I think I mentioned yesterday that sunrise here is quite late. Neither of us slept particularly well, which for me is a common experience on the first night away. We decided we head Kata Tjuta for some sunrise photos. We arrived at the park entrance a little early, so had to wait in a queue for about 10 minutes and missed the turn, which required a bit of a back track, but we still arrived in plenty of time. Kata Tjuta used to be known as the Olgas, but has now reverted to its traditional name. It is a set of 36 rocky domes across 21 square kilometres that holds cultural significance to the local indigenous communities. The domes are spectacular and unique.
It was pretty cold around the sunrise so we headed back to the hotel for hot showers and breakfast. At the hotel the breakfast on offer is a $49 buffet, which regular readers will know annoys me because I find it impossible to extract $49 of value. There is an independent cafe here that is a training facility for local indigenous youth, so a worthy cause. They do a good bacon and egg roll and a decent coffee. Following breakfast we headed back out to Kata Tjuta to investigate the rest of the walks. The ground is quite rocky and the walks are generally up hill, so they are of a moderate challenge, but the gorges are quite scenic. At this time of year the challenge is OK, but in summer it can get up to 45 degrees, that would be a different matter.
The downside was that I managed to lose my glasses somewhere, so had to buy a cheapy pair of magnifiers at the Post Office. Without my glasses there’d be no more blog and not a lot of good photos. Anyway, contingencies are in place and we continue.
Tonight we had an amazing dinner under the stars. In the words of Chris Martin (Coldplay) and his ‘Sky full of stars’, being so far from any major city there is a huge difference. The dinner itself was held on top of one of the highest dunes in the areas and had great views. The meal was spectacular and served with premium wines including a Penfolds Bin 407. Deb chose Moreton Bay Bugs and then Wagyu steak for main while I had the Lamb Loin for entree and also the Wagyu steak. Everything was accompanied by local bush foods and was delicious. We were also treated to seeing an almost full moon rise as we finished our meal.
Later start tomorrow, but more to discover!
Until tomorrow.
Rob's "Beats Working" Blog 
Local bush tucker…. witchety grubs? It’s a long way from Moreton Bay, yabbies maybe?
When I say bush tucker I mean many of the condiments are absolutely local bush grown. A lot of the meat products come from a little further afield … but still all sourced on shore. So none of that offshore NZ seafood