Day 2 #2: Valley of the Winds walk, Kata Tjuta/The Olgas.

10th June 2012.
Back into the bus and off to Kata Tjuta, about 25 kilometres west of Uluru, for the Valley of the Winds Walk.


Aerial view of Kata Tjuta from John Woodward, Wikipedia.  I’m guessing this picture is taken from the north, looking south.


While this map shows the walk as 6 kilometres, I don’t know if that takes into account all the ups and downs, of which there were many.
Kata Tjuta covers an area of about 26 square kilometres, and is made up of 36 domes, of which the highest is Mt Olga.  At 1069 metres above sea level, Mt Olga is 198 metres higher than Uluru.


Kata Tjuta is estimated to be over 500 million years old.


The first section of the Valley of the Winds Walk was, in fact, quite windy.


Karu Lookout, hot weather closure point.  Because there is no road access to this walk, it is closed in hot weather as it is too difficult to rescue people who succumb to the heat.  As you can see, the weather on this particular day was not hot.
Kata Tjuta in the Aboriginal language means “many heads” as they had no need for specific words for numbers greater than four or five.  While there are 36 heads in the Kata Tjuta formation, Hoi’s cheery little head now makes it 37.


Some more heads.


Jason gives us a geology lesson.
Along the walk:



















Climbing up.

View from the top.

Down the other side.

Although the way down was quite steep, it was rough enough to get a grip on.


Unlike Uluru, which is composed mainly of sandstone, Kata Tjuta is composed of conglomerate, a sedimentary rock consisting of cobbles and boulders of varying rock types including granite and basalt, cemented by a matrix of sandstone (this bit from my friend Wikipedia.)
It reminded me of Rocky Road. 



Looking back on Kata Tjuta.  We felt quite proud of ourselves for having completed the exhilarating 6km walk.



Then it was camel burgers for lunch.