An Aboriginal Dance and Another Sunset
Yulara is small enough that you can walk to the town centre easily enough from the campground. It was pretty hot, so we opted to ride our bikes to get there a little faster. The Ayers Rock Resort offers several free activities and we really wanted to get to a couple of them. 
First we went to the Bush Yarn, aboriginal stories and a talk about weapons they used. The weapons especially were fascinating, they passed them around and he demonstrated how they were used and why they worked so well. Nearby were some women painting some aboriginal dot art tapestries. There was a bench in front of them and LadyBug (5) sat on that bench nearly the whole time we were there. The tapestries were beautiful and it was lovely to watch the women masterfully creating their artwork. No pictures allowed of the painting, and the weapons demonstration was right next to it so I wasn’t sure if I should get my camera out for that either. We also got to see an aboriginal dance which was so interesting. The guy on the right gave us all sorts of background and history on the particular dances they were doing, they did three or four different ones. JitterBug (8) tells me the dances and the weapons were his favourite part of Uluru. 
At the end they invited the audience up to participate in the last dance. The kids were a little hesitant at first, LadyBug is still annoyed with me that I sent her up there without me! I couldn’t convince TurboBug do go up there with the rest of them. 
The little girl in red stole the show. Everyone laughed when she lined up with the rest of them. She came over to talk to us several times during the earlier dances, she was covered in paint so I’m sure she’d had a good day. 
After the dance we went into the park for a look at the cultural centre. No pictures allowed for cultural reasons. It’s an excellent display and not to be missed. That evening we went back to the sunset viewing area for one last glimpse of the rock. This time we knew where we wanted to park and grabbed a spot down at the very end of the carpark. 
I’m still fascinated by how different the rock looks from different angles. I love these vertical lines you glimpse on the drive in. 
On this day the climb was open and we could see that people were still in the midst of their hikes. I’m not sure what time they close the climbing trail, but the park closes not long after sunset. 
If I zoom way in on the picture above you can see some blurry specks. Those are people, really. It takes about an hour to hike up, I have no idea if these people are going up or down. 
LadyBug listened to an audiobook the whole time we were there. We’d already done the sunset viewing once, so they were allowed to be not so interested this time. 
Okay, it’s more like they were all wondering why in the world we wanted to do this again. We’d already seen the sunset. Grown-ups are weird. 
You took their pictures in their chairs so now you have to take mine. I have no idea why he’s all wet. 
Have I mentioned the red dirt? Lovely. 
Of course, after I took a picture of JitterBug’s feet, TurboBug needed a pic of his too. Look at his face! What fun it is to play in the dirt. 
He did find it a bit difficult to get his feet up high enough for the camera, but he tried. He just had to do what his older brother did. 🙂 
With a little help we got that gorgeous red foot. 
In the meantime Uluru was changing colours in front of us. 
Wow. Someone’s going to need a shower tonight. 
Can’t forget to look the other way and see the actual sunset! 
SkeeterBug (10) busied himself drawing a picture of Uluru while we were there. I know you can’t see it very well, but I love it. It’s just a simple drawing but he got the lines right and I was so happy he did it. We’ve been laughing at this picture because he has a fly on his nose. Flies, flies, lots of flies here. 
This sign at the end of the carpark had some mostly generic information on it, but the interesting part talked about what Uluru is made of- a sedimentary rock called arkose. Underneath the surface, Uluru is grey. Iron-rich minerals oxidise to make the rusty colour we see. 
This cute little guy is determined to do everything himself! 
I snapped this picture as we were leaving, you can see the line of cars off to the right. That’s the sunset viewing carpark, it was just one long row of parking spaces. I imagine during peak season you’d need to get there early for a spot. 
One last glimpse of Kata-Tjuta as we drove back to the campground. 
That was our last time in the park. We’ll have to come back when the kids are a bit older so that the younger ones have a chance at remembering it! 
An Uluru Sunrise
Seeing the sunrise and the sunset at Uluru is just something you have to do if you visit. You can’t go there and not see them both…except if your kids come down with gastro. Then you might have some issues. We saved sunrise for our last full day at Uluru, the day our parks pass expired. Of course that was the night that TurboBug (2) was sick during the night, necessitating a change of sheets and clothes and…yuck. So I stayed home with him, but the others still made it to the sunrise. (Did you see how I referred to our caravan as ‘home’? We really do call it our home.) 
The whole point is to see how Uluru changes colours, so you are facing Uluru with your back to the sunrise. 
It’s early in the morning, so you might actually need those long sleeves, even in September. 
There’s a nice view of Kata-Tjuta in the distance. Two for one! 
The nice part about this was the clouds moving through the sky casting shadows on Uluru. 
Making it look different all the time. 
Did you get all that? No? Here’s a video. We had a few things to squeeze into that last day. With gastro making the rounds we had to worry about when it was going to hit the rest of us. Gastro in a caravan, not so fun. Okay, gastro anywhere, not so fun.
A View From the Campground
When you visit Uluru the (only, as far as I know) place to stay is Ayers Rock Resort in nearby Yulara since there is no camping in the national park. It’s about 15km from Uluru. The campground is huge, there are nearly 200 powered sites and just as many unpowered. There are also cabins and large group sites. Those huge group sites got quite a bit of use while we were there. I imagine that during peak season they are fully booked out. We were there late enough in the season to not worry about booking in advance, but they were still plenty busy. The resort also has a hotel, lodge, and apartments. There’s a small town centre with an IGA, Australia Post, souvenir shops and other little shops. In the campground you can walk up to a lookout for a view of Uluru. We decided to have a look at the sunset from here one night during our stay. We took our chairs with us and were joined by several others including some families so the kids all had a nice play while we watched the sunset. 
Facing off to one side you can see Kata-Tjuta in the distance. 
Way off in the distance, actually. 
Not a great view, but easy to get to since it was only steps away from the caravan! I’ll never forget that this was the night we got a new Prime Minister, since we chatted about it with another family while we were up there. They had just watched the movie Paper Planes and so their kids had brought along all these paper planes they’d made. 
There was also one of those touristy telescope thingies, it was supposed to take coins but worked without them. I thought i had a picture but can’t find one. We all took turns looking through that for a closer view of the rock. What a beautiful sunset we saw! 
Doesn’t LadyBug (5) look pretty in my hat? 
We tried the hold up Uluru thing but it didn’t quite work. Too far away to focus properly with my limited camera skills! 
Poor little TurboBug was made to carry his own chair. Aren’t we cruel? Not really. He’s two, so he wants to do everything himself, including carrying his own chair that’s really a bit big for him to carry. He managed pretty well. I loved watching him play with SkeeterBug (10). He was copying the poses his older brother was doing. So cute. 
I love how TurboBug is so much a part of things, he’s not just the little brother but his older siblings make sure he is included in everything. Well, nearly everything, he is two after all! 
While in Uluru we once again ran into a travelling family we knew so the kids really enjoyed that. The campground has a pool and a good playground. The kids, of course, would have been happy to spend the rest of our time at the campground. I mean, they’ve seen Uluru, so now let’s swim! But no, we continue to make them see the sights. Terrible parents, aren’t we? 🙂
Bike Ride Around Uluru
The trail at the base of Uluru is about 10.5km long. There was no way we were going to be able to walk that with all of our kids, so we opted to take our bikes. The trail is not at all strenuous and most people we saw that day were walking with just a few others on bikes. 
The kids were anxious to touch Uluru, they’d been asking if they’d be able to before we even got there. So they took the first chance they could to get close to the rock. 
Up close Uluru has so many magnificent features. I’ve seen pictures before but it was hard to imagine how it all fits together. 
This is one of the spots where after a rain water spills over in a series of cascading waterfalls. Unfortunately in the dry season, the most popular tourist season, you are unlikely to see any water here. There are several of these spots around Uluru, they must be just beautiful after a rain. 
More magnificent scenery… 
Another place where the trail goes close enough to touch Uluru! 
You can see some rock art along the way. 
There are a couple of waterholes, not much water in them this time of year. This was a spot where you had to walk in a little way, we waited for a school group to go first. We’ve seen quite a few school groups doing tours of the region. At the campsite we saw several come and go. They are easy to spot because they set up dozens of identical tents all in neat little rows. 🙂 
One of the very few benches along the way! 
The kids saw this and immediately thought of Wave Rock in Western Australia that we hope to visit later in our trip. 
So of course they had to surf it. 
Again with the magnificent features… 
Another spot to touch Uluru! 
When you get around to the back the trail is further away from the rock. There’s little shade along this part of the path. I wonder why the path strays so far. There are certain parts of the rock that are more sacred than others, maybe that has something to do with it. Everyone we saw was dutifully sticking to the trail. 🙂 
Then we rounded the end and came closer again. During the wet season this particular spot features a waterfall, there was a tiny bit of water at the bottom when we were there. We hung out in the cool shade for a little while before moving on. 
More rock art and another wave rock. And a gazillion pictures! 
All the kids had to get up here for a picture. Blame it on TurboBug (2), he was first. 
Another cascading waterfall. There are certain parts of Uluru that you aren’t supposed to photograph, there are signs indicating these spots and stories behind why. They are sacred sites to the traditional owners. This waterfall was right at the end of one of those sites. 
More rock art! I wish there had been more information about the paintings. 
I had never heard of the marsupial mole. According to this article, sightings are very rare at only 5-10 per decade. They have a backward-facing pouch like a wombat and they can ‘swim’ through the dirt, having slightly webbed back feet. 
They apparently made these holes in the rock. Amazing! 
So what about climbing Uluru? It seemed like everyone we met had the same question: Is the climb open? It wasn’t open the day we did our bike ride. This is the trail, see the lighter section of the rock? That dark line going up the lighter line is a handrail. Climbing Uluru takes about an hour but they close it during windy conditions, or when they have to make rescues. 
Signs nearby explain that the Anangu do not want anyone to climb Uluru. Over the years nearly three dozen people have died attempting the climb. It’s also an incredibly sacred site to them. 
In fact, the park is working toward closing the climb permanently. I have to wonder how old this sign is, though. In the 1980s the government agreed to hand ownership of the land back to the Anangu and agreed to forbid climbing, the land would be leased back to the government and jointly managed with the traditional owners. The agreement was broken and allowing people to climb Uluru ended up being a part of the lease. I guess the government wasn’t quite willing to give up the lure of the climb and all the tourists it brings in. 
The climb was not in our plans for this trip anyway. It’s steep, it’s an hour-long hike, and it’s very hot. Did I mention we have young kids? So the climb being closed wasn’t really an issue for us. Our bike ride was a perfect way for us to experience Uluru as a family. It’s so different up close and it’s one of those lifetime experiences that I’m so glad we were able to do. We’ve been to Uluru!!!
Sunset at Uluru
On the drive into Yulara you are able to see Uluru from a distance. There are some rolling hills and you can just get a glimpse in between. Because of all these rolling hills you really can’t get a proper view of it unless you go to a lookout at the campsite. The first really good view of Uluru is after you enter the national park. 
The road to the sunset viewing point curves around the rock so you end up with very different views. In this shot the lines on Uluru look very vertical, don’t they? 
As you drive you even get a view of Kata-Tjuta, which we had visited earlier in the day. 
The sunset viewing area is a very, very long carpark. It was nearly full when we got there. 
Look at all that red dirt! The middle of Australia is often called the red centre, you can definitely see why. That red dirt is very hard to get out of clothing. And now I’m going to bore you with a whole lot of pictures… 
On the drive back to the campground you got a glorious view of the sunset over Kata-Tjuta. 
Viewing Uluru at sunset is a must-do, and so is viewing it at sunrise! Post to come.
A Walk in Kata-Tjuta
After Tennant Creek we drove to Alice Springs, where we spent just one night before moving on to Yulara, near Uluru (aka Ayer’s Rock). We decided we’d spend time in Alice after we’d visited Uluru. 
The distances are incredible. There’s just nothing out here. See this? In 124 km we need to turn left onto Uluru Road. It’s about 450km from Alice to Yulara with only tiny towns and a couple of petrol stations along the way. With nothing in between. 
We were keeping an eye out for Uluru. In the book Are We There Yet? the dad sees Uluru when they are about 35km away. So we are happily driving along and we see this huge mountain and we’re wondering how we can possibly see Uluru from so far away. We were still at least 100km away. As we got closer we could see the shape more distinctly and knew it was not Uluru. We had a look at the map and eventually there was a sign saying this is Mt Conner. Locals call it Fool-uru. Why have we never heard of Mt Conner? It’s huge. It’s 300 metres high. But it’s on private land and you have to book a tour to get close to it. How come Uluru and Kata Tjuta get all the glory? 
There’s one huge campground in Yulara. It’s also home to several lodges. There’s no camping in the national park, so Yulara is a busy place. We stayed four nights since they have a special if you stay that long and the national park pass is good for three days. Doesn’t that work out just right? :) We opted to go to Kata-Tjuta the first day. If you aren’t from Australia you’ve probably only heard of Uluru/Ayer’s Rock. Kata Tjuta, also known as the Olgas, is nearby and in the same national park. 
It’s a series of large boulders which are spectacular, they change shape from every view. 
There are a few different walks you can do there, we opted to do just the Walpa Gorge Walk. 
As you can imagine from the name, it’s a walk through a gorge. Mostly you are walking on solid rock, there are a few bridges along the way. 
Bridges and steps keep us going with a 2yo. Look! Another bridge, hurry! 
There was a small waterhole along the way that of course we had a hard time keeping the kids away from, they always want to throw rocks in them. 
It’s hard to grasp in a photograph how very tall these were. 
There’s not much at the end, you can see where the rocks come together and that’s about it. The walk goes into the gorge and back out the same trail. We had a bit of a rest and a snack and headed back the way we’d come. 
On the way back TurboBug (2) had the GPS and was pretending it was a camera. We’d have to smile for him while he said ‘Click!’. 
Some of us thought we’d never make it back. 
The view looking out from the gorge, it’s all so very flat, isn’t it? 
The view looking back in. TurboBug hitched himself a ride. 
Glad to be done, it was a hot morning. We didn’t try to do any more that day, we didn’t want to overdue it in the heat. That night we watched the sunset at Uluru. 
This was our only visit to Kata-Tjuta, I would have liked to watch the sunset here but it was a bit of a drive, further than Uluru so we opted to just spend the one day here. Uluru is where gastro started its run through the family, so we had to take it a bit easy. 
Look how much it changes from different viewpoints! 
I must admit that I’d never heard of Kata-Tjuta until sometime after I’d moved to Australia. This trip has been so good for me in learning my Aussie geography, I hope it’s all sinking in for the kids too. 🙂