Just to prove how early we were up - before the Sun!!!!!
The entrance into Curtain Springs........
Emu foot print.....
At Curtain Springs they have cages and cages of exotic birds......
Port Lincoln Parrot AKA 28......
Hello......I'm a King Parrot.....
A Princess Parrot........
A beautiful Sulphur Crested Cockatoo.......
There were heaps more but the other photos weren't that great so that's it!
We got to see Uluru quite a while before we arrived there - it was an awesome sight to see for the first time.
Our first sight of Uluru.....
Getting closer........
Yay we arrived!!!!! Kade on Uluru for the first time......
And Shana too.......
We got some photo's before we went on a tour with the local ranger.......
The ranger that took us on the tour.......
Shana got to demonstrate to the group how to balance a Piti (wooden gathering bowl) using a Manguri (head ring).........
A tree that can cut off nutrients to a branch in times of little water.......pretty clever!
Aboriginal paintings in a cave where the young aboriginal boys are taught their life skills - like the picture above is showing them that the desert fig (that's what it's leaves look like) is good tucker.....
This picture is of the water holes - the one with rings inside it means there's water (ripples from throwing in a rock) and that it has kangaroo foot prints next to it, says its good water because the animals drink it. The other circle is empty - saying that it has no water and the lines in between means its a long way away.....
This is the next cave along - the elders (older men) stayed here to keep an eye on the young boys.......
The ranger showing us a spear thrower - sorry can't remember what she called it by this particular tribe, but it is also known as a Woomera.....
One of the waterfall sites in the wet.......the black is an algae that grows when its wet and dies when it's dry - then it turns black.....
The very small water hole at the bottom.......
Photo taken from the shade looking out into the sun.....looked REALLY awesome in real life.....
Beautiful colours......
Another water hole drawing.....these were everywhere....
Another drawing that we saw in the 'old peoples' cave - didn't get told what this one meant.....
A wave cave.......
Inside the barrel.......
View from inside the cave.....
Another waterfall site, with lots of little 'buckets' to catch water........
Rock heaven......
We decided that because in 2019 the lease for Uluru gets renewed and then the climb will probably be closed, that we would climb it. It's very steep and quite a hard climb. So off we went. I didn't even make it to the railing that helps you climb, before I started feeling like I was falling so I went back down and Steve and the kids continued on. I'm spewing, but I didn't want to get half way and freak out so in a way I'm glad I didn't do it (sort of). I'm very proud of Steve and the kids that they made it up and down!!!!!
Photo is from my phone so it's a bit dodgy - the faint white trail up the rock is where the climb is.....what you can see here is only 1/3 of the total climb.......
The view from the top.......
A bit further back, is Steve, so knackered that he couldn't move.......
You could see Kata Tjuta (the Olga's) clearly from there......
Kade waiting patiently for Steve and Shana to catch up........ I think it was more like "come on Dad!!!!"
Steve taking some video from this point - not at the top yet......(I think he needed some more recovery time....lol)
Shana zoomed in on our car......(second from left)
One of the gullies off the side of the rock....made me glad I wasn't up there.......
Kade WAYYYYY ahead, Shana stayed with Steve always asking "are you ok Dad?"
View the other way......
Not there yet.......looks pretty steep!!!!!
YAY they made it!!!!!!
A plaque on top of Uluru, with distances to some local spots......
The proud climbers in one of the water holes on the top of Uluru.......
This one was for Oma from the kids.......they're standing on a narrow ledge that drops off very steeply on the sides..... They're pretending to fall off - ANOTHER reason that I am thankful I stayed down the bottom........
The kids are ready to go back down.........
Walking down the narrow bit again......
At the top of the chain fence.......(our car is the third from the right)
AAAHHHHHH help I'm falling!!!!!!!! AKA Steve being a Wally........
Kade pretending to throw up...... There was white stuff spilt on the rock - they reckoned it looked like spew.....gross man!!!
The kids concentrating on the climb down.....
Someone was a little tired.........
They all got down safely for which we are very thankful. It was an experience they will never forget!!!!
We drove out of the national park and found a campspot from the Camps 6 book. It was not the ideal campsite for a Saturday night, to be spending a Sunday so we will be moving tomorrow to somewhere a bit better I think.....
We had a beautiful sunset that night though and it wasn't as cold because of the cloud cover........
Shana and I climbed the hill where we were camping just a few minutes too late to get a sunset photo of Uluru:( never mind - just being here is special enough:)
Ok that's all from us today......
Lots of love the Barramundi's xxxx
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