A and I up early to drive over to Kata-Tjuta (the Olgas) for the sunrise viewing. There is a platform built on a sand dune on the Eastern side which is therefore between Kata-Tjuta and Uluru. When we got there, the usual crowd of tourists was there but they were all at the far eastern end with their backs to Kata-Tjuta, looking at Uluru off in the distance! We got some great shots that way, with the sun peeking over the horizon on the left and a perfect albeit small silhouette of Uluru on the right. Kata-Tjuta is also very impressive, made up of many rounded mounds of different shapes and sizes with narrow but very deep gorges in between. The rock is conglomerate and therefore different to Uluru. The vegetation around about is also slightly different with more small trees.

BTW, it was cold. 0° and windy.

The next thing we did was race the bus loads to the toilet and then set off on the Valley of the Winds walk up Kata Tjuta. It was lovely but it rapidly became very windy and therefore eye-wateringly and nose-runningly cold. We went as far as the first lookout and headed home. We were out of time anyway.

J and C were up and we packed up as quick as we could after breakfast and pulled away, which we did at 10:09am. A male GN was watching and couldn't help himself any longer but had to 'speak' to me because he 'had been waiting a long time and they told him the site would be ready at 10.' Earlier in the trip, A had an incident with a female GN who was out for blood because she had been waiting 5 minutes for someone to come and collect their laundry from a washing machine she wanted to use. You don't want to break the GN protocol - the repercussions are swift and severe.

We drove out to Uluru with the whole rig, parked and unpacked the bikes for a ride around the base of the rock. That was a great move. You obviously get a great sense of how big it is but also get to see the different sides of it. There's one gorge, name forgotten at the mo, which is a bit shaded and it has the more reliable water. There was water seeping out of the rock today even though it hasn't rained for ages. The gorge has relatively lush vegetation and a 'family cave' where families used to live. The waterhole is sacred - for obvious reasons. The north face has a honeycomb appearance. Amanda named one area on the east with a big scar-like cave 'Dum Dum' because it resembled the Easter Island Head in Night at the Museum.

We keep seeing these old blokes on what I thought were motorised bicycles but turned out to be ancient motorbikes from a club in Victoria. There are equally crazy guys in ancient cars.

Not surprisingly, due to the high wind, the climb was closed for the 3rd day in a row.

And so on the road again. We got a bit further than originally planned, making it to Kulgera Roadhouse before dusk. It'll do fine. Cold again. Our little fan heater which adequately keeps the whole van warm is probably the most appreciated purchase of the whole trip.