Kata-Tjuta, The Olgas

Second day it was up early, headed out for a hike in the Olgas, called Valley of the Wind. That hike had to be started early as the rangers would shut it down at 11:00 if the weather forecast would be 36 degrees or above and it usually is most of the summer. We had been taking a few pictures of the sunrise on the mountains, and were among the first people on the parking lot. A few others had already taken off though with a furious pace, probably wanting to enjoy the wild life as one of the first ones.
First a steep incline up to a vista point, or continue down into a valley where there would again be a steep incline to a nice vista point and then there was the possibility of doing a long 6km loop, which you had to be in a very good physical shape to make. The hike was estimated to 4 hours and rated as difficult, so I had brought maybe 5 liters of water.
We were 12 or 13 people and started out as one big group talking a little, but already after a few minutes when it started going uphill the group broke up. 10 minutes later I look back and none of them were to be seen anywhere. I continue over the ridge into the valley of wind - now I know why it is called that. At times I could probably be leaned forward to an angle of 60 degrees without falling, lost my hat once, luckily a tree caught it. I slowly started gaining on the people who took off earlier and on the second incline I passed them as if I was a mountain goat. After passing the second vista point, I was in front of everyone and it was still early morning, I had the best chance to see some animals.
I was actually taking a picture of something else, when I saw something move into the picture, a small kangaroo was out looking for food. Kind of funny seeing the little guy jumping around on the rocks. There was a huge flat land inside the valley which had to have a lot of animals, so I slowed down a little looking for more of them. Slowly I could hear the people behind gaining on me again, talking loudly and complaining how warm it was. I picked up some speed again and came to a pit-stop area and realized how far I had come in just 1 hour. Almost done with the hike, so I slowed down and stopped here and there to see if I could spot anything else. I saw two camels walking by, yes, camels.
What are camels doing in Australia? Well, before there were any roads, the camels were brought in as they were much better in this hostile environment than the horses. Eventually when there real roads to drive on the people set the camels free, thinking they would not survive in the wild. Today Australia is the place in the world with the most freely roaming camels, 2.5 millions estimated. They don't have any natural predator and is now considered a real pest as they just become more and more. The Australian cattle farmers were struggling and started farming camels for food and export to North African countries.
Moments later I was standing in the shadow of a tree looking for stuff, when 2 kangaroos jumped out in front of me, just 5 meters away. One stood there looking at me when the second one jumped onto the path as well and there they were, so close looking at me? I reached for my camera in my pocket, but dropped it when I pulled it out. I bent down to pick it up and the two jumpers were gone. I spent a few minutes looking for them, but there was no trace of them. How can they just disappear?
I made it back to the start of the hike and looked at the time, I had used 1 hour and 28 minutes. I was kind of disappointed that it was so short, and even more that I now had to sit and wait 2 hours for the bus to arrive.
15 minutes later another girl returned as well, she had started out with her parents, but had parted from them when they started walking slow. Now she was back too and since her parents had the car keys, there was nothing else to do than wait. Melanie was from Manchester, but studying in Melbourne. I got her number as well on the phone and she told me call her when stopping by Melbourne later, she could show me around the city if I had time. Cool, it would be cool with some locals showing around. After waiting for 1.5 hours she decided to go back looking for her parents just in case they were waiting for her in there somewhere. Meanwhile our bus driver had arrived and we were all back and ready to leave. On the way back in the bus I found out that my phone was frozen, and when I removed the battery and rebooted it, the phone book had a Melanie entry, but there was no phone number. Argh, I guess the phone had gotten a heatstroke, better it than me.
Back the resort I took a little nap, and prepared for the afternoon hike. I looked at the paper work, this one was only rated as moderate and 1 hour duration. I had paid expensive money for that, so that was a little disappointing.
A bus picked us up at 15:30 and we headed out to the Olga's again. It was probably 45 minutes driving and the entire bus was full of couples. The bus driver, Leroy, shouted: "Poulsen, you are by yourself, come up on the front seat and entertain me." Leroy turned out to be a standup comedian, well at least he could have been. He was joking non stop for almost 45 minutes people thought they were going to sleep, but they were all laughing.
When he dropped us off, he said he would be back in an hour. It was pretty warm and there were already a lot of people going both ways, and I too headed up the Gorge. After only 15 minutes I was at the end of the trail, I was so disappointed. That hike cost me around $60 to do for 30 minutes, that must be the shortest Australian outback hike.
Leroy came and picked us up and he was still joking all the way back. Got to talk to him about a little more serious matters like the white people and how bad they had treated the Aboriginals back in the 1930s. Now however things were turning and it seemed like the Australians were more ready than ever to partake in it's already long history instead of trying to create a new white man's history. I found that very interesting and thought about the Americans and the Native Indians, but that is probably never going to happen there.
There were a lot of Japanese tourists coming to Australia and there were also a lot of young Japanese girls primarily working in Australia's outback as tour organizers. They work in the Outback for 4 years, where there is a demand, and are then granted a Australian citizenship, which is what most people are there for. I was just thinking about the Visa and Green in the US, a little more complicated. The salary was not good out there opposite of what I thought, but at the same time there is not really anyway to spend the money earned, so long term it is a good financially deal.

Again there was a sunset viewing of the rock, which was the first time for some of the people aboard the bus. I figured I would do myself a favor and just take pictures of the sunset instead
When we were dropped off at the resort, Leroy asked me what I was doing tomorrow. I told him I was on a tour to a place called Kings Canyon, he then told me to go to a chef making breakfast for us in the middle of nowhere and send regards and a happy new year from Abdul. Sounded strange, but I promised to do so.

It was time for dinner and I decided it was time for some BBQ. You buy meat and grill it yourself, and a salad buffet included with the meat. I bought a buffalo burger, which was actually not too bad, maybe because I cooked it myself? On the BBQ next to me a big insect had crash landed, and had gotten cooked beyond the well done definition. I had a few beers too listening to the local one-man-band playing all the new radio hits, some better than others. I hit the bed early, had a early morning ride.
Before bed another guest had arrived, a doctor in micro-biology from the Czech Republic. He was 55 and been traveling the world for many years, very interesting stories he had to share. He was also going to Sydney for a couple of days during New Years, in fact most people in the room was going on the same airplane back to Sydney, only one guy was staying.