RED CENTRE: July 3-12: Kata Tjuta

The next morning dawned bright and clear at Uluru and we experienced a beautiful morning view of Kata Tjuta in the far distance, our next travel destination.

The 36 steep-sided domes of Kata Tjuta lie about 32 kilometres west of Uluru. In fact when we arrived at the Kata Tjuta dune viewing site,

we could see Uluru clearly in the distance. The Aboriginal name Kata Tjuta means "many heads" and that is exactly what the mountain range looked like. The alternative English name, The Olgas, comes from the tallest peak, Mt. Olga, within this mountain range. The Kata Tjuta rock is a sedimentary rock that is made up of a conglomerate gravel made up of pebbles, cobbles and boulders cemented together by sand and mud. It is a sacred site to the Aborigine people. It is said that the great snake king Wanambi lives on the summit of Mount Olga and comes down only during the dry season! We did not encounter him on our hike. We stopped long enough at the Olgas to do the three hour, 7.4 kilometre Valley of the Winds Walk. It was a tremendous climb - steep, rocky and difficult in places, but well worth the effort as it afforded us beautiful viewpoints of the red mountains and the red earth. We will let the pictures speak for themselves.

We had found some unique vegetation along the trek,

but no wildlife. The only bit of excitement came at the beginning of our hike when we spied a spider sitting directly above the ladies toilet! We ended the hike exhausted but exhilarated at the beautiful part of creation which we had witnessed.