Leg 4 Coober Pedy - Ayers Rock (Yulara)

To fly from Coober Pedy to Ayers Rock is over remote desert country so if something happens it would take a while for anyone to get to you.  I stopped first at Cadney Homestead which is a Roadhouse around 150km north of Coober Pedy to top up my fuel and to add some more oil.  I'm keeping a very close eye on the oil consumption in the engine as I'm buring much more than I should, so to be safe I gave it a little top up.  There were a number of remote air strips close to my route, which gave me a little confort if I had to land.


The flight was quick with a 15 knot tail wind and as we approached Ayers Rock it was an amazing sight.  This flat country, then these two huge rock formations appear, Ayers Rock (Uluru) and the Olgas, much more prominent and spectacular than I thought they would be.

 I wanted to see Ayers Rock from the ground as well as well as the air.  I soon found out that it was looking as though I wont see it from the ground, apart from the view out of the door of my hotel room.  There aren't any taxi's here, the only mini bus that is wheelchair accessable was booked out for Tuesday and there were no available rental cars, or accessable busses.  I couldn't believe it!  A place that was built for specifically for tourists with alot of elderly ones, there is no transport for the disabled.  Figure that one out! 


My day did change for the better in the end, the Desert Sands Hotel assistant manager was very understanding and arranged for one of the porters, Matt, to drop me and Lida out at Uluru and bring us back for a fee.  This hotel has gone the extra mile to help make my experience memorable, which I greatly appreciate.

Getting out to Uluru was a fantastic experience, it was much more impressive than what I had seen in photo's and I can see why the indigenous people find it such a special place.  When you approach it, it does have a real spiritual quality about it.

With all the rain they have had it has been a great time to come and see the Red Centre maybe they should call it the "Green Centre", even flying out here you'd think it was Victoria.

Some of the walking tacks are indicated as wheelchair accesable and I could push on most of it, however there were some spots that were a bit hard due to soft sand. The funny thing is that although some of the walks are specifically indicated as wheelchair accessable, you can't get their if you don't have your own car or can get on a standard coach by yourself.

This experience has been a highlight of the Central Australia Training Flight and I'm looking forward to flying around Ularu and the Olgas tomorrow, on the 5th Leg to Alice Springs.

Thorny Lizard rescued from being squashed on the road

Over & Out!