Sun

November 5, 2001-Sunrise

(photos:Kata Tjuta,
Toby wearing fly net)

Today was our day to abuse ourselves. The temperature was 95 degrees & we drove out to see the Olgas (Kata Tjuta). They’re 33 miles away from the hotel & clearly visible from there. Kata Tjuta means “big heads” & that’s what they look like. They’re made up of individual compressed rocks while Ulhuru is one solid piece of sandstone. There are walking trails of various lengths & difficulty. We chose one that was six miles long intending to go to the first lookout & turn around. Pamphlets & cautionary signs urge hikers to carry enough water so they can drink a litre an hour, wear a hat, use sunscreen, & wear good hiking shoes. We observed all the rules & felt confident as we headed onto the red dirt trail. The trail climbed & wove its way between the monoliths. It gradually changed from dirt to stones to pebble covered rock. There was no shade & even though we drank a lot, it was extremely exhausting. We headed back to the car. The walk took 1-½ hours. We would have pressed on to the lookout point but after awhile there was a sameness to the scenery & we really wanted to do a walk in a gorge that promised to be even lovelier.

At the car parks there are drinking water dispensers so we refilled our bottles. At the car parks & at 2 other places along the trails there are emergency call boxes. I’m sure they do get used. We went over to the gorge trail & weren’t disappointed by its beauty. There was no shade there either, but it was a shorter trail with a nice resting spot at the end. The benches were metal & we had to sit down gingerly so we didn’t toast our bums. The sky that peaked out between the two sides of the gorge was such a bright & clear blue it looked unreal. The desert oaks & grasses were interspersed with almost invisible flowers covering the red earth in a thick carpet. Most of the grasses were introduced by white man & have choked out the natural spinafex habitat of indigenous animals.

We arrived back at the car totally trashed & wondered why we did it. At times I wish they’d build a transparent air-conditioned tunnel with a moving sidewalk for viewing the sights. David said he’d settle for a moving sidewalk. I’ve always wondered about the difference between dry heat & humid heat. I now know. There is none. They’re both equally brutal.

We availed ourselves of the “facilities” before heading back to the hotel. I got a chuckle from the sign on the back of the door. The toilets are the composting kind & are made by a company called Clivus Multrum. It’s probably the name of the inventor. It asks the user to “Please help Clivus perform his useful task. Close the lid.”

Once again, we used our fly nets under our hats. This time we noticed where they were from. They were sent to us from cousins in Poughkeepsie, New York but were made in Alice Springs, Australia.

Sunset

We trooped out at dusk last night to see the sun set on Ulhuru. The viewing area faces East with the sun behind us so its glow is reflected off the Rock. There was one cloud in the sky & it plopped itself right in front of the sun. The spectacular red glow for which Ulhuru is famous never appeared. It just got dark.

Tonight we’re going to try again, but with a twist. There’s a dinner called The Sounds of Silence. We’ll be picked up at our hotel by bus, driven into the desert, & enjoy a champagne buffet dinner by candlelight. We’ll be there in time for sunset & be able to see both Ulhuru & Kata Tjuta (the Olgas). There will be a lecture on the night sky & we’ll enjoy the night sounds as the desert comes alive. I hope it’s clear tonight. We checked the menu to see what we could eat. They serve the obligatory outback emu, roo, & crocodile, but they also have chicken, lamb, & beef.

Tomorrow we head for Alice Springs.

Toby