Australia Adventure: Onwards to Adelaide!

Sayonara Curtin Springs!  That was the tune we were singing as we left the roadhouse the next morning.  It had been an interesting two days and we were all glad to continue on our journey.  We bid farewell to Tom, promising to keep in touch. 

We now made our way onto Uluru and Kata Tjuta!  Making a quick stop at the visitor centre, we took advantage of the cell phone coverage to check our facebook and email.  I discovered that the geology company Apex Geosciences in Perth had offered me a casual contract as a geologist with them.  This was awesome!  If this worked out, I could go back to Perth and work out the rest of my visa as a geo.  However, there was a very large maybe.  Apex had no current project for me to work on, and was not sure that they would have one until August. So while I accepted this role that they had offered, it was with the knowledge that work may not come for quite a while or even not at all.

Leaving the visitor centre, we decide to go to Kata Tjuta first.  Also known as the Olga’s, these rock formations are composed of a conglomerate of granite and basalt boulders, along with a matrix of sandstone that acts as the cement keeping it all together.  The thirty six dome like structures create what is known as the Valley of the Winds, which we decided to embark through.

The Rock!!

As we began the trek in, we came upon the people who had towed us to Curtin Springs!  They had camped around Uluru the nights before and had just completed the Valley of the Winds walk.  We continued through the valley, in awe of the sandstone mountains.  It was cool to see the geologic history of the area, and I enjoyed sharing my understanding of it with the others.

And just as we were leaving the valley, I saw two guys who looked kind of familiar.  And then it clicked.  These were the two French guys who abandoned us in Darwin in favor of the two German girls!  And the two girls were there with them too.  We walked over and had a few good laughs with them.  If we had not spent the two days in Curtin Springs we would never have met up!

After Kata Tjuta, we drove on towards Uluru as Gal and I wanted to see if we could climb the mountain.  Climbing Uluru is somewhat of a controversial issue.  The aboriginals here ask that people respect their religion by not climbing it.  There is even a ‘I did not climb Uluru’ book in the visitor centre that you can sign.  My personal belief is that the mountain is a natural monument, a testament to the geological and temporal factors that formed it.  It belongs to no singular religion or belief structure and should be free for all to interact with it in the manner that they choose.  And my choice was to climb it.

Our pre faux-Climb Pic!

We arrived at the base of Uluru, looking to the ascending path.  There were people up there!  It seemed like we could climb it.  The girls were pretty tired from the previous walk and opted to remain in the van.  So Gal and I packed a small bag, took some ‘before’ pictures and made our way to the gate, only to turn away in dismay.   The gate bore a ‘do not climb’ sign, stressing the importance of this command by the warning of a fine.  We briefly thought about hopping the fence before spotting a ranger (park security official) coming towards the gate.  He went through and proceeded to yell up to the people climbing.  A group of Asian males came back down and were lambasted by the ranger for disobeying the sign.  He took them away for what we can only assume was to release the unrelenting torture of eating vegemite.

So, we went back to the van.  Disappointed that we couldn’t make the climb, we decided to make our way back tomorrow.  If not the climb, then we could definitely do the ten kilometre base walk.

The nearest free camping area was a good one-hundred kilometres from the park and we set back down the road.  We found it fairly easy and enjoyed pasta for dinner.  The night grew cloudy and we were sure rain was soon to come.  We wanted to see a sunrise over Uluru so Gal and I set our alarm for 5:30am, and turned in for the night.

We awoke to the sound of rain and the dampness of our tent floors.  Gal and I took one look outside and saw the dark grey sky around us.  There would be no sunrise.

Sleeping for an extra few hours, we then all drove towards Uluru.  It was still cloudy and raining as we approached the mountain so we decided to check out the cultural centre.  It was here where we learned about the legends surrounding the mountain and the geology involved. Uluru was made up of the same geology as Kata Tjuta, having at one time been an alluvial fan.  An alluvial fan occurs when a moving body of water (ie a river) flows into a larger body with less movement (ie a lake).  The moving stream deposits its sediment load (all these boulders) and a fan is formed.  These rocks are then buried and put under great pressure below the earth’s surface, until they eventually rise back up to the surface through the erosion of the rocks above.  At Uluru, this conglomerate had been overturned which meant that the once horizontal layers of sediment and boulders now lay at an almost vertical angle.

We began our base walk, moving clockwise around the rock.  Our journey takes us four hours to complete, but we are treated to all the legend sites that told of great battles of war and morals.  There were large holes in the rock caused by chemical weathering, but were taken by aboriginals to be the remains of the battles of legend.  It was interesting walking around the rock and seeing the large holes, guessing as to what they looked like to us and how they were perceived by the aboriginals. 

It was raining the whole time along our walk so we returned to van in a very damp state.  We again checked the status of the climbing path, but it remained closed.

We left Uluru disappointed about the lack of a climb, but thrilled that we got to see the famous landmark.  Getting back to the highway, we continued south towards Kulgera, the last town in the Northern Territory before hitting the South Australia border.  We found refuge in the tourist info spot at the border and set up camp there, using the information booths as shelter from the rain.  After some warm pasta and the amazing flick Limitless, we turned in for the night.

Our trip was nearly at an end.  We were now in South Australia and would be arriving in Adelaide in three days.  There was not much left to see along the way, so the days would be full of driving.  But first, a stop in Coober Pedy!

Coober Pedy!

Coober Pedy is the famous opal capital of Australia, and even of the world as most of the opals mined come from here.  We spent the day checking out the museum and a public fossicking (prospecting) area.  It was here that I found some fibrous samples of gypsum, a calcium sulphate mineral.  Apart from this geological attraction, Coober Pedy offered nothing else of interest so we kept on moving.

The Span of our Journey!

The next day saw us hit up Port Augusta which was a town that looked like it took a lot of pride in its appearance and upkeep.  It was quite refreshing so we decided to spend the day chilling around and checking out the library.  It was five in the afternoon when we decided to move on and stop at a rest area for the night.  We cooked what was our final dinner on the road, the Great Depression Meal.  This was it.  Our road trip down the centre of Australia would soon come to an end with us in Adelaide tomorrow.  Gal and I took a look at the map around Adelaide and decided on one final stop before arriving in the city.

Chilllin' with the Vines!

The next morning we took off, driving towards the Barossa Wine Valley!  We thought a bit of wine tasting would be a great way to end the trip so we drove into the hills and winding roads accompanying them.  We stopped at several wineries, delighting in their wines of various tastes, and also indulged in some free samples at a cheese shop.

We exited the valley and rocketed onto the highway, the city in view and the end in sight.

Check out Australia Adventure: Phase I!
                 Australia Adventure: Phase II!
                 Australia Adventure: Phase III!
                 Australia Adventure: West Coast Story Pt 1
                 Australia Adventure: West Coast Story Pt 2
                 Australia Adventure: To the Top End!
                 Australia Adventure: Darwin and Kakadu National Park
                 Australia Adventure: Down the Track and to the Rock!


Join the Facebook Group!