Written on 7 July

It is unusual for me to have no time for writing and reflection for days.  I may choose not to write for days and I may have nothing worth publishing but usually I have the opportunity for both. 

Then four days in the Outback.  

We arrived in Yulara airport  Monday afternoon from Sydney, shuttled to a hotel close by and we’re picked up by our guide, Claire, and taken to our first fo three campsites.  There was no settling in, we were swept away to our first walk (walk or hike at Kata Tjuta. Most of what we did was doable without much strain. Experienced hikers would probably find it a bit tame.)

From Wikipedia: Kata Tjuṯa, literally ‘many heads,’ is a group of large, domed rock formations located about 360 km southwest of Alice Springs, in the southern part of the Northern Territory, central Australia. Uluru is located16 mi to the east, and Kata Tjuta form the two major landmarks within the Uluru-Kata Tjuṯa National Park. The park is considered sacred to the Aboriginal people of Australia.

The 36 domes that make up Kata Tjuṯa cover an area of 8 square miles, are composed of conglomerate, a sedimentary rock consisting of cobbles and boulders of varying rock types including granite and basalt, cemented by a matrix of sandstone. (My note: this is very evident and completely different from Uluru and the parts of the Macdonnell Range that we saw later.) The highest dome was called Mount Olga by the British who ‘found’ the domes when they were exploring.  (Barbara, this may be the only mountain that bears our mother’s name!). The domes are now mainly referred to with their aboriginal names.

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