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THE OLGAS AND OUTBACK CAMELS
Saturday
November 22, 1997
By Rusty, Jane & Andrew
 Camel
Ride |
We met our "Adventure
Tours" guide out in front of the back-packers motel at 6:15 a.m. The lobby had been
bustling for hours. We packed up our big bags and secured them in storage and
took only our day-packs with three days of necessities. Our group started out at 18 in
number but we picked up two at another motel and then one at the airport in the afternoon
at the Ayers Rock Airport. Our transportation was a 22 seat Toyota-bus" type vehicle
pulling our supply trailer. The lizard painted on the side of the trailer would be
our identifying mark. Our tour guide is Drasco from Yugoslavia. He has lived here a
number of years and has been doing tours in the area for about three years.
Our first stop of the day as we traveled along the James and Waterhouse Ranges was to the
Outback Camel Farm where we had our first opportunity to ride a camel. It is a
pretty unique experience. They rock back and forth as they lower one end and then
the other to get down. They are friendly curious animals. We traveled on to
Ayers Rock enjoying the sights of the Hugh and Finke Rivers, Mt. Connor, and the vast Salt
Pans along the way. One (the only) stop at Curtin Springs gave us the opportunity to
use "the Loo" and get a cold drink. It was a virtual oasis in the
desert!! Not long ago a very strong wind with a storm came through and blew away the
building the "toilets" were in. There off the parking lot were 10 commodes
lined up with a view of Mount Conner in the distance!! Back on the road, Drasco kept us
entertained with music. He had a tape case of 120 cassettes and had a music program
planned - keyed in to predictable events and places that would occur as we traveled.
Rus and I had moved from the back to the two empty seats up by him. For a little
while I wished I'd stayed in the back. Drasco can do 5 different things while
driving and I wasn't sure one of them was watching the road!!... A
"Sahara" was speeding down the sealed road along side us and Drasco pointed that
out.... then saying but we are "Adventure Tours" -at that point he simply took a 90 degree turn to the right and we headed out
into nowhere!! Later we would discover that we were to gather our firewood for the
night.
We lunched at Yulara, which would be our campsite for the
night. It was so hot by this time of day that Drasco changed a 6 K walk to an
alternative 2 K at the Olgas (The Kata Tjutas). That gave us an opportunity to head down
to a pool in the resort area and cool off a bit. Ayers Rock has a resort area in the
distance which is where everyone stays. We of course were in the camping area for
groups. The "town" is about 4,000 people when in season making it the
fifth biggest town in the northern territory with no permanent residents. Only the
staff live there. It was designed and built not to be visible from Ayers Rock.
Nothing is taller than the surrounding flora. We set out to explore the Wonder of the
Olgas and hiked the Valley of the Winds. The Olgas consists of about thirty
dome-shaped protuberances twenty miles from Ayers Rock in the same park. The largest
is Mount Olga. We then drove to Ayers Rock to enjoy champagne and watched the desert
sun set over Ayers Rock. Arriving at the campsite Drasco directed the women to not
enter the "kitchen." While the men fixed dinner we were to shower
etc From that point on Drasco had the women on his team!! The guys had a grand
time fixing dinner, drinking a beer and telling stories. They set a wonderful
table. After the hearty dinner of steaks, sausages, potatoes, grilled
vegetables, bread and salad we "chilled" and enjoyed the brilliance of the
outback sky and curled up for the night under the stars in an authentic Aussie bedroll
(swag). There had been clouds brewing around in the afternoon and at one point we
weren't sure we'd see the "Rock" light up but the sun broke through at the
horizon just as if it had been planned. At bedtime it really began to blow and spit
at us for a bit but Drasco predicted it would last 47 seconds. It did and we
left the tents empty for the night!
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