Glowing in the dark

Our second day in the Red Centre was spent at Kata Tjuta (formerly known as The Olgas).  When I last visited this knobby formation in 2000 the popular “Valley of the Winds” walking track had been closed due to extreme heat.  This time Garry and I were in luck.  We walked through the sculpted valleys that make up this extraordinary landmark as far as the equally spectacular Karingana Lookout before retracing our steps.

Along the way, nature put on a special show for us.  We stopped at a water station to enjoy a moment of shade. As we stood, one by one, a flock of native Zebra Finches flew in from surrounding trees to drink from puddles at the base of the water tap.  For almost 10 minutes we had the entire experience to ourselves before hikers came into view and scared the birds away. It was awesome!

That evening we booked a dinner tour that saw us enjoy canapes on top of sand dunes as the sun set over Uluru.  This was followed by dinner under the stars before spending almost an hour wandering through the Field of Lights.  Sadly, the food was a bit of a disappointment.  At least, compared to the Sounds of Silence dinner that I’d enjoyed 19 years earlier.

This artwork is impressive.  It was created as a temporary exhibit by British artist, Bruce Munro.  It consists of more than 300,000 individual components, including more than 380kms of optical fibre.  The fibres glow in the dark, progressively changing colour and lighting more 50,000 light stems spread across the desert floor.  The entire installation covers more than 40,000sqm and is powered by 36 solar panels.

Iridescent Uluru

It’s said that Uluru is Australia’s most recognised national landmark; second only in overall recognition to the Sydney Opera House.  Images of its glowing red bulk at sunset are simply Instagram heaven. The monolith sandstone formation rises from the surrounding desert without rhyme or reason.  At its highest point, Uluru is 863 metres high and has a total circumference of 9.4km.

Both Uluru and nearby Kata Tjuta have great cultural significance for the Aṉangu people, the traditional owners of the land. They consider The Rock, as its colloquially known, to be a sacred place.  They abhor climbing on the rock itself and have campaigned for decades to stop tourists climbing its northern flank. A ban on climbing was recently announced and is scheduled to finally go into force on 25 October this year,

Tourism at Uluru is a relatively recent phenomenon.  Tourists began arriving in the 1950s but their numbers remained low until the dusty desert road from Alice Springs was finally paved in the 1980s.  Today visitors are housed in a purpose-built village called Yulara, located about 20km north of the rock.  This modern, smartly-appointed village includes a series of hotels, shops, essential services and a popular campground.

I first visited the Red Centre in 2000.  Garry’s first visit was even further back.  Several decades later both of us were keen to see Uluru again and relive some old memories.  I booked us into the campground for three nights which effectively gave us almost three full days to soak in the local sights.

Our first day was spent driving around the base of Uluru with regular stops at popular sights.  This included some of the rock’s permanent water holes, caves and rock paintings. Uluru is truly captivating up close.  We then capped off the day with a spectacular helicopter flight over Kata Tjuta and Uluru at sunset, and I really mean spectacular!

The flight lasted more than 30 minutes.  Our itinerary included an unexpected flight over the permanently dry, rippling salt pans of nearby Lake Amadeus, then on to circle Kata Tjuta before spending almost 15 minutes circling the western and southern flanks of Uluru. We couldn’t believe how long the pilot lingered as the sunset slowly set.

Uluru undergoes an awe-inspiring transformation at sunset.  Its colour progressively changes into an unbelievably iridescent orange-red.  The formation literally glows.  Words simply cannot describe how stunning it looked from the air.  This perspective also allows you to witness its evening shadow slowly spread across the desert until it strikes the horizon.  These flights weren’t cheap but boy were they worth every penny!

I’ll let our photographs speak for themselves.

Endless horizons

The road between Coober Pedy and Yulara is flat, dry, barren and often runs straight as an arrow for miles.  Every online guide I’ve read recommends driving the entire 734kms in a single day.  

Garry and I took the experts at their word and spent more than eight hours making our way through the Outback.  We stopped every few hours to refuel at the occasional Roadhouse, visit local sights and stretch our legs in the middle of nowhere.

Our day on the road started with a brief stop half an hour north of Coober Pedy where the famous Dog Fence crosses the Sturt Highway.  This is the world’s longest fence.  It stretches more than 5,614 km across three states, separating native Dingo territory from pastoral sheep country.  Another tick on the bucket list.

Our next stop was the Cadney Park Roadhouse and then again at the Marla Roadhouse to see its colouful road sign marking the start of the Oodnadatta Track. From here it was on to the NT Border Sign (20km before Kulgera Roadhouse) where we stopped briefly for lunch.

Other stops along the way included Eridunda Roadhouse (which houses a flock of Emus; the only time we saw them outside of Woomera) and a brief stop to take in the view of Mt Connor, sometimes known as Foolaru because tourists often mistake it for “nearby” Uluru.

We arrived in Yulara shortly before sunset.  We set up camp ready to enjoy three sun-soaked days in the heart of the Red Centre.  Here's a final parting shot of our Deluxe Motorhome parked next to a local road train. Our vehicle is the larger one on the right. Those trucks are huge!

Kati Thanda

I’ve always wanted to see Lake Eyre in flood.  It’s renown for two geological records; the dry lake bed is the lowest natural point in Australia (approximately 15 m below sea level) and on the rare occasions when it contains water, it’s the nation’s largest lake (covering 9,500 km2). 

For much of its time, the lake is a dry and dusty salt pan.  It fills completely only a few times each century; with less dramatic flood events happening every three to ten years. However, each time it fills, the water rapidly evaporates and is all but gone by the end of the following summer. 

Earlier this year a series of cyclones in the tropical north sent floodwaters flowing through the lake’s catchment resulting two separate flood events that have filled the lake to its greatest depth in almost a decade.  As luck would have our road trip through the Red Centre coincided as the second flood was reaching its peak.

I decided to shout Garry an early birthday present and booked us on a half-day flight.  The tour departs from Coober Pedy airport shortly after 8am. On board were the two of us, a couple from Melbourne and our pilot.  Our flight took us across the desert, passing over the Oodnadatta Track, the Outback town of William Creek and on to the lake itself.

The lake was magnificent!  Our tour took us over the northern limb of Kati Thanda–Lake Eyre as its officially known, then across the mouth of the Waburton River and into the surrounding channel country.  The floodwaters here had breached the river bank filling the area with sun-speckled, water-filled pans and streams.

We then headed south along the lake’s Waburton Groove, a deep channel in the middle of the lake that feeds water towards its southern-most, and deepest points, called Belt Bay and the Madigan Gulf.  The view was genuinely breath-taking.  Water stretches out in gentle fans across sodden mudflats, surrounds two of the lake’s temporary islands and slowly transforms itself into a classic aqua expanse at its deepest point.

Our pilot even took us on a brief detour over the top of one island where we could see the occasional tree clinging to life on the desolate rocky ground.  We were also lucky enough to see a large flock of pelicans in flight.

From the lake, we flew on to William Creek, where we landed for an hour on the ground.  The tour fed us morning tea at the local hotel (said to be one of Australia’s remotest pubs) and then left us to explore the township and its “town square”.  The town has a population of 10 and contains just a handful of buildings; many of which support the local airstrip and nearby Anne Creek Cattle Station.

It’s also a popular fuel stop on the Oodnadatta Track, sitting halfway between the track’s northern entry point at Marla and the Oodnadatta township further south. In the brief time we were on the ground, a stream of four-wheel-drive vehicles constantly drove in and out of town.  However, the highlight was the arrival of an enormous triple-trailer cattle truck that heralded its approach with a massive billowing dust cloud.

The final leg of our flight tour took over the recently “discovered” Painted Hills.  These hills rise from the Outback in a series of spectacular banded domes and outcrops.  Our pilot landed on a remote gravel strip and took us for a trek through the foothills of one particularly impressive formation. The colours of the rock were simply awe-inspiring.  Bands of ochre, yellow, red, purple, orange and grey (and myriads of hues in between) encircle the hills in candy stripes.

Our tour then finished with a flight over the Stuart Highway and Coober Pedy township.  As our aircraft slowly turned and lined up for final approach we were presented with a final dramatic sweep over the region’s unique landscape filled with pile after pile of opal mining rubble.