa!
I was quite surprised that there was so much of Coober Pedy above ground. The mystique of the place where everyone lives underground had me thinking there wasn’t much on top. All of the main street, most businesses, and many houses (most with a minimum of two derelict car bodies in each front yard) on the surface make it look a lot like a regular town.

You can see in the photo above that houses sort of nestle into the hillside. About 80% of the locals live in “dug outs”. They are quite cheap to “build” and it only takes a week or so with the right equipment.
The land surrounding the township is covered in piles of discarded dirt from mine shafts.

We visited an opal mine where we learnt heaps about the industry.

I was surprised to hear that only one person can have one claim (50m x 50m) at any time, for an outlay of just $60. No big companies, no unions, and probably no tax being paid. It’s every man for himself. Don’t even mention OH&S. Coober Pedy has been the source of many innovative mining practices. Below is a picture of the “vacuum cleaner” thingy that sucks all the dirt up to the surface – same stuff that makes all the piles in the picture above. Clearly. What I like is the technical on-off lever system. The blue striped ropes (commonly known as Telstra rope) are pulled to start and stop the motor (up on the surface).

Miners who aren’t cashed up enough to buy the machinery to excavate, still use homemade bombs to make headway underground. Harry was particularly interested in the concise instructions on making bombs – being the Mythbusters fan that he is.

No visit to Coober Pedy would be complete without a visit to an underground house. A lovely couple showed us round their home. It has three bedrooms, kitchen dining and living rooms. The bathroom and laundry is above ground. It even has a pool!