Kata Tjuta - The Olgas

About 50km from Uluru is another impressive landform - Kata Tjuta or The Olgas.  These huge domes of rock are higher and cover a greater area that Uluru.  Kata Tjuta means "many heads" in Pitjantjatjara and it's an Anangu mens site.  Like other sites in the area everyone is welcome to visit.  It can be seen in the distance from Uluru and conversely Uluru can be seen from Kata Tjuta.

We've decided to take a picnic lunch and head off to Kata Tjuta to do some walks there.  We've turned our car fridge into a freezer so we've also packed some ice blocks to cool us down.

First stop is the Dune Sunset/Sunrise Viewing area.  A short walk to the lookout along the path where we saw lots of delicate flowering plants and plenty of animal tracks in the sand.  It's hard to fit the whole of Kata Tjuta into a single photo because it's just so big.

Next stop is the Sunset Viewing/Picnic area.  More flowers and more photos before proceeding the few kms to Walpa Gorge.  Here we did the Grade 3 2.6km walk into the gorge between almost vertical rock walls.  We passed some waterholes and listened to frogs and birds as we walked.  The dark green of the trees looked fantastic against the vivid redness of the rock.

Further around to the Valley of the Winds where there are several walks from 2.2km to 7.4km.  Robert walked to the first lookout (2.2km return) while Cherryl sat in the shade and waited for him.

We decided to have our picnic lunch at the Uluru Cultural Centre where there are plenty of well shaded picnic tables before heading back to Yulara.  We've been surprised at how green it is here in the Western Desert and how red the soil is and have been delighted by the number of flowering plants we've seen.  The colour of the rocks is constantly changing.