Yulara, NT

27th-31st May 2016

Uluru Camel Cup

Uluru

Uluru Climb

Kata Tjuta

Kata Tjuta

Uluru

Desert Oaks

The Uluru Camel Cup has been an annual event since 2012. We watched 3 of the qualifying races standing right on the edge of the track, maybe a little too close as we were almost hit by the camels as they went past. Some of the camels just weren’t racers, plodding around the track getting yelled at by their frustrated jockeys. We also got to see a whip cracking demo by Nathan Whippy Griggs, the world’s fastest whip cracker and possibly the world’s most okker man.

Taking the bikes out for a ride we cycled around the base of Uluru. It was a great way to see it, we took our time at the really good parts then sped up a bit where the path takes you away from the base. We even had a bit of rain on the way, especially when we went into a gorge that had a pool of water at the bottom so we could hear the rain on the water, it was so tranquil and quite unexpected.

For a completely different view of the rock we also climbed to the top, it was very steep with some narrow sections with almost sheer drop offs on either side.  There is a chain that goes part way up which makes it a little easier but there was still a long way to go once the chain stopped and lots of undulations some of them almost vertical.  There were a few pools of water at the top some of them even had little creatures in them and almost as surprising a few sections of shrubs and small trees.   The view from the top is spectacular, the surrounding land is flat, red sand and yellow grass dotted with green shrubs then the domes of Kata Tjuta rising majestically on the horizon.

When we were heading out toward Kata Tjuta we found it shrouded in clouds, for a while the clouds cleared but then more cloud gradually rolled in from behind. We did the Valley of the Winds walk, there was light rain that got heavier the further we went and clouds were sitting at the top of the gorge leading up to Karingana lookout where the rain seemed the heaviest. Despite the rain there were still lots of people doing the walk, the view into the centre of Kata Tjuta was definitely worth getting wet for.

On the drive back to Yulara we could see that there were clouds across the top of Uluru so we headed that way for a closer look. The rain wasn’t heavy enough to create any waterfalls but it certainly looked different wet.

Luckily on the day that we left Yulara we weren’t planning on getting one last look at Uluru as there was thick fog and we couldn’t see more than a hundred metres.  It did however make the desert oaks along the roadside appear as evocative sentinels.