A lazy morning in which breakfast was eaten and laundry was done... and some rethinking about packing took place. I decided I'd be leaving a few items behind.
At 2:45pm, Garry from APT picked up a bunch of us and took us to Kata Tjuta where we took a short and easy walk into the gorge... in 116 degrees F heat! Needless to say, we were required to bring in 2 litres of water and drank most of it. The flies here are small and a nuisance, but thankfully don't bite. Many tourists were wearing the little fly/mosquito nets over their heads. Chris and I had invested in some pungent cream (rosemary and cedarwood) which seemed to work pretty well... until we'd sweated it off, that is. The gorge was... er... gorgeous. The most surprising thing is that this is a semi-arid region. There's endless spinifex grass and desert oak (which don't look like any oak I've ever seen) and eucalyptus trees of varying kinds and low bushes that bear small fruit. Compared to, say, Joshua Tree in May after a very wet winter, the Outback isn't nearly as barren as I thought it'd be.
We were then bussed over to a sunset viewing area -- much closer to Uluru than the dinner the night before -- and APT had a table of "nibbles" and poured some very, very good syrah: Stoney Creek (I finally remembered to ask). Again, a million photos were taken. One can't take one's eyes from "the rock", its colors keep changing with the light.
Chris and I returned to the hotel and had a nice dinner before doing some final packing before collapsing. Steps taken: 9,571