Ayers Rock

We planned to spend three nights at Ayers Rock and the Olgas. Since the drive from Erldunda Roadhouse to Ayers Rock resort takes just around three hours, we arrived around 1pm. At checkin, they refused an early checkin, so we had to take care of our little one in the reception hall including feeding and changing the nappies. With still more than enough time left until 3pm, we decided to go straight to Ayers Rock, or “The Rock” as it is referred to in Australia, as an Australian has told us.

We bought the park entry ticket at the park’s gate, which was valid for 72 hours. Ayers Rock was already well visible from the distance. It is a breathtaking view time and time again. We stopped by the Visitor Information Center in the National Park, which for some reason is called “Cultural Centre”. Perhaps due to the long texts of Aboriginal background information on display there – or the souvenir shop featuring ‘made in low-cost-country’ as well as locally manufactured pieces of remembrance.

“Sunset is great viewed from the sunset car park. Sunset today is at 19:23, so you want to be there at least 30mins before that.” the ranger in the visitor center said. He also provided helpful information about the Mala walk, a 90min ranger-guided walk starting at the Mala car park every day at 8am, as well as the Olgas.

The Olgas are the second massive rock formation in Ayers Rock National Park. It’s characterized by deep valleys and gorges, which wind, water and sand have ground into the stone. We decided to drive around Ayers Rock this afternoon, then head back to the hotel for the check in just to go back to the Ayers Rock sunset viewing area. The park closes at 9pm and I was doing some night shots, one of which you can see below. At 20:30 a ranger stopped by to clear the car park, but thankfully gave me a ten minutes extension to take two more photos. If you are interested, the night shot was taken with an f=2.8 fisheye lens, bulb shutter at 45 seconds – tripod-based of course.

The next day, we joined the 8am Mala walk. It was a group of about 25 people following a ranger along the base of Ayers Rock while he explained some of the local fauna and flora as well as Aboriginal stories. Unfortunately, he explained, he couldn’t tell us some of the ‘other’ Aboriginal stories. The Aboriginal law says, you are only allowed to tell a story ‘where it happened’. So if you want to hear the story of a different place, you need to travel to that place. — I didn’t realize that the Aboriginal culture was an expert approach on tourism and marketing millenia ago. I learned it from that ranger.

The Olgas

Later on, we ventured to the Olgas. We visited the Dune viewing area first. Just in time to feed our little one again. We tried hard, but hundreds of flies made this a very challenging experience. We needed fly nets. No question about it. So we decided to drive back to Ayers Rock and later on to the resort, where we got the nets at the local supermarket. Then we called it a day.

The Olgas – Valley of the Winds

Next morning we started with a walk into the Valley of the Winds. The second part of the trail is closed after 11am, when the temperature is expected to exceed 36 degrees. Forecast said, it would get well above it on our day. Even though we began our walk at about 9am, we decided to stay safe and just go to the first lookout, which is considered ‘safe’ in any condition. We had to carry our little one, including all support items like food, nappies etc. as well as plenty of water. Valley of the Winds lived up to it’s name. There was a nice breeze at the lookout point. On the other hand, we probably lost a pound or two of body fluids to Amon-Ra the sun god.

The Olgas – Walpa Gorge

We were feeling a bit revived as we drove the short distance from Valley of the Winds car park to Walpa Gorge. The gorge is actually a straight valley between the largest of the Olga’s rocks, which narrows towards its end. There, it provides shade for a tiny waterhole, just enough to host a few plants and zebra finches.

At the end of this second walk, we were exhausted by the heat and decided to go back to the hotel and refresh a bit in the pool, just to be ready for another sunset viewing of Ayers Rock. The next day, we would be at Kings Canyons.