Kata Tjuta | outbackjoe

We we’re a bit rushed last time we visted Uluru so we had to have another look. This time, with a baby in tow, we decided against the steep, treacherous and sometimes deadly climb to the top and instead did the 10km base walk.

On the base walk we found some sandalwood bush plum. They weren’t very sweet, tasted bitter and sour with possibly a slight hint of plum flavour.

The different perspective of the base walk was great. We got to see lots of different views of the rock that we had never seen before. The next day we did the valley of the winds walk through Kata Tjuta / Olgas and had a fancy dinner at Yulara Resort.

On the way out of Uluru we stayed at Curtin Springs road house. We ended up having a big night out at the bar, drinking beers and chatting with the owner of the Curtin Springs cattle station until late. In the morning we felt a bit ginger so decided on another visit to the bar for a bacon and egg sandwich before heading off for Kings Canyon.

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We drove an entire day to travel from Coober Pedy to our overnight camping spot Curtin Springs which is about 100km from Uluru. On the way we stopped by Kulgera, the ‘first and the last pub’ in the Northern Territory.

Uluru is 346-metres high and is visited by roughly 350,000 people a year, about half of whom are from overseas. More than 100,000 people climb the rock against the wishes of the traditional owners which is why climbing the rock can be a controversial. More than 35 deaths have been recorded on the climb most being from heart attacks (apparently).

There’s plenty of info on the net regarding whether to climb or not. We made the decision to climb Uluru without knowing what we were really in for. We were under the impression it would take an hour to climb up, enjoy the view and back down again. What we didn’t realise was how steep, scary and physically demanding the climb would be and we both loved every minute of it. The climb up was thrilling and exhausting. One wrong step and you could be on a quick steep slide to your death. There is a chain to help guide you up on the first section of the climb as it is very narrow and dangerous. After the chain finishes you are on your own to follow the white painted track. There were loads of Asian tourists coming back down while we were going up and they were squealing and holding onto the chain the entire way which made us a tad nervous about coming back down.

Once we made it to the top it was well worth the effort. We could have spent all day exploring the top of Uluru, it is massive!

After hanging out on the top of Uluru for almost an hour we started the trek back down. It was no way as scary as the Asian tourists made it look. Joe even stopped halfway down the steepest section to answer his phone and have a chat with his Mum. It was actually easier to shuffle down without holding onto the chain although in some parts it was so steep it was a necessity (unless you wanted a quick bum slide to your death!)

Climbing Uluru was a memorable and fun challenge that was more difficult than we expected which made the experience even better!