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24-10-11 to 25-10-11- Coober Pedy to Ayers Rock
We arose early and quickly packed up the car and headed off on the road. Originally we wanted to try get to either Marla or Erldunda but we thought we would see how far we got and possibly if time permitted get to Ayers Rock. It was a long drive but we had a few stops along the way, including the 2 towns we were gonna stop in which had hardly anything there, they were about a quarter of the size of a service station back home.
When we got to Erldunda it wasn't to late so we decided to risk it and turned of the main Stuart Highway towards Ayers Rock. An hour our so along we finally see a massive red structure, we stop at a viewing place, get out, take a few photo's, and stand in awe of our first sight of the Rock for about 5 minutes, before we notice the sign saying Mount Conner. Oops guess our first sight wasn't Ayers rock. We jump back in the car and carry on for over an hour before we finally get a view of the real Ayers Rock. We turned into the Ayers Rock Resort and checked we were really at Ayers rock, then we found a pitch and pitched our tent.
Then we jumped back in the car and drove into Ayers Rock National Park. The views driving around it were amazing. We headed to a sunset viewing spot and stood watching the sun set on Ayers Rock, it was a once in a life time experience, which I hope one day to experience again. However the time which the person said sunset would be seemed to be a long way off.
We then headed back to the campsite and after spending half an hour realising that all the sites kitchen stoves were broke we dug our out and had pesto pasta again. We ate it in the kitchen area, while fighting off the flies, cockroaches, Beatles, etc, etc and watching the mice scurry around. It was a lovely back to nature experience, one that hopefully will only be a once in a lifetime. We then headed back to the tent.
On Tuesday (25/10/11) we got up when it was still pitch black, got ready and headed off to the national park to watch sunrise which was due at 6:05. We arrived at 5:45 and it was pitch black, stars covered the sky and the moon shined, you could see the whole moon even though only a slither was actually lit up, which I've never seen before. We walked up to the platform from the car park with our head torches on. It was totally silent, we were the only ones up there which Rachel was a bit scared about, later when the crowds arrived she wished we were the only ones up there. Finally after an hour the crowds arrived and the sun started to rise giving us an amazing view of Ayers Rock. We did think though that we could have probably got up an hour later as nothing really happened for the first hour.
We then headed to the Cultural centre which was closed, which was a bit annoying as we had been recommended to go there after the sunrise, and the time on the board said it should be open. We then headed to another car park where there was supposed to be a free tour starting at 8am. We waited till quarter past then gave up and just decided to walk round the base on our own. It wasn't until the following day when we got on the road that we finally remembered Terry saying that the North Territory didn't have daylight saving and we had actually been doing everything an hour early, ooops, that means I made Rachel get out of bed at 3:30am, never mind.
We walked all the way round the base of Ayers Rock, which was amazing to see from all angles and read all the Aboriginal tales about the Rock. We then got back to the start and they had re-reviewed the weather conditions and we were allowed to climb it. So I finally after a 15-minute rest in the aircon car persuaded Rachel to climb it. We headed up the Rock, there was a chain rope which you could pull yourself up on to stop you slipping. After 45 minutes we finally made it to the top and looked out on an incredible view of the desert. Unfortunately it was only in one direction and we didn't have a 360 degree view……then we notice another chain, oh we thought it must be a little bit further. We pulled ourselves up the chain then saw a white dotted line going off into the distance, the chain stopped and we had to follow the line, it turned out we were still a long way off. After another hour, and struggling up a couple of climbs we finally made it to the top. It was well worth the climb, incredible to see the 360 view around Ayres Rock, and since it was a clear day you could see for miles.
After a rest at the top we headed down and managed to get down in about an hour. We then decided there was still time to head over to Kata Tjuta mountain range. We just went to a view point to take a few pictures, before heading back to the campsite for a well earned swim in the lovely outdoor pool. We popped to the supermarket and got a pre-cooked whole chicken for only £4 then went to the camp kitchen and had chicken with baked potato and beans for dinner. English campsites should take notes from the Australians as they seem to all have microwaves here. We then headed back to the tent and collapsed.
- comments
Mum Sounds like a wonderful experience, photos are great. The climb looked like it was tough in that heat! But bet you both felt great that you'd done it together! Love and laughter xxxxx