Ayres Rock to Marla

 

 Uluru is one of Australia’s most recognisable natural landmarks. The  sandstone  formation stands 348 m high, rising 863 m above sea level with most of its bulk lying underground, and has a total circumference of 9.4 km Both Uluru and the nearby Tjuta formation have great cultural significance for the Aṉangu people, the traditional inhabitants of the area, who lead walking tours to inform visitors about the local flora and fauna,  bush food  and the  Aboriginal dreamtime  stories of the area.

Uluru is notable for  appearing to change colour  at different times of the day and year, most notably when it glows red at  dawn  and  sunset.

 

Andre and Willy went back in the early hours of today in order to explore a bit more of Uluru and its surrounding area – mainly “The Olgas”

 

Kata Tjuta, Kata Tjuta   (lit. ‘many heads’), also known as the Olgas, is a group of large, domed  rock formations  or  bornhardts  located about 360 km southwest of Alice Springs, in the southern part of the  Northern Territory, central  Australia.

 Uluru, also known as Ayers Rock, located 25 km to the east, and Kata Tjuta form the two major landmarks within the  Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park. The park is considered sacred to the Aboriginal people of Australia

At the behest of Baron  Ferdinand von Mueller, Mount Olga was named in 1872 by  Ernest Giles, in honour of  Queen Olga of Württemberg  (born Grand Duchess Olga of Russia, daughter of  Tsar Nicholas I ). She and her husband, King  Charles I of Württemberg, had marked their 25th wedding anniversary the previous year by, amongst other things, naming Mueller a Freiherr (baron), making him Ferdinand von Mueller; that was his way of repaying the compliment.

Kata Tjuta

 

Lipstick on route to “The Olgas” or Kata Tjuta mountains as the locals call it

 

Willy & Andre in front of the Olga mountains in central Australia

 

 From the Olga Mountains the boys made it back to Uluru to once more take a few pictures -this time in daylight.

 

Team Lipstick in front of Uluru

 

and Willy doing his traditional headstand in front of this landmark

 

Precious T58 beers

To celebrate this visit to one of Australia’s most famous landmarks the boys decided to have one of their precious T58 beers which they brought with them from East London.

 

Having refuelled Lipstick at the Mount Ayre resort’s petrol station the boys realised some wet oil spots on the pipes leading to the Turbo drive.

 

wet oil spots on the turbo drive pipes

 

The car also lost a considerable amount of power and could not achieve speeds higher then 120km/h or over 3100 revs/min.

 

The boys decided to drive down to Port Augusta where they found the nearest Toyota dealer but staying overnight at Marla first.

 

Marla is a town and locality in the Australian state of  South Australia  located in the state’s north-west about 970 kilometres  north-west of the state capital of  Adelaide  and about 402 kilometres south of the town of  Alice Springs  in the  Northern Territory

 

The town includes a health centre operated on behalf of the state government by the  Royal Flying Doctor Service of Australia, a regional police station and a privately-owned complex called the Marla Travellers Rest which is described as consisting of “roadhouse, hotel and motel, restaurant, service station, supermarket and much more

 

At the  2016 census, Marla had a population of 100.

 

Some good food and beverages were consumed at the Marla Roadhouse this evening.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Day 14 – 9th October 2019 – Ayres Rock to Marla

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