Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park

 Sunrise with the sliver of moon top left.

 Young kurkara, or desert oak, silhouetted by the sun.

 The flower and seed pod of a desert oak.

 Guess who...

 The view of Kata Tjuta from the viewing platform...

 and as the road approaches the landform.

The view from the Karingana lookout on the hike.

Wednesday, April 6^th.

I was woken up early this morning by some of the other guys leaving early on tours, or to catch planes or go to the bathroom, busy place. So I got up early and decided to get organized to go to see the sunrise over Uluru.

I drove down to the sunset lookout from last night. It was windy and cool this morning and I had to put on a fleece while I watched. Gradually the sky lightened and I got a couple of shots of the shilloute of the rock with a sliver of moon above. Then I drove around to the sunrise lookout and watched the sun come up with a lot of other people. The colouring is stunning.

Then I drove to the parking lot a the start of the base walk and decided to ride my bicycle around it. I have had the bike in the car the whole time but haven't had much chance to use it. So I got it out and rode around the whole monolith. The track is mostly hard packed dirt, but there are some sandy sections too. It was a beautiful ride and very quiet and peacefully especially out the back side where there were fewer walkers. The red rock, blue sky and green trees make a perfect picture (or two). The actual distance is just over ten kilometres.

When I got back I packed the bike back in the car and drove back to the resort to get something to eat as I'd had no breakfast yet. Then I picked up a few things and drove back into the park and headed to the other geological formation, Kata Tjuta. It is about 45 kilometres away. There was a spectacular lookout that gave a view of the entire formation. This is similar to Uluru except it has about twelve domes. Really amazing, especially since it is out in the middle of mostly flat land. I hiked the Valley of the Winds trek. It's about 8 km in total, but takes you to two beautiful lookouts and then around the domes and back to the car park. The views were stunning and the area beautiful, but I couldn't relax and enjoy the views and solitude because of the flies. They are really annoying. The last part of the hike was less windy and the flies were terrible, in your eyes, ears and around you mouth. I think I swallowed two. I was well and truly happy to be finished when I was. There was one other hike here that I would like to do, but I couldn't face the flies, so I drove back to the lodge to buy a mess screen.

To be continued...