Another sunrise, but a different rock formation, and I met the day at 4:45am. It was well worth the effort for the golden cloud speckled sunrise breaking over the desert. Before the sun actually cracked the horizon a preceding wind swept across the desert flatlands. The wind appeared to be controlled by a natural rheostat, progressively increasing in strength the closer the sun came to the horizon and finally coming to a crescendo after it completely cleared the desert floor.
The rock formation scaled today is called Kata Tjuta, formerly known as “The Olgas”. The differences between this grouping and Uluru are many. First, Kata Tjuta is a series of closely grouped rocks and not a single structure.
The actual rock structure is not pure sandstone but an aggregate mixture of rock and sand. Finally, there was a single Aboriginal sacred valley, so a few routes were well blazed and available for hiking.
Temperature is always a factor in Australia’s central desert. In the winter, evenings and nights can drop well below zero. However, since it is early Spring the temperature is topping out at about 39 or 40 degrees Celsius. Most trails in the park close once the temperature reaches 36 degrees. So, the day starts early in the morning and shuts down for the peak temperature mid-day hours, picking up pace again about an hour before sunset.
I decided to “opt for” the full outback experience tonight by not driving all the way back to Alice Springs and stopping for the night at Stuart’s Water Hole about 100 kilometers outside town. The site comes complete with singing dingo, camels, ostrige, Emu, and kangaroos. The “free camping” section, nicely down wind from the camels, played host to my tent tonight. This should be very interesting, as once again, I am the solo camper.
In any other situation, this would make me a little nervous. The difference here is that I stopped at the station on the way out to Uluru and hung out with the owner to watch the Melbourne Cup, a horse race that literally brings the nation to a standstill for 3.5 minutes each year. In Melbourne, the entire working day is declared a holiday, with many restaurants and pubs providing free dinner to patrons. Who knew a horse race could be such a healthy, community loved, spectacle. It is truly like the Kentucky Derby x 20 or the Super Bowl being declared a state holiday each year. The Mint Julep of Melbourne is fashion. Known as the fashion capital of Melbourne, its residents attempt to “one up” one another with stylish suites, dresses, and crazy flowered and feather hats. The winner of the dress with hat competition becomes somewhat of a local celebrity and is entered into a national competition.
So to prepare for my ultimate “out back” evening I started with a culinary favorite, camel burger. Hmmm… yummy, it was actually not bad, tasting like a cross between beef and venison. So that makes two countries and two local dishes, New Zealand with possum pie and Australia with camel burger. Somehow, with Japan as the next country the culinary extravaganza will likely have a “seafood bent”.
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