Kata-Tjuta/the Olgas, Red Center, Australia

All the years I thought about Uluru and a visit, I never knew about Kata-Tjuta or the Olgas,
located 50k down the road. This is another remnant of the ancient mountain top, that was part of Uluru.

While Uluru is a solid rock, Kata-Tjuta is made up of conglomerate.  There are a couple of trails in this section of the rocks and Dad and I followed one to the ancient watering hole.

The watering hole is actually at the trees in the "V".  This is a puddle from last nights rain squall.

The scale of the mountain is impressive and startling at its size.

It's this little mountain.... until you get right next to it.   And yet, seeing the people in the distance it's
still massive.

the people in this photo are about 150 feet from the left hand wall!

I chose to do one last sunrise at Kata-Kuta before we had to leave this area.  We had been to the viewing area the day before and thought it would be a good site.  

Tom, of course, is interested in the birds, not the scenery!

Yes, this is a photo that I took of a Crested Pigeon.  tom laughed when he saw me taking this.... it was the colors of the feathers that caught my eye!  Honest!

When we arrived at o'dark 30 for the 3rd day in a row we had overlooked the fact that this platform was built of metal and was entirely elevated.  Put 60 or so tourists on this viewing platform walking around and moving and any photos that needed long exposures were guaranteed to be blurry!

I didn't get any sunrise shots that were worth keeping.  We were tired and cranky and it was time to get on the road back to Alice Springs. We bailed and headed out of the park.

We also didn't get any photos, or sightings of Emus or Kangaroos....but we did find wild camels!!!

We could have spent more time here.  There were a few more hikes that looked interesting and there's always more scouting for the right location for the perfect shot.

The park charges AU $25 for each adult for a 3 day pass.  The only place to stay is at Yulara/Ayers Rock resort and Campground.  They charged a hefty 75/night for the 3 of us to plug in and use the showers.  Unlike NZ, Aussie campgrounds generally have an ablutions block- toilets/showers/laundry, and maybe some BBQ areas, but no kitchens for campers to use.
Would we come back?  Yes, and we'd probably do a longer rental possibly starting in Melbourne, to Adelaide, by way of Tasmania, north to the center and Uluru then on to Alice Springs, Kimberly and Darwin.  We were issued a 90 day visa... so on our next visit, that should just about cover that itinerary!