Day 18: Kata Tjuta & the Valley of the winds Trail

July 9, 2018

6 am - Wake up!
Okay, this is not quite our vacation wake-up time, but we crawl out of bed and get dressed quickly. I'm a bit impatient because the receptionist told us yesterday to leave early enough to go to Uluru.

However, my husband is very calm - Sunrise is not until 7:20 - so we still have plenty of time.
Son jumps out of bed particularly quickly this morning with a "Happy Birthday" song. Finally turning 10 years old! Or more importantly:
"Do I finally get the long-awaited smartphone at the age of 10???"

Excited, he unwraps the gift (we had to limit ourselves to 1 gift due to limited space in the suitcase, but THIS one is special: it's a smartphone!

Hooray, the young man has now entered the world of smartphones and eagerly examines his gift. No one seems to care that I'm still in a hurry, as it's almost 6:45 am now.

Finally, we leave the bungalow - bundled up in multiple layers of clothing - and are hit with a cold shock on the way to the car. It's so cold!!!!
The windshield of our jeep is frozen. Yuck!!!
Now we need to use the fleece blankets from Singapore Airlines. Luckily, we brought them with us.
The temperature display in our jeep shows -2 degrees!!!! WINTER!!!

We start in complete darkness towards Uluru and just a few meters after leaving the village, we get stuck in traffic. Great!!! We are not the only ones who want to watch the sunrise....
It takes forever to pass the gate and drive towards the Sunrise parking lot.

It's almost 7:30 when we finally secure a spot on the observation platform and shiver, wrapped in fleece blankets, waiting for the sunrise.

All in all, the whole process is nice, but not as spectacular as expected. The sunset was more impressive in terms of colors.

After about an hour, we are frozen and make our way back to the lodge. Now it's time for breakfast and to warm up!
After breakfast, we take a short detour to Uluru. It's almost like a farewell photo - we won't be coming back here tomorrow.

Afterwards, we drive to the Olgas / Kata Tjuta. The approach to these round giants is already impressive.

We make a brief stop at the viewpoint and admire the Olgas.

Along the way, there are various plants with melodious names like "Ikulyukulyu" - or "Upside-down plant".

We continue to the parking lot at the Valley of the Winds Trail.

Equipped with drinks and food, we start the "Valley of the winds" Trail, or at least a part of it. The entire circuit trail is rated with difficulty level 4 ("Difficult"). It is 7.4 km long and designated as "very steep" and "very rough trail". According to the information board, the recommended duration of the hike is 4 hours.

Okay, we have plenty of time, so we walk at a leisurely pace and see how far we want to go.

We reach the highest point of the trail after a sweaty climbing section, which is called "Karingana Lookout". The view is great! The "Valley of the winds" Trail lives up to its name here: the wind is blowing strongly through the rocks. We have our jackets on again and are now deciding which direction to take.

The prospect of climbing back down the steep rocky terrain does not appeal to me. The kids are already looking forward to the equally steep descent ahead, filled with loose rocks, so the decision is quickly made: we will walk the entire circuit trail!

Was that a good decision!? Well, we will see. It can't get much more challenging than this.
Climbing downhill over the loose stones is not without its challenges, and I am relieved when we finally reach the bottom.

From now on, it's really comfortable. We walk through the valley, between the red giants, and admire the surroundings. We really like it here - even better than at Uluru. Although we didn't do much hiking there...

Nach etwa 2,5 Stunden erreichen wir eine Picknick Area mit Trinkwasserspender. Auf dem Boden macht sich gerade ein Schwarm von Zebrafinken über die Wasserpfütze her, die unter dem Wasserspender entstanden ist. Diese kleinen Vögelchen kannte ich bisher nur aus der Zoohandlung.

Es ist toll, die Piepser in freier Wildbahn beobachten zu können. Die sind einfach zu putzig!

Der restliche Weg zurück führt durch ein ausgetrocknetes Flussbett, nicht nur sprichwörtlich über Stock und Stein!

Ziemlich platt aber zufrieden erreichen wir den ersten Viewpoint, der gleichzeitig der Startpunkt des Trails war. Für den gesamten Rundweg inklusive 2 ausgiebiger Rastpausen haben wir knapp 4 Stunden benötigt.

Mit müden Beinen laufen wir den Weg nach unten zum Parkplatz. Da heute Morgen schon alles voll war, mussten wir unseren Jeep etwas weiter die Straße herunter parken. Auf dem Weg dahin bemerke ich plötzlich wenige Meter vor uns einen freilaufenden Hund. Bei genauerem Hinsehen bleiben wir allerdings ruckartig stehen:

vor uns, keine 10 m entfernt, steht in dunkelbrauner Dingo und schaut uns an.
„Ach wie süß“, ruft die Tochter verzückt, während der Gatte neben mir ein lautes „Psst“ zuruft. Der Dingo legt die Ohren an und verschwindet im Gebüsch...
So ganz wohl ist mir die Sache nicht. Am helllichten Tag ein Dingo so nah an Straße und Parkplatz!? Mit großen Schritten gehen wir zum Auto und sind sichtlich erleichtert, als alle Türen geschlossen sind.

Auf der Rückfahrt zur Lodge sehen wir den dunkelbraunen Dingo noch mehrere Male neben der Straße im Dickicht herumrennen, dann verschwindet er.
Uff, das war also unsere erste Begegnung mit einem Dingo!
Zurück in der Lodge erwartet uns die nächste Überraschung.

Im Zimmer findet Sohnemann einen „Ayers Rock“ Rucksack, an dem ein großes Blatt mit der Aufschrift

"For the Birthday Boy - Look inside!!!"

befestigt ist.

Wow, that's cool!!!
And it gets even better: inside the backpack, the birthday boy finds two plush animals, a camel and a dingo (how appropriate!) and a greeting card signed by numerous lodge staff members.
That's really cool!

Son is over the moon and is thrilled with the additional gifts, which are immediately captured with the new smartphone and shared with friends back in Germany.

We will barbecue tonight and buy a vegetarian grill set, a steak, and a sausage set at the BBQ counter.
We can do without emu, kangaroo, and crocodile...

Preparing the food requires some effort. The BBQs are quite dirty, and it's best not to look up at the extraction hood. There is grease and dirt from years stuck to it. Not really appetizing.

I bravely fry my tofu vegetables on the hot grill plate and enjoy it afterwards. In addition to potato and pasta salad, there is also rice, tomatoes, cucumbers, and dessert at the salad bar.

In the end, we are all full and leave the tent earlier today since there is no live music and the cold is starting to make us shiver again.

With full stomachs and tired feet, we walk back to the bungalow and fall into bed exhausted.
Tomorrow morning, we will continue our outback tour to Kings Canyon. Since we plan to do another long trail there, our feet and legs need to recover tonight.
The air conditioning is running at full blast in heating mode.

What a great day!



For the statistics:
Hotel: Outback Pioneer Lodge
Cost: 241 € / night in a family room with breakfast
Distance traveled: 104 km
Wildlife sightings: small parrots, zebra finches, and a dingo
Weather: sunny up to 22 degrees
Conclusion: A happy birthday boy between Uluru and the Olgas