Uluru

Wednesday found us tossing the coin as to whether we would hit the road, or stay at Coobar Pedy until there was more improvement in the weather. We made the right decision to head nth as the further nth we drove the better the weather got. Mid afternoon we had reached the NT-SA Border and along with sixteen other caravaner's and Wiz Bangs, thought this would be a good place to spend the night. It was a good rest area with a sealed parking area much cleaner under foot than some caravan park's that we have stayed at recently.
Next morning we were on the road by 9am looking to fuel up at Erldunda, before heading west into Uluru (Ayers Rock). The first sight of the monoliths was Mt Connor, many tourist get this confused and think it is Uluru. Arriving at the Ayers Rock Resort it was not long before there was quiet a line of caravan & motor homes waiting to check in, always seems as if we are the only ones on the road, but you only need to stop for a few minutes and then other travelers start to rock in.
After a bite to eat it was into the National Park where there is a $25 per person entry fee that will give you access for three days. As it was 1978 when we last ventured into this region, there certainly have been a lot of changes, of course the Rock is the same but the camp ground and resorts have been relocated to about 20klm from Uluru and of course now there are lovely sealed roads, not the red dirt tracks that we had to contend with.
On the approach to Uluru we were again in awe of this magnificent natural formation, and the stunning Kata Tjuta (The Olgas) glad that we had decided to revisit after so many years.
OMG, could not believe that Bazza and I had previously climbed that very steep, treacherous, scary Rock! We had forgotten just what a strenuous climb it is!
Giving the climb a miss, yes because we were scared and not fit enough, we enjoyed the Mala Walk to Kantju Gorge along the base of Uluru. We then headed for the sunset viewing area to get positioned to marvel at the ever changing colours.
A rather fresh morning today, found us heading back into the park to explore The Olgas, we were glad that we had witnessed visitors climbing Uluru yesterday, as due to the winds today the climb had been closed. On arrival at The Olgas we took the Valley of the Winds Walk to the Karu lookout, it was a relevantly short walk of 2.2kms return that gave us an impressive view of the lush vegetated valley.
Before returning to the caravan we did a quick circumnavigation of Uluru by car, then onto the Resort shopping complex, where there are specialty shops and an IGA etc.

NT-SA Border

NT-SA Border Rest Area (free night)

Mt Connor

Steep, treacherous climb

Uluru

Sunset - moon rising above Uluru

Sunset

Kata Tjuta (The Olgers)

Kata Tjuta (The Olgers)

Valley of Winds (The Olgers)