On our second day on the Rock Tour we were woken up at around 5 so that we could pack up, get ready for the day, and drive to watch the sunrise over Uluru and Kata Tjuta, another rock formation that is made up of 36 individual domes. The sunrise was pretty and we were able to get over to Kata Tjuta and do a hike up and through the domes before it got too hot out, which was very fortunate.
Sunrise at Uluru
Our tour group ready to hike Kata Tjuta
The hike was not difficult at all, but the thing that got annoying was that there were tons of flies. Every time we were out during the day in the Red Centre we basically had to keep waving our hands in front of our faces constantly or flies would land on your face or go into your mouth, even if you were wearing insect repellant. This was slightly annoying, but definitely manageable to see such an incredible area.
Kata Tjuta
On this day, Damo taught us more about the geology and formation of these huge rocks in the middle of the outback. From what I can remember, basically, they formed hundreds of millions of years ago from sediment that was once a part of a quickly eroding mountain range. There were large, deep rivers through the area at that time and deposited and buried the sediment at the different locations. The sediment was put under so much pressure that it became solid rock, and then eventually was pushed up towards the surface of the Earth and eroded away until it became the rock formations we see today.
The interesting thing about Uluru is that the lines of the sedimentary rock are actually vertical. This is because what we see is actually just one side of the rock that is now tipped on its side. The way that it was pushed up was uneven and made it tilt over so that now we only see a small end poking up above the Earth’s surface.
After hiking through Kata Tjuta we drove a couple hours towards our next campsite, stopping along the way for lunch and to get firewood. When Damo told us we would be stopping to get firewood, I thought he meant he would buy it. But no, he pulled over on the side of the road and told us to go out and find pieces of dead trees that were thicker than our arms and bring them back to the bus. We had to break apart some branches and drag big pieces of wood over to the trailer, but eventually we got enough wood that was up to his standards – quite an adventure!
That night we watched the sun set while Damo made a fire and cooked our dinner. It was too bad that we didn’t have any marshmallows! Again, we slept out in our sleeping bags and swags under the stars, and again I was able to fall asleep quite quickly.
Hammond Adventures 