Monday, August 24, 2015

Ayers Rock from the Helicopter - August 2015


Our little 4 person helicopter at Uluru airport



With Ron and Di before our helicopter ride



Uluru township from the air


Uluru Township



Uluru township - basically a circle of resorts ranging from 5 star to the local pub and camping ground



Typical country at Ayers Rock



Approaching Ayers Rock in the helicopter




Cattle Station country



Rock formations on Ayers Rock from the helicopter



Local accommodation out of Uluru



Employees accommodation outside of Uluru



Ayers Rock's massive size is evident



We drove around the bottom if the rock in another excursion and saw these rock formations close up



Interesting rock formations on this side of the rock


The lower side of the rock that was popular for climbing



Cattle country around the rock



This seems to be the most upright side of the rock



Good rock formations become evident as we get closer



A good view of the rock standing out from all the flat surrounding land



The popular tourist track around Ayers Rock



Flying towards Ayers Rock



Ayers Rock in it's majesty



A popular view of Ayers Rock that reflects different colours as the sun moves through the day



Flying towards The Olgas from Ayers Rock



Miles and miles of not much



Outback settlement




Outback homestead





The four dark dots on the clay pan are wild camels



Flying back to the Uluru Airport

This excursion was probably the highlight of our tour.  Having seen it all from the ground it is amazing to see it all from a different perspective.

We booked our helicopter ride at the Uluru Town Centre a couple of days before so that we could get the time we wanted. The are various different flights to choose from ranging from 15 minutes to Ayers Rock only to more extended tours.  We chose the $310 pp tour that took us over Uluru Township, a circle around Ayers Rock and then over to Circle The Olgas, a low ride over the country side to look for camels and then back to Uluru Airport.  Well worth the money I thought. 

We chose a 12.30pm flight as we had seen the rock for sunrise and again for sunset so we had the whole day covered.

Overall it was a great experience!

Thursday, August 20, 2015

Kata Tjuta/mount Olga/The Olgas, NT - August 2015

K

The Olgas - this was a walk between the rocks that I would have liked to have time to do. It is 45 minutes from Uluru and the walk is 2 kms each way which is easily achievable.
(Ayes Rock in the vac ground)



Flying towards the Olgas from Ayes Rock reveals the true shape of The Olgas. From a distance it only appears to be two rocks - in reality it is a series of joined rocks that go a long way underground and is in fact taller than Ayes Rock.


View out of the front window of the helicopter




A very impressive view of The Olgas which takes on a totally different look depending on your approach to the rocks.


Valleys and crevices come into view with many great walking choices.


The Olgas away from the valley and green areas showing interesting rock formations



This is the green side of the Olgas - not evident from a distance



Another impressive view of The Olgas




It is hard to see how this can look so different to the two large rocks from a distance



The two rocks of interest - The Olgas and Ayes Rock - apart from these there are only miles and miles of cattle country with little evidence of wildlife.



A lot of walking opportunities for the trekking enthusiast.




This is more what I expected The Olgas to look like - this is the high part of The Olgas visible from a distance.


I was very appreciative of our helicopter ride out of Uluru which took us from Uluru to circle Ayers Rock and then to circle The Olgas as well as a good view of Uluru and the cattle stations surrounding the rocks.  It cost us $310.00 pp and we travelled in a 4 person helicopter which gave us a good view.

It was well worth the cost as the rocks can be so much more from a different perspective. We did manage to see four wild camels on one of the clay pans and seeing Uluru from the air was a good experience.

This was the last of our touring experiences for this trip as tomorrow we fly out of Uluru to Sydney and back to reality.

Thankfully we had good weather while we were here. It has been cold in the mornings until about 10 o'clock, lovely through the day and cooler again at night. 

We needed our jumpers and coats at times and did not get to wearing shorts or go swimming in the pool, but that is desert weather at this time of the year.