The Olga's (Kata Tjuta)

Sunday 27th August

Mooching over to the Olga’s took longer than expected as it was nearly 40 klicks away. Once there though, we decided to try both the self-guided tours: The ‘Valley of the Winds’ and the ‘Garden route’, between two of the main monoliths comprising part of the Olga’s.








The ‘Valley of the Winds’ tour really was the highlight and was actually quite hard work, as we’d started the walk approaching midday – D’oh. Still, we struggled on and within 30 minutes I was fairly knackered! Luckily we’d brought plenty of water but even so, it was a fair slog up to the valley itself. There were a couple of overweight Yanks huffing and puffing up the slope too so I really couldn’t whinge even if I felt knackered as they were managing the climb! The Valley itself is beautiful as you climb up in the shadow of two of the Olga’s and at the summit, the wind is channelled up to meet you and there’s a fair wind blowing which was a godsend after the heat of the climb. After a brief respite, we plodded on and although it was still 4k back to the car park, I enjoyed the stroll as the hard work was behind us. The scenery is really striking here and I felt I got more from the Olga’s visually than I did from Ayers. Of course, they represent 2 different things in my head and I had no expectation of the Olga’s. Sunset was peaceful and picturesque. We had a cheeky little BBQ while we waited and enjoyed a couple of sundowners but there were no more magic revelations for me!! :-0(

We still hadn’t decided where we would be staying that night but after consideration, it was agreed we’d try and head down the road part way to Kings Canyon – stopping at a free campsite called Curtain Springs. In the event, this entailed a bit of a night drive from the Olga’s. I got the fright of my life when out of the dusk, a train of camels suddenly appeared by the roadside. These are big old buggers and it was a shock seeing one as roadkill on the verge of the road – that would’ve hurt, but I imagine it was hit by a truck. Luckily for us, with the exception of seeing a long eared fox, the drive passed off uneventfully and we docked at the campsite about 8pm. Another early night – wahey!