Kata Tjuta

 We set off from Kaltukatjara expecting our slowest day’s driving. The road out of Docker river was wet and a bit challenging. We stopped to investigate the first waterhole we came to that we couldn’t drive around. Fiona even offered to wade it to test the depth but there was no need. The Subaru pulled the poptop through with ease with the x-mode engaged. We negotiated numerous waterholes for the next part of our journey. The road on the NT side did not have good drainage so all the water just sat in the middle of the road.

We took a break after 40kms at Lasseter’s cave where Harold Lasseter perished in 1930 after unsuccessfully searching for gold. We had been unsuccessfully searching for geocaches along the way. It was at Lasseter’s cave we discovered that the sat nav on the car was able to give us a GPS position as well as the times for sunrise and sunset. Well we have only owned the car for 18 months!

At the 180km mark we finally hit the bitumen again which was lovely. We had great views of Kata Tjuta (The Olga’s) as we drove towards them. We pulled in the carpark to be confronted by loads of cars. This was quite a sight after the relative isolation of the outback way. The WA cars we very easily identified by the mud. We had not thought much about visiting Kata Tjuka before we got there. It had just registered in our minds as a side trip on the way into Uluru. We arrived and had some lunch and then set out  on the 7km Valley of the Winds walk going anticlockwise as directed. This was a great walk with water and greenery and lovely views. There was lots to see and we all really enjoyed it. We even managed to get our first mobile reception since Kalgoorlie.

After we had finished this and a shorter second walk we headed into Yalara to set up camp for the night. Unfortunately this was not quite as quick you would hope. Fiona stood in a very long queue for a very long time before we we were eventually allocated our campsite and set up the poptop. Luckily by now we were becoming quite proficient at a quick setup and the promise of a hot shower did not slow things down. Once again it was freezing. We were in bed early ready for the next day and Uluru.