The other part of the visit was in Kata Tjuta (Olgas) which are maybe as beautiful as Uluru. If not even more impressive with the 36 huge domes that are sometimes connected to each other. The Valley of the Winds was nice. We walked near creeks, through narrow gorges and uphill through the valley. For taking photos, enjoying animal and plant life; this walk is a high light for everyone. As the name already tells, there is indeed a nice cool breeze when we walked there.
As there are so many more places to visit, you need a 4-wheel drive, which we didn’t. However, Kings Canyon is reachable with a normal car. Also this land is sacred and still being used by aboriginals. I was one of the tourists tramping on the trail around the gorge. It’s deep and has very smooth cliffs, nothing alike I’ve seen before. It would be nice for rock climbing though. The walk goes along old sand dunes, but they look like gigantic beehives. I always wonder how nature creates these things as it is always so original. Somehow I didn’t feel sweaty, but I decided to go for a dip anayway in the pool of Eden. Sounds bizar? Well it is. The Valley or Garden of Eden is a section on the bottom of the gorge that has been like this for many years. It is a journey back in time, with every step setting you further back. Acacias, old grass species, and ferns made me wonder if I just arrived at the a jurrassic park film set. We stopped for a refreshing dip in the billabong before we tracked on the last section of the Kings Canyon Trail. With breathtaking views into the Garden of Eden and the gorge with steep rising cliffs in my mind we already headed off to watch the colourful sunset.
Humans resemble moles?
After the turn off with Uluru the desert gets really barren with red sand and spinifex grass. For a long stretch it stays like this until we pass a landscape with crater like diggings and mounts of rock soil. Soon after we arrived in a sort of town: Coober Pedy. A place where peole live undergground in their caves, called dugouts. Some people still ‘extend’ there homes in the hope to find opals. The town boosts with quircky stuff, like spaceship from movies, a huge underground hotel including a free museum about the town. People were also friendly and multicultural. Opals are still big time…
As you might now Leandro and I got robbed during the night on the camping. Luckily my stuff was in the tent where I slept, except for my Ipod which got stolen from the camper van. Leandro lost his back up hard drive, laptop, and car keys. Tht meant we were stuck in Coober! To make a long story short (I got now over my anger and don’t want to waste time about something negative 🙂 I didn’t feel safe in the town and tolf Leandro I was catching the bus to Adelaide. He understood my situation that I had to be on KI for my visa days. That also meant my road trip was suddenly over. I couldn’t be bothered by missing a few things on the way. I was too confused anyway to enjoy that. The Greyhound bus departed that same evening. I found out that the office in Coober overcharged me! Don’t know why, but at the head office they promised me that they were going to do their utmost to refund the busticket. Later in this blog you’ll read the outcome. I was glad to arrive next day in Adelaide. My bus and ferry to KI departed in the afternoon making it a smooth trip all the way from Coober.