Thankfully, the “I climbed Ayers Rock” bumper stickers are fading and falling away, like the fossils that insist it’s OK to trample all over a sacred site. Climbing has been banned, in line with the Anungu owners’ wishes. Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park is a long way from anywhere -2900km from Sydney, and 468 from Alice. Keep an eye out for special airfares. If Desert Sails is your thing, good luck to you, but for the rest of us, a few days car rental and camping or a cabin won’t set you back much at all.
Probably Australia's most famous image, the largest rock in the world. Uluru.
Kata Tjuta, the "other" rock(s) in central Australia, which forms Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park.
A big scar marks the sacred site, a legacy of the tens of thousands of people who climbed Uluru, which is now permanently banned.
Just 45 minutes long, the free Mala Walk packs in so much education and learning. Do it.
It takes a few hours to walk around the base of Uluru, giving you a view of different angles and aspects of "the rock".
Shorter walks can also be done around sections of the base.
Some parts of Uluru have water holes, and during rare heavy rains, waterfalls cascasde down the surface.
You are unlikely to encounter many people on these walks. Reflect on the skills and knowledge of the Anungu people who have lived here for thousands of years.
We found are sand dune half way between the resort and the rock to watch the sunset in isolation.
Kata Tjuta is the other half of the park, and only a fool would overlook it.
Amongst the rocks and the desert and scrub, creatures lurk. Such as the spinifex pigeon....
...this lizard, who took a short-cut across a sunbathing lass's stomach....
....the thorny devil, strange fellow that he is....
...large birds of prey....
....amongst the trees smaller birds.....
....such as these zebra finches....
...who are found in big number on the Kata Tjuta loop walk.
Helicopter tours are one way of getting a view of these incredible monoliths.
If you can't afford a chopper ride, hiking through Kata Tjuta is a better way to experience the environment anyway.
The Valley of The Winds walk takes 3-4 hours, and may well be the best 3 hours you will enjoy in the park.
The elements have left their mark on the trees as well as the rocks. On the hottest days, the Valley of The Winds walk will be closed.
Kata Tjuta is a Pitjantjatjara word meaning ‘many heads’, and there are 36 steep-sided domes in the formation.
Central Australia has some of the biggest, clear skies I have seen....outside Africa.
The 50km drive from Uluru provides some great full width views of Kata Tjuta.
An unsightly orgy of disrespect occured in mid 2019 in the months leading up to the closing of the climb, with a stream of entitled jerks excercising "their rights". The land, and the people are now healing.