Sorry another hiatus...
Yes we camped. My daughter, who has hardly ever camped, struggled with the heat on the first night and barely slept which had me checking prices of rooms in the resorts. Cheapest was $450 a night! Although we could have had a cabin in the campground for $180. But she stuck with it and we survived the three nights. It wasn't as bad the next nights as we were so tired we just went to sleep.
The facilities in the campground are variable. The best showers and toilet block, all very new or renovated. Only one block was open (out of three) as it was off peak I guess. The kitchen facilities are somewhat more limited. There are several fridges which really struggle with the heat and the amount of stuff jammed into them. I'm certain a lot of it is abandoned but no one clears it out. Water is quite drinkable but needs to be chilled. Didn't seem to be any water restrictions at all so made me wonder where it came from. Some bore I assume with pretty clean water as I don't think there's a treatment facility. Electric barbecue cooktops but no burners so if you want to heat up water to cook it's a struggle. I couldn't get water to boil on the cooktops, they turn themselves off so regularly that it's hard to maintain a temperature. It's all an open shed facility with tables and benches and a very loud drink machines that no one used once. Pretty hot spot. Clean though and maintained well. Campground seems to like watering the dirt and making grass come up which they then have to mow. But we were only allowed to camp on the dirt. Go figure.
Our second day saw us heading out to Kata Tjuta (Olgas is easier to say although we started to just say "Carta Tutor" and that passes). There only appear to be two walks out there. The famous Valley of the Winds and the other one to the canyon (name escapes me edit Walpa Gorge). Warning signs that the walk closes at a certain point at 11 am or when it hits 36C (I think, don't quote me) which was guaranteed on these days. The sign at the start warned about a very strenuous walk of four hours. Well there was water available in the first 20 mins then there was a bit of a climb but then the rest of the walk was just through the beautiful desert landscapes back to the start which only took us two hours or so and wasn't hard at all. The toughest bit was at the top of the Valley of the Winds where on this day it lived up to its name. There was already strong winds and dust when we left Yulara so at the top of the pass it was hard to stand up in the wind. Hats blown off everywhere. We encountered large walking groups in this area but the rest of the way we were almost alone with only the occasional Europeans passing us in the other direction. Europeans? How did I know? Shaved heads, no hats, sandals, one small water bottle between three blokes, odd dress sense etc.
The walk to the gorge was fairly easy with all the bridges and grids to protect the rocks. Amazing again but felt like it pulled up a bit short. Would have liked to go on but the viewing platform was the end. Note, there appeared to be no toilets at the Olgas which made us wonder how tourist buses handled it. BUT we found them at the Sunset viewing area back up the road, much to our relief.
We had stopped at the sunrise viewing dunes on the way out there, forgot that, which is a wonderful panorama but dusty. Did give us some great colours though. Headed back to the campground for another arvo at the pool. Three days seems to be as long as anyone stays there as we saw the turnover of guests at the pool each day.
Thought we'd grab dinner out on our last night and went by the Outback Motel to check it out for its budget dining. However it looked like the dining was outdoors which was the last thing we wanted having been in the heat constantly. AC for us for dinner! Went to Sails in the Desert to the bar which served meals - can't recall the name of the bar (edit Walpa Bar - weird how it has the same name and I forgot it twice). Meals in the mid $20s which was expected I guess. Not bad, not fantastic. Beers were about $12 a stubby so I went with water. Considering how far this is from anywhere I was pleasantly surprised by some of the prices. The IGA sold some things for similar prices to home, fresh fruit and veg being the exception. The IGA was also a great spot for air conditioning.
Final morning we were just hanging around waiting to fly out. Hot, hot, hot at the campground so headed off early to drop off the car - not expensive but had the ridiculous NT 100km a day rule. Managed to get back on 298.5km over three days. Into the packed waiting area in the AC and saw most of the same people we'd flown up with. So a 3 day tour is standard. I would have struggled to find anything to do for another day unless visiting the Aboriginal township was on the cards I guess. At this time of years it's just too hot to do anything outdoors in the afternoons though. In winter I can imagine going further afield.
So overall a nice little cheap trip enjoyable and I'm glad I've done it. Thanks for any advice gleaned here.
You might like to google Field of Lights, the installation by British artist Bruce Munro that was set up in 2017 and will close at the end of this year. I’ve added a screen shot for you. Glad your visit to Uluru was so memorable.
