Katatjuta

When we arrived at Katatjuta it was mid-morning. This was a good thing. Many tourist companies bus people in to see daybreak at Uluru and Katatjuta. They were leaving as we arrived. and so we had the fortunate experience of walking for several kilometres in the mountain and desert almost alone. There are sacred Aboriginal places in the Katatjuta mountains, but, unlike Uluru, where the path goes close to them, here it stays well away and they don't tell you where they are, or anything about their story. What I CAN report is that Katatjuta is a very beautiful place. The rock here is red sandstone, weathered into domes; where the rainwater runs off the surface, wet gullies and flushes allow plants to grow, so imagine red rock and occasional green smears and smudges. Deeper in there is water; we found a waterfall trickling over a rock slab, small waterholes and a trickle of a brook, with dragonflies and kingfishers. the most noticeable sound is the birds (tzee tzee of Zebra finches wherever there is any moisture to be had, whistling of the honeyeaters, echoing scream of desert hawks) and the wind that blows gently and constantly through the valley. When we walked out onto the desert (which is scrubby, not bare sand), we saw camel tracks and spotted our first reptile, a tiny dragon sunning itself on a rock. By mid afternoon we were emerging again into the carpark, and evening visits were arriving ....
.. later the same evening, at the Yulara camp site, we watched from a distance as the sun set on Uluru, and then watched the stars in the darkness.

Meanwhile in Cervantes, we've explored Mount Leseur National Park - more than 800 different species of plant exist here, the diversity is similar to raiforests, but this in Mediterranean heath. It is a remote area, only recently opened up for visits, and the walking is really exciting. In the late afternoon we went snorkelling at Dynamite Bay. The visibilty wasn't great - too much sand and seaweed, but we saw sponges, tubeworms, a toadfish and many violet crabs. It's raining tonight.