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.
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