Sat 16 Jul 2011 Yulara to Kings Canyon

See the wild brumbies on the left?

0700 (3789 km) Yet another cloudy, rain threatening day. That means all the days that we have been here has been cloudy and wet. No sunrise and sunset photos. No climb. Had breakfast of toast and packed up. It was really difficult to pack up as there was mud everywhere and we had to wipe everything down as we packed - took a very long time.

1015 (3789 km) Eventually all cleaned and packed and left. Saw wild horses and camel farm. Sun came out - blue skies - yahoo!

1200 (3930 km) Kings Canyon turn off.

1330 (4077 km) Turned off to Kathleen Springs. Had a lovely walk in the sun, even took our jumpers off! Had lunch at Kathleen Springs. It was nice and cool. The water was 'black-as' and had good reflection of the cliffs above.

1500 (4077 km) Left Kathleen Springs.

1530 (4101 km) Check in at Kings Canyon. Cabin 3 and Site 3.

1545 (4101 km) Set up.

1645 (4101 km) Done. Set up was much quicker than packing up this morning.

1730 (4101 km) Had BBQ dinner - yummy sausages and steak. Free BBQ with tables next to the BBQ, really good arrangement.

2000 (4101 km) There were mice everywhere - there is a plague of them in NT. There were even mice in the cabin. There was mice poo on the bed sheets so we had to contact reception to get the sheets changed. Then we saw a mouse run behind the cabin fridge. Managed to shoo 2 mice out and found a dead one. Where is the pied piper when you need him?

Fri 15 Jul 2011 Yulara

0920 (3724 km) Breakfast of toast. Go to Uluru.
0950 (3746 km) Got to Uluru car park. Got ready for Mala Walk, a guided walk by a park ranger. Still drizzling and Uluru climb is closed for all the days we are here. The Mala Walk had interesting stories about the Mala (ancestral beings in the shape of a wallaby). We were also shown the tools and how they are made and used. There was a lot of focus on preserving the culture.
1145 (3746 km) Drive around Uluru.
1200 (3755 km) Stopped at Mutitjulu site. Had lunch of rolls and sandwiches.
1230 (3755 km) Went on Kuniya walk. There is a story about ancestral beings in the shape of snakes called Kuniya and Liru. In the fight that ensued, Kuniya struck twice against the rocks and there are 2 huge cracks on Uluru representing them. Liru's shield dropped and was represented by a large slice of rock that had fallen off.
1330 (3763 km) Cultural Centre. Very interesting cultural experience. Some of the wood works were quite good. There was also dot painting being done by artist-in-residence. Will get the kids to try that one day.
1445 (3763 km) Left for caravan park.
1515 (3786 km) Filled up.
1550 (3789 km) Clean up car, it was very, very, very dirty. Red dust. Red mud. Red dirt. Red sand. Fixed up the corner of camper trailer as much as possible. Let's see how well it will cope with the driving. Will need to see what we can do to get it fixed at Alice Springs. Kids updated blogs and journals.
1900 (3789 km) Dinner of creamy bacon spiral pasta.

Our computer station all set up for emails and blogs etc

Thu 14 Jul 2011 Yulara

1015 (3592 km) Breakfast of toast. Only slight drizzle so far, the constant rain had stopped. Walk to lookout near the campsite. We could see Uluru from there. After some photos, took the kids to the playground. Met a couple of kids and played with them. The campground was starting to build a mini golf course. There was only 1 hole completed. So, went back to the camper to get our putter and golf ball and had a few goes. The new kid almost got a hole in one! Note: always bring a putter and golf ball - you never know when it comes in useful.
1230 (3592 km) Lunch of Chinese porridge - most comforting in this cold and dreary weather.
1320 (3592 km) Drove to to Kata Tjuta (Olgas)via the Cultural Centre. Didn't visit the Cultural Centre, just went to pick up some guides.
1410 (3645 km) Went up to the Kata Tjuta viewing platform. Quite impressive. We could also see Uluru from there.
1440 (3664 km) Went for a walk to Valley of the Winds. Quite a lot of people jostling along. We only did the short walk to Karu lookout.
1550 (3668 km) Checked out the other walk - Walpa Gorge. The domes were amazing, and we could really appreciate how Uluru and Kata Tjuta are different geologically speaking - Uluru being a sandstone rock and Kata Tjuta being a conglomerate. The kids found a little stream that they started building a dam across. Kids love building dams.
1722 (3671 km) Left Kata Tjuta. Saw a dead camel by the side of the road.
1800 (3723 km) Shopping for dinner and next few days. IGA at Yulara has really reasonable prices. Some items are even cheaper than Port Augusta.
1815 (3724 km) Got back and cooked Indomie for dinner.

Wed 13 Jul 2011 Yulara

1030 (3542 km) Still raining and had been raining all night. Red mud everywhere. So much for complaining about red dust just a few days before. Had toast for breakfast and went shopping at IGA. Stopped at Information Centre and Visitor Centre. Great displays explaining loads about the lands, local fauna & flora and Aboriginal cultures and how the lands are being managed.
1230 (3546 km) Washing machine was eventually available! Very busy campground. Quickly got some washing in. Had lunch of soup.
1500 (3546 km) Went to Uluru.
1530 (3563 km) Since it is still raining, we got some uncommon photos of Uluru in the rain at the sunset viewing car park.
1545 (3569 km) Due to the rain, Uluru was closed for climbing, so there weren't too many cars and people. There were quite a few waterfalls along the Mala walk so we snapped lots of photos.
1700 (3569 km) Left Uluru.
1730 (3592 km) Got back to Yulara and had meatballs and potato on rice.

Tue 12 Jul 2011 Coober Pedy to Yulara

Skid marks all across the road




Checking the damage after the accident

 

0815 (2794 km) Left Coober Pedy. Had pancakes for breakfast on the way.

1145 (3104 km) Suddenly the car swerved and skidded and went sideways! Going all over the road and the camper trailer jack knifed and hit the car! Don't roll over, don't roll over, ... then the car screeched to a halt. But we were across the road, blocking the road, and a blind corner not too far away. With the speeds that vehicles are driving, this was a bad position to be in. CK quickly jumped out from the back seat, had a quick scan to make sure car and camper trailer were more or less intact, picked up some bits that fell off, swapped position with CK's mum and drove the car and camper trailer off to the side of the road. We were safe-ish. Cars were still zooming by at over 100 kmh. Then inspection time. Looks like the camper trailer jack knifed and hit the rear wheel. The wheel and car had scratches, the tyre looked alright. The corner of the camper trailer was not good. Had the hammer out and ropes to secure a flapping part. Also had to fix the camper trailer door as boxes were thrown around while being spun around. Suspect the car's Active Traction Control and Stability Control must have taken over to stop the car and prevented a roll over. It is a good thing we spent all that money on car technology. Drove a short distance and inspected to see if we were driveable. Camper trailer had a big dint in a corner but car looks OK, just a small scrape, so continued on.

1300 (3215 km) Stopped at Kulgera for sandwich lunch. Filled up.

1430 (3291 km) Erldunda. Cheaper diesel. Turn off to Yulara. Mt Connor rose abruptly out of the land. Could easily be mistaken for Uluru. Took some photos, as everyone else did. Some time later, Uluru came into view.

1715 (3542 km) Got to Yulara, Ayers Rock Campground. Very long queue at reception that we eventually was given Site 171. By the time we checked in, it was getting dark and raining. Yes, it was raining in the desert. Had to set up in the dark and rain. And the ground is just red mud. Very tricky set up. You hold it there, hold it up while I do this, no, don't drop it, hold it there, now move this way. After much stress and being wet, finally got set up and had dinner of yummy noodles with mince pork.

Mon 11 Jul 2011 Coober Pedy

0845 (2703 km) Breakfast of cereal and toast.

Is this Cooper Pedy or from a Star Wars set?

1000 (2704 km) Went to the Catacomb Church, an underground church. There was no one there, we had to turn on the lights and had a look around and took some photos. As we were leaving, some other people arrived and we told them to turn off the lights on their way out. Walked along the main street, visiting opal shops, museum, space ship, visitor centre, ... Space ship? What? Yep, there was an old broken down space ship, as seen in Star Wars.
1330 (2705 km) Had bacon sandwiches with spaghetti and baked beans.
1520 (2705 km) Went noodling - scratching around for opals. Didn't really find too much, just some interesting looking items. The boys found a chunks of gypsum - a type called satin spar - had to google to identify it.
1630 (2705 km) Went to Breakaways. Some of it was dirt road so let the tyres down.
1730 (2744 km) The Breakaways are these bunch of geological formations called mesas. They have a flat top of hard rock and softer layers beneath. There are lots of mesas around the area. This bunch of mesas are called Breakaways as they seem to be out in the middle of nowhere away from the others, as if they had broken away from the others. There is the couple of mesas, a white and yellow one. According to aboriginal beliefs, they represent a white dog and a yellow dog in a dreamtime story. Took lots of photos as the sun set.
1845 (2788 km) Back at Coober Pedy to organise dinner. Had rice with chicken and vegetables.
1900 (2790 km) Filled up and pump up tyres.

Sun 10 Jul 2011 From Hawker To Coober Pedy

0830 (2019 km) Left Hawker. It was amazing that we got away that early. Headed to Port Augusta.
1015 (2133 km) Got to Port Augusta and did some shopping to top up on fresh produce as we were unlikely to get a good range for the next week or so. We filled up diesel and filled up water as we were expecting strange tasting water in Central Australia.
1125 (2133 km) Left Port Augusta.
1330 (2317 km) Stopped at Woomera for lunch amongst the missiles and rockets. Quite interesting shapes. Do they really fly?
1400 (2317 km) Left Woomera. When we got to the train line, there was a very long train passing by. Turned off the engine and had a long wait to cross the line. Eventually, after counting 60+ carriages, the train passed and we crossed the line.
1405 (2323 km) Filled up at Pimba. Took forever to pay. There were 2 ladies receiving payment, taking orders for food, cooking food, serving food.
1900 (2702 km) Got to Coober Pedy Oasis caravan park. Lots of confusion with the booking. Anyway, fortunately there was one cancellation in an otherwise fully booked caravan park and we got in. Site 21. Went to Underground Motel to check in for CK's parents. Room 7. Nice place. Had dinner of Burritos. Washed up and showered and went back to caravan park.
2200 (2703 km) Set up camper trailer and jumped into bed.