Yulara Day 2

Photos

We were up at 4am this morning to get fed, showered,, clothed and packed up for our morning excursion. It was AAT Kings Y14 Uluru Sunrise & Kata Tjuta. It was absolutely pouring rain and 65F at 4:45am. I decided to go with an umbrella today and since the high is predicted to be about 86F today to leave the jacket and rain hat behind. So today we heard from our guide and driver that the 8 year "rain event" here has lasted about 18 months. They claimed it has rained almost every day over the last 18 months. Our last 2 guides had said since Boxing Day but maybe they hadn't been here as long. I guess at some point an actual sunrise or sunset may be visible here again and they don't want to miss it. There were 17 people on the bus this morning and somehow Clay & I managed to get a front row seat. I got to see 2 toads on the road I'd have otherwise missed. There was no sunrise and Uluru didn't much change color. Our driver convinced everyone to be back on the bus at 7:10am after a 7:03am sunrise, so we could go drive around Uluru to see the waterfalls. We were told several times now how special this is as only 2% of visitors see Uluru or Kata Tjuta wet or in the rain. But not evidently over the past year. They need to recompute their averages. The other statistic they keep quoting that is sticking in my craw is that only 17% of visitors see or go to Kata Tjuta. We went last night and this morning. So we'll have visited 2 times in less than 24 hours! Keep in mind that it is a 45 minute drive each way, every time! This is a set tour from AAT Kings purchased through Great Southern Rail as The Territory Complete package. This couple of days just seems like poor planning to me and the rain is not helping anything. So we drove off into a dark pouring rain and an hour later with our umbrellas in 1 hand and the cookies they offered us in the other we waited for a sunrise that was a non-event. We did not carry the hot drinks offered because not enough hands. The paths and viewing areas were not well explained and in the dark we missed the top platform which should have been the only place they directed us to go but it wasn't. We didn't find it until it was light. It didn't matter all that much since the views weren't good, but it would have saved us probably a half mile slogging through red mud. Oh well.

The drive around Uluru base was a bonus. It was nice to see the waterfalls and be out of the rain. The reason you've never seen the other side is because photography is forbidden. Both these sites are sacred to the Aboriginals. We were killing time since we had cut short the sunrise viewing of Uluru. Our next stop was Kata Tjuta to walk the Walpa Gorge. This is where we had seen the emergency evacuation last night. Now we know why. First of all, why of all the things guides have told us did no one say Walpa means wind. The Walpa Gorge is like a constant wind tunnel. No one said until we read it on a sign there. Too late to use that information to bring a jacket. I wore Clay's but it was pointless. The wind made any clothing like a wind sail. The walking surface is all uneven sedimentary rubble and slick rocks. It was like walking uphill on a broken mirror covered with ice in a wind tunnel. Clay walked further than me but not by much. He said he stopped and turned back as he neared the narrow gap of the gorge as the wind had nearly knocked him down. He told me if I had gone wearing his jacket that I'd have taken off like a kite if it moved him in just a t-shirt. I had no hope of making it. I know it is a special place, but once and from a distance would have been enough for me. The served cookies and nuts and granola bars before we set off. We had an hour. We were told the trail was 1.5 km in each direction. I don't know if anyone on the bus saw inside or past the narrow gap. I don't think so but no one got hurt either. What bothers me most is that they have comments in the itinerary about fitness levels and degree of difficulty about some of the walks and hikes but there was nothing to indicate today would be anything other than an even level stroll which it was certainly not. It would have been tricky even if it were dry.

We got back around 11am. We came back to the room to drop some things before looking for lunch. Our room had not been serviced. We went back out and spoke to a few of the cleaners as we left.. We went to Town Centre and had lunch. Clay had a Balfour's pepper beef pie and I had a ham & cheese toastie. We did some souvenir shopping. We rode the Ayers Rock Resort Shuttle around to one of the other hotels that has an art gallery. We rode a half hour later the rest of the way round the loop to get back. We got back around 1pm and our room has still not been serviced. Since we put out the privacy sign until our next pickup at 2:30pm I suspect it will not get service during our stay.

The rest of the day we are on Y17 Uluru Base & Sunset & Sunset Y17 BBQ Dinner. It is clear now and the sun has been out since at least 11am but thunderstorms were predicted for this evening. Right now the hotel has their evening slate still scheduled so we're hoping there's a good chance it will stay clear. Uluru looked better in the sun from a distance anyway. We'll see in a bit. I'll try to type up the rest tonight when we get back but it may be tomorrow morning if it is very late. We leave here at 12:30pm tomorrow and check out is 10am so we have a chance to sleep in. We'll see.

We are back, early, soaked to the skin and hungry. We learned shortly after our full bus departed its last hotel pickup that AAT Kings had canceled the BBQ dinner portion of our tour. It was because it wasn't safe to have it outdoors in a thunderstorm and the Cultural Center venue where they had planned to move indoors had lost electricity. They said that letters had been delivered to each of our hotels for delivery to our room. We were in our room and nothing was delivered before the tour left. We got back to find it tucked in our door. Unfortunately, it is not the refund we were promised but a letter saying they canceled and would refund a portion of our tour cost through our agent and to contact them. We'll try contacting Great Southern Rail but don't have high hopes. So our full bus set off with a driver and a guide. Our first stop was the Uluru-Kata Tjuta Cultural Center where we had a bit less than an hour. They had power everywhere except the café and gift shop. We could have spent more time here. When we walked back out we could tell that a storm was coming. And it did. We did a first circuit around Uluru on our side in a light rain. We stopped for the Kuniya Walk after as it started to really rain. The walk ended for most of us prematurely when it started to lightning and thunder. We went ahead with the other circuit and photo stop as people were already wet and now there were waterfalls. We were all now 2%ers. I don't know what they call people who see waterfalls on Uluru on 2 different visits on the same day. As the storm kicked into high gear we headed off to a parking lot with a small thatched roof shelter for wine & nibbles. There was no sunset and Uluru was barely visible 5km away. When we got off the bus the water in the parking lot was over our ankles and it was lightning and thundering at the same time. I saw one spectacular lightning strike from the bus that either hit on or behind Uluru. I wonder what they call people who see that? Anyway, I thought this portion of the evening either needed to be canceled or substituted as AAT Kings begins every outing with a long safety first spiel. This was dangerous and foolish. About half the bus went but we came right back. There were at least 3 and maybe 4 tables set up basically in the rain since there was no real shelter and no way to even figure out whose table was whose in the dark. We immediately turned around and went back in the bus. About a half dozen were still out there committed to getting their money's worth in alcohol. The guide and driver asked those of us on the bus if we'd rather go back to Uluru to see the waterfalls really flowing and it was an overwhelming yes vs. sitting in the bus for an hour while a few people got drunk. It continued to be unsafe as the driver ran a truck off the road because it was flooded and she was speeding down the road throwing a huge wake. She finally slowed down and announced that she would not make a circuit of Uluru because she was not allowed to drive in more than 30 inches of water and it was over 2 feet deep now. She drove more sensibly and courteously after that and took us back to the last photo op stop. It was still seriously pouring and the water was shooting off Uluru in places. People were going crazy trying to take photos and videos, but the windows were streaming and outside their cameras got soaked. Back in the bus to ponder how to get dinner again since every place would be over run as with last night since all the outdoor dinner events had been canceled again. It was like deja vu but wetter. Waltzing Matilda was played and sung again. Evidently Australia's solidarity song when things go badly. For the second night, we also got Raining on the Rock. This guide also told us about the 7-9 year drought cycle followed by a rain event but that this time the rain event had been extreme and it was running long at 18 months now. It is also weird that 80km away it is not raining in Alice Springs. If this pattern shifts over there from here next week we will feel really cursed. This has in no way been the Outback we'd been led to expect. I know its weather and you take what you get, but it has been so green and such growth with so few animals to be seen. Oh well. We leave at 12:30pm tomorrow for one night in King's Canyon.

Photos