Kata Tjuta
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Kata Tjuta
Bimble
 This may just be the picture of the
whole road trip. Sarah and Sheila put their fly nets
on for the first time.
 We left our sunrise lookout and drove
to Kata Tjuta and left the bus at nine thirty. Huge,
tall, red and once again the surprise to find so much greenery and
trees.
 About a kilometre from the car park
was the beginning of the official track The sign told
us that if the forecast temperature is thirty six degrees Centigrade or above,
we would find the area closed.
   Even from here the
scenery was something special. The colour changing every ten minutes or
so.
Kata Tjuta also known as Mount Olga (or colloquially as The Olgas), are a group of large domed rock formations or bornhardts located about 365 kilometres (227 miles) southwest of Alice Springs, in the southern part of the Northern Territory. Uluru, 25 kilometres (16 miles) to the east, and Kata Tjuta / Mount Olga form the two major landmarks within the Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park.
Kata Tjuta seen from space.
The thirty six domes that make up Kata Tjuta / Mount Olga cover an area of 21.68 square kilometres (8.37 square miles), are composed of conglomerate, a sedimentary rock consisting of cobbles and boulders of varying rock types including granite and basalt, cemented by a matrix of sandstone. The highest point, Mount Olga, is 1,066 metres (3,497 feet) above sea level, or approximately 546 m (1,791 feet) above the surrounding plain (198 metres (650 feet) higher than Uluru). Kata Tjuta is located at the eastern end of the Docker River Road. On the 15th of December 1993, a dual naming policy was adopted that allowed official names consisting of both the traditional Aboriginal name and the English name. As a result, Mount Olga was renamed Mount Olga / Kata Tjuta. On the 6th of November 2002, following a request from the regional Tourism Association, the order of the dual names was officially reversed to Kata Tjuta / Mount Olga.  The first sighting of Kata Tjuta by a European was in July of
1872, when Ernest Giles was exploring the country some hundred kilometres to the
northeast. Giles progress towards Kata Tjuta was barred by a large lake. He
later named the lake and the Kata Tjuta rocks after the then King and Queen of
Spain: Amadeus and Olga. Giles returned to explore the area again in 1873 but
was beaten to Uluru by William Gosse who sighted the monolith on the 19th of
July and named it after the Chief Secretary of
South Australia, Sir Henry Ayers. Giles also was the first European to climb the
rock which he did accompanied by an Afghan camel
driver.
  We assembled at the first meeting post complete with track map and signpost.
  David drew an
outline of Australia and told us about some of the geology of the land.
Two massive floods and withdrawals that shaped
things.
  Unbelievable – just after we got going we were looking at tadpoles..........high pitched voice – in the middle of
the Red Centre.....
 A pond, here,
amazing.
 The Largest
of the monoliths is the home of Wanambi, the snake, with long teeth, a mane and
a long beard, during the dry season he lives in a waterhole in the gorge where
his breath forms a constant wind.Some of the domes are Pungalunga men, giants
who fed on Aboriginies.
Finally only one Pungalunga remained and two hunters decided to kill him after he had eaten their wives. While one acted as a decoy, the other crept behind the Pungalunga and speared him in the back. The Pungulunga finally died in Kuniula Cave near Mulara Springs. Other monoliths are the camps of the curlew men and mice women. A pillar on the eastern side is the kangaroo man Malu dying in the arms of his sister Mulumara, a lizard woman. Kata Tjuta means "place of many domes". Now just pictures.                      ALL
IN ALL INCREDIBLE SCENERY
SPECTACULAR |
