If you ever come to this area, you have so got to do this walk.  Fabulous.  When the huge rock of conglomerate fan -  Kata Tjuta - was being folded and faulted, vertical joints or fractures cracked through the rock.  Water seeped down the cracks and over millions of years the rock eroded away grain by grain, pebble by pebble, boulder to boulder to form valleys and gorges that split the rock slab into blocks.  Curved cracks called topographic joints formed on the surface of the blocks.  Weathering and erosion wore away the rocks and above the cracks to produce the rounded domes of Kata Tjuta, which is the aboringainal name for many heads.  From afar..

Closer

We did The Valley of the Winds walk which is about 7.4km but it is all up and down and a bit of a scramble in places.

Along the rock strewn footpath

Towards a gap between the domes

The walls are virtually vertical in places, you can just abut see the inclined angle of the bedding planes.  It was 12C when we started this walk, we are so not used to the cold.  23C when we finished.

Follow the red brick road

To the first lookout, Karu.  In hot weather this is the closure point of the walk.

Down into the valley you can just about see below

At the bottom of the dome – warmed up a bit, you should have seen the path down.

Handy if this doesn’t work, the Cultural Centre is about 50km away.

Clamour over a river red gum tree

Up a dome, here’s me

And here’s Paul

The size of some of the rocks within the conglomerate are really big:

Better picture of bedding planes.

On to the second lookout, Karingana.  Unfortunately the Sun was right in the lens.  You can see the valley floor below.

Into the valley below

Nice bit of stream erosion.

Fantastic views of several domes

Over the plains in the distance

Brilliant walk.