Day 197 Kata Tjuta and Uluru 20 August 2012

After a special night sleeping in the swag (combination sleeping bag/mat/tent) we woke up at 6am to carry on to Uluru and Kata Tjuta National Park.

We went on the 7.4km Valley of the Winds walk (reportedly one of the top 10 walks of Australia). It gave us some beautiful views of these rock formations that are in the same natural park as Uluru, but are less known. They were formed by an earthquake and an ice-age which shifted the rocks to a 30degree angle. 

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Here we saw our first kangaroo!

We visited the cultural center but no pictures were allowed. The aboriginals request no photos because it is a sacred site and can never be captured truthfully, even in photographs.

After that we did the Mulu walk. A short walk which showed us some of examples of Tjukurpa, an aboriginal word translating into something close to life philosophy/law/religious teachings.

 

The last stop of the day was a picturesque sunset at Uluru.

 

Here we walked a small path (while the rest of the group was having some beers) and were treated with a view of Kata Tjuta’s silhouette, 40 km away.

 

Before spending another night in a swag, we went to an outlook point to see the incredible display of stars and the smear of the Milky Way.