To climb or not to climb

My dilemma

Today’s arrangements had been a toss-up between walking the Valley of the Winds or climbing Uluru. The English doctor I met yesterday had been convincing me to do the latter as she is a mountain junkie.

I’m far from being a mountain junkie and I feel that Kinabalu at 4095m is a big-enough achievement. I didn’t feel to prove anything to myself and I didn’t feel like doing anything that I wouldn’t enjoy (or required too much exertion).Another consideration was the fact that all the tourist material emphasise that the Anangu (local tribes) ask that visitors not climb Uluru (but there is no outright prohibition).

So I opted for the Valley of the Winds. The Anangu don’t have their country no more but at least they have my compliance and respect regarding their request.

Valley of the Winds

We started at 0615 from the hotel, heading first to a lookout from which we could see Kata Tjuta and Uluru. The walk started off at 0730 in windy conditions but it was more settled as we entered the canyon and when the sun rose higher. We did the track in an anticlockwise manner and reached the second lookout (Karingana Lookout) to be rewarded with a stunning view of green framed by two red walls on either side.

It looked a bit too steep to walk down towards that green so we backtracked instead of doing the complete circle. We later realised that it would have been better to do the track in a clockwise manner as we would end up ascending the steep hill (which would be easier than descending).

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Tips & Conclusions

• Uluru is expensive; most things are brought in from major centres but I reckon there is an element of price-gouging as they have a captive market.
• Two full days is enough; one full day could be OK for some.
• Most visitors are oldies and tour companies like AAT Kings are well-patronised. One oldie commented that the canyon was so high that it was like “looking up the side of a cruiseliner”!!! Independent travellers without wheels are catered for by an overpriced shuttle van service called Uluru Express.
• I didn’t check out the price of rental cars but I’d expect it to be expensive like everything else. With 2 or more people it could work out better.
• If I had more time travelling solo, I’d turn up and see if I can hitch day-rides around the place with someone with a car (and contribute towards their expenses).
• It was a lot of money to spend on looking at some rocks, but I enjoyed myself with the walks and experiencing the Australian outback.