Uluru Final - Camels and Rain storms

 

Here is the last of our Uluru posts.  On our drive out to Kata Tjuta we finally spotted some camels.  Apparently there are millions of camels (literally) living in central Australia.  We had not seen any yet but really wanted to as it is exciting to see such a large wild animal and also Australia is one of the few places in the world that even has wild camels.

So at about 6am driving out to the Olgas we spotted some camels.  We got photos and then some movies and then we ended up seeing at least 50 camels, all very healthy looking.

Early morning light, suspicious camles

There’s nothing like getting that itch

Lips, camel lips.

Olgas and camels

A happy trio posing in front of the Olgas.

Camel Video

We also stopped a few times along our trip to get some pics of sunsets and rainstorms.  This one is from just near Uluru.

 

Honey Grevillia

Cyclone Yasi, spreading the love.

Small, isolated rainstorm, near Uluru

Sunset, Olgas on the right.

Uluru Final - Camels and Rain storms

The Climb–Uluru

On our third and last day at Uluru we woke up early again (530am) and drove out to the rock in hope of ‘them’ letting us climb it.  We were pretty sure it would not happen, but it was a Saturday morning and perhaps they would open it for the extra tourists expected.  During December to March even if it is open to climb, you have to start before 8am. 

We were driving up to the car park and expecting to find it closed when Corinne spotted some small humanlike figures climbing the rock, silhouetted against a feint dawn.  She squealed with delight.

From the ground, the climb looks steep and goes up a flatter side of the rock.  There are chains a lot of the way up to hold onto or pull yourself up with.  Once you get a short way up the rock, you discover that it is far steeper then you realised and that you are far less fit than you thought.  We had read that the climb was hard and people fall and get heat stroke and have heart attacks etc.  It wasn’t until we were halfway up, clinging to the chains that we realised it really is quite hard and there are some precipitous spots where there is a just a ridge of rock about a metre wide with one hundred metre cliffs on each side.

So you finally get to the top of the chains, where the rock starts to flatten out a bit.  This part is exciting, mostly because you can get you breath back but also because you start crossing the top of the rock, walking towards the cairn on the other side that is the end of the path.  The rock is actually very heavily eroded by wind and rain and is not smooth at all on a large scale.  There are many undulations and ridges, water courses (dry) on the rock.  The are actually lots of little ponds that fill up with rain and support some of the bird life that flits about up there as well as the flies, mossies etc.

We made it to the cairn, only the second lot of people, close behind some shirtless Germans.  The view is amazing, you can see the olgas off in the distance and small mountain ranges out on the flat plains that make up the area.  Lots of green spinifex, mulga, acacias etc and red sand.  There are actually trees/bushes growing in part on the rock, in small crevices filled with dust and dirt, again not something you expect to find.

The walk down was easier than we thought.  We were worried that it was so steep that is may be hard to go down standing up, but it was just the right angle to allow us to walk down, only gripping the chain in a few spots.  It was quite pleasurable to walk past the sweating, panting, pained faces of the people coming up.  The sun was high already and the temperatures were soring.  There were girls with hand bags, pumps (shoes, Corinne tells me), no water, sunscreen, hats etc.  We were amazed at the lack of thought that went into some of the peoples outfits.

Corinne is very happy she has climbed the rock and we would recommend it to anyone, except for its difficulty, which i would rate as high.

The start, about 6am, in the shade of the rock

Steep climbing up the rock

Corinne, still thrilled to be allowed up the rock

Looking down the chain to the car park.  Thats our car on the left, small already.

The top

A nice view of the Olgas and I from the top of Uluru.

Corinne, so excited.  Some bushes off to the right.

Enjoying some cool water before we trek back down.  It was quite windy and cool at the top.

The Climb–Uluru

Kata Tjuta–The Olgas.

The day after we got to Uluru we decided to climb the big red rock.  We woke up early from our 38 degree sweaty night in the tent and drove out to the start of the climb on the rock.
There is a lot of weird controversy about climbing the rock.  The lonely planet tells you that you can climb it, then they tell you not to climb it because it is sacred to the aboriginals.  At Uluru the $25 ticket into the park tells you not to climb the rock and there are signs everywhere saying not to climb the rock. 
Then there is also the fact that part of the money from the park, which is heavily visited in winter goes to the traditional Aboriginal owners, the Anangu people.  They do well from the deal and when they closed the climb up the rock a few years ago, park numbers plummeted, thus income and so they opened the climb again.  So, don’t climb the rock.
So we arrived on a beautiful clear morning, no clouds, cool (28 degrees) and found the climb to be closed.  This is all part of the rubbish, but today was because of high winds.  Corinne was very disappointed but not surprised as we had heard that they try to close it for any reason they can!!!  So instead we drove about 70 kms out to the Olgas as they were known when we were young, now called Kata Tjuta.
The Olgas are a large pile of red rock that i would say once looked like Ayers rock but have been weathered away in a different pattern.  They are certainly made of the same stuff as we found out after visiting both sites. 
There is a great walk through part of the valleys in the rocks called the Valley of the Winds.
The climb is only open till 11am as the heat inside the valleys rises up to around 50 degrees and then the tourists in their thongs (flips flops), singlets, no hats, sunscreen or water, start feinting.
We got there around 630-7am and trekked into the valley.  The walk is magnificent and you are surrounded by towering rocks and beautiful blood woods, ghost gums and loads of birdlife.  I would highly recommend the walk, its about 7-8kms and i would do it early in the day or in winter as it was very hot by the end of it around 8am. 

The sun rising behind the giant domes of the Olgas

Corinne, standing in front of a large geological formation that was very distinct from the rock below it.

Domes of stone, spinifex and blood woods

Corinne, feeling like a rock wallaby

A rare photo of me in front of a ghost gum in a gorge.

Early morning light

Beautiful ghost gums, Corrymbia papuana

A cool little lizard

A selection of panoramic views of the Olgas.

Kata Tjuta–The Olgas.

Uluru–The Big Red Rock

On our first night at Yulara/Uluru we drove into the park in the late afternoon.  The day was perfect, if a little hot and would provide a great sunset viewing of the the Big Red Rock, that is called Uluru (Ayers rock in the old days). 

There are numerous viewing spots and they need to be controlled because in winter the park is chockers with tourists, desperate to snap their snaps with their happy snappers.  In summer when it is a bit hot, like 45 degrees, there are fewer tourists, mainly Germans and Australians.

We checked out a few spots, both legal and Illegal and decided to go for the legal viewing area.  There was some rough weather forecast so we thought we had better get our snaps before the cyclone arrived and ruined the joy of all us happy snappers.

So here they are.  Actually i have withheld the best as i have plans but they will be realised, oh yes, they will.

A cool fluffy topped plant we found on a walk around the back of the rock.

Corinne, in front of the rock, early sunset.

A panorama of the rock, again early sunset.  double click to see it larger

The rock from another angle.  The rock is actually a lot of different shapes from different angles.  note the red soil, very red.

Uluru–The Big Red Rock

Uluru Adventures–The beginning

Carrying on from the Palm Valley Blog……

We drove home to Alice because of the oncoming cyclone Yasi.  We discussed our predicament of having 4 days off and no where to go and decided that we would flit down to Ululru (450kms) and get away from the wet around Alice.  Uluru at this time of year is quite hot (35-45 degrees) but it was a good chance to get down that way and have a look at the rock and the Olgas.

We drove down, along the Stuart highway towards Adelaide.  We stopped in at the Canon ball run memorial on the way.  The memorial recognises the crash that occurred during the one and only race in 1994.  The race had an unlimited speed limit and was from Alice Springs to Yulara, near Uluru.  A Ferrari F40 crashed into race officials killing 4 people including the 2 occupants of the car.  This obviously put a bit of a downer on the rest of the race.

We continued on to Erldunda which is where you take a right hand turn off the Stuart highway and onto the Lasseter highway, heading west to Uluru-Kata Tjuta national park.  We had lunch under a nice shady tree at the road house, Avocado, tomato and cheese on saladas, a proper Aussie snack.

We made it to Yulara in the arvo and set up our camp site.  You cannot stay in the national park, but Yulara is only about 10kms away and services the park eg accommodation food etc. 

The camping ground was alright, with toilets, showers, communal kitchen and a pool which came in handy as it was very hot.  The occupants were almost entirely German backpackers, all very Arian looking.

We settled in with a swim with the Arians and then made our way later on into the park to check out the big red fella.

Map showing the drive from Alice in the NE of the map down to the SW of the map.  About 450kms.

Cannonball run Memorial sign.  There is a little rock cairn with a sign saying who died etc.

Our shaded park at Erldunda roadhouse.  A lot of the stops or towns around the NT are actually just roadhouses (food, fuel and Accom) and are often owned and run by the large cattle station they are on.

Right turn off the Stuart highway, heading for the WA border

Galah, above our lunch spot

The road ahead, long, straight and blue skies all the way.

Corinne in our campsite at Yulara, perplexed with the tree book.  So many Acacias and Eucalypts.

Our fantastic new tent.  This is the Wanderer latitiude 4V from BCF.  Absolutely fantastic with more ventilation than you can poke a stick at. 

Another parrot species we have spotted.  Some hot cockatiels trying to cool in the shade of a large gum.  Most of them are females or immature.  you can see a few bright yellow heads that are the males.

Panorama of Mt Connor.  Click on it to enlarge it.  This is near Curtin springs roadhouse on the Lasseter highway near Uluru.  It is 300m high and quite impressive when you drive past it. 

Uluru Adventures–The beginning

The Home Yard Chicken House

When we get back to our farm, Puzzling Gully, in July we have a lot of work to do.  We want to try to get some animals and a vegie garden going as soon as possible.  We are going to take a month off to clean up the garden and do a few things to the house. 

I am tasked with building the vegie garden and getting a chicken house built.  I have had some free time so i have been planning and thinking about the Chicken house. 

When we were in the United states last year we saw a lot fo American styles barns, in all sorts of colours, but especially dark red.  There are a few different types but they are similar in that they have a central main roof with two lateral sloping rooves coming off on each side.  We thought we would adapt that in some way to our home yard chicken shed.  This will be our egg layer shed with our pet type chickens in it.  They aren’t for any serious commercial production, just to watch and enjoy and dig about in the home yard area.

So i have drawn up some pictures and then i made a 3D version on Google Sketchup 8.  This program is amazing and very helpful.  It is free to download and enables anyone to draw very realistic to scale 3d drawings. 

I then used Picasa (also by Google) to make a little movie of the chicken shed so i could show everyone the shed from all angles.  The movie is stop frame from jpeg stills but works to its needed purpose.  Have a look and see what you think.  We are thinking of painting the wood red, like the American barns.

 

Now that you have seen the Video.  We are going to have a central house where the chickens sleep at night, get out of the weather and lay their eggs.  The eggs will be collected from the outside so no need to get into the house.  We are going to have a run on either side of the house and alternate its use.  We will rake over the dirt and plant it out with grasses and maybe some vegies and then swap as each side gets dug up by the chickens.  We will probably do this every 2-3 months, depending on how things grow.  This also helps to decrease the parasite lifecyle, we’ll be worming them anyway though.

There will be an entrance door to each run on either end and then there is an entrance to the house at the back, for cleaning etc.

We are going to insulate the roofing to try and help the chickens stay a bit cooler in our hot Qld summers.  I don’t know what i will use yet but i have ideas.  We want to have a waterer and feed station on both sides and we will connect the water up to a tank or the house pressure pump, so the water will always be refilling via a float valve.  That way we can go away for a few days and the chickens will have water and a 10-15kg full feeder to keep them happy.

When we are home we can let them out to peck about the homeyard.

What do you think?  In July this will be built and i will put up photos of the finished product.

The Home Yard Chicken House

Art, Artie and Denise

I am lying on my bed, thinking of how i can make my blog more interesting.  I have the day off today and was going to put up a blog about the Chicken Shed/Coop that i am going to build when i get back to Puzzling Gully in July.

I was looking at my Sister-in-laws blog and found her new post about her Art.

Denise is a very creative person both in her in blog, her art and with her young son, Artie.  Denise’s blog is called ‘A Little Life Story’ and is all about her life with Adam, her husband, and Artie, their young son.

Denise has just put a post up about a brilliant painting that she did for us as a gift for Christmas.  It is actually a scene from our farm which she saw on our our blog. 

We really like the painting, it is pretty exciting for someone to make you a landscape of your own property, better than some random property you don’t know.  Corinne and I have actually discussed in detail how we would like Denise to create art for us and we will sell it through our farm or farm website.  We haven’t mentioned this to Denise i don’t think, but i guess she will read this now.  We really like her Art and how natural it is.  We think, her drawings, paintings, bags etc are all great and would love to add them to our list of produce.  I twill also be nice to sell things that are from our one big family.

So have a look at Denise’s blog and check out her Art, its great.

Denise’s Painting.  This is looking out over the fence into the back paddocks of Puzzling Gully.  Brilliant.

Art, Artie and Denise

Palm Valley–Part 2

 

Palm Valley was great.  Finke Gorge National Park is to be highly recommended, even though we did not get to see that much of it.  We are going to try and get back there and see the area properly, hopefully without a cyclone.

This was our first chance to get the Pathfinder off-road.  It was pretty exciting.  It is a bit abstract but it is quite fun for some reason taking your car through mud, water, sand and rocks.  We have wanted a big 4wd ever since we got together.  We went camping once in the parents Subaru Forester.  We went to Yuraygir national park in northern NSW and it was a disaster.  The forester is not designed for sand and we were promptly bogged.

Now that we have something slightly more capable we are excited about going to other spots and camping where it says ‘only accessible by 4wd’.

Below are some vids of Corinne and I doing a bit of 4wding.  They are not amazing but just some baby steps before we get into the bigger stuff.

Corinne doing her first ever bit of 4wding on a rock crossing of Palm creek

A steep rocky bit on the way to palm valley

Crossing shallow part of the Finke River, a lot more water was flowing 3-4 hours later

Palm Valley–Part 2

Palm Valley–Part 1.

 

Last Week we had 6 days off, for various reasons.  So we decided to make the most of it and see a few sights in the area.  We had planned 2 nights camping in Palm Valley, Finke Gorge National Park and then 2 nights in Owen Springs Reserve. 

We set out on Wednesday morning and drove out to Finke Gorge NP.  It is about 140kms from Alice and the turn off is near the town of Hermannsburg which is a closed aboriginal community.  You can go to the petrol station and shop in town as well as some historical missionary buildings.  We had a look, it was very desolate and closed looking.

We started our first big 4wd trek in the pathfinder.  We let some air out of the tyres as there can be a fair bit of sand driving through the dry bed of the Finke river.  The drive to palm valley is great.  There are high, red, rock cliffs, sandy river beds, water holes, palms, cycads and blue skies every where you look.

Our trip to Palm valley was cut short however.  Our old friend Yasi, Cyclone Yasi had decided to cross QLD and travel across our path.  The Finke River is the largest inland river in Australia and when it rains it can go berserk and is about 100m wide and stays high for 1-2 weeks.

So we were just about to set up our tent, watching some grey clouds, when the ranger came into the camp site.  We had been joking about being washed away or stuck in the park.  The ranger informed us that a massive series of storms was on its way and that rain was already falling in the upper catchment area.  He said we could stay but had to be prepared to be in the park for 1-2 weeks as we might not be able to get out again.

We drove home, the river was already rising and there was a lot of water and mud on the road.

We spent a night in Alice and left for Uluru the next day.

You can click on any of the photos and get a larger version.  The panoramas particularly benefit.

The start of the track to palm valley.  letting some air out of the tyres, very hard core.

Mistletoe (Australian).  On a little bush beside our car, very cute.  A parasitic plant.

Green Can.  The most commonly occurring litter to be found in the NT.  A staple of many diets.

Paddy Melons.  I can comfortably say that they have an offensive taste.  Try one.

The severe 4wd route only took us about 1hr30min and we went slowly.

Just another boring vista in the nat park.

Collecting firewood that would never be burnt.  You are advised and allowed to collect wood before entering the Nat Park.

Corinne, contemplating her fame.

A sign that is self explanatory.

This panorama is near the amphitheatre.

The clouds and Palm creek, behind our proposed camp site

Corinne and her car

This is sort of a panorama, again of some dark Yasi inspired clouds over Palm creek.

Palm Valley–Part 1.