Kings Canyon

Kings Canyon, situated in the beautiful Watarrka National Park, was our last stop on our five-day Red Centre tour. From our outback post in Curtin Springs we had to drive 220kms one way to get to Kings Canyon. Like I said, nothing is very close in this part of the world. While the drives are long, at least they are interesting with changing vegetation and landscapes along the way. And of course you are always on the lookout for animals - either those that may jump in front of your car or may be off in the distance. On the drive there, we narrowly missed hitting a pack of wild horses that ran out of the desert scrub, across the road to only disappear into the bushes on the other side.

Also on our drive we were hoping to catch a glimpse of a kangaroo, dingo, wild horse or camel, Yes, there are feral camels in the Australian desert. They were brought to Australia in the mid 1800s and used as pack animals for the exploration of, and transportation of goods in, the desert area. Now their populations are estimated to be around one million and they are having an impact on the desert environment as they are voraciously eating the native vegetation. I was really hoping I would get to see one but no such luck this time.

It was another hot day when we began our Kings Canyon Hike with a steep 100m hike to the top. Ruben seemed to have endless energy and was very keen to be the first one up! We were rewarded with a view of the Canyon rim and the expansive desert surrounding the park.

We continued along the path through the weathered rock which has the appearance of layers being stacked on top of one another. Again the predominant colour scheme was the sage green of the spinifex and white of the Ghost Gum trunk set against an intense blue sky and red rock.

After winding our way through the layers of rock, we came to the look-out point. The Aussies don't really believe in using safety rails, again the trail lead right up to the edge of a vertical cliff that dropped a few hundred metres! It is always a little nerve racking with kids in tow.

Dave, Ruben and myself continued on the 6km Canyon Rim walk, and Elaine and Gemma headed back to do the Valley walk. The Canyon Rim trail takes you through, and gives you amazing views, of the buttressed domes of the "Lost City". We were given a small reprieve from the heat when we descended into the "Garden of Eden" - a lush valley below the canyon walls - before trail led us back into the heat on the canyon rim. Ruben's keen eyes caught sight of this scaly creature!

I have to admit, we were happy to see the 5km sign which indicated we only had one more km of the hike left. It wasn't that the hike was particularly grueling but more that is was very very hot on top of the canyon fully exposed to the desert sun. The sign below indicates the temperature range for the day - on this day it was between 29 and 45 degrees!

On our drive home, the same pack of wild horses galloped onto the road in front of us - again we were lucky to have missed hitting them! After two fantastic days exploring Uluru and Kings Canyon, it was time to start making our way back home. On our 450km drive back to Alice Springs, we noticed a bus-load of tourists scrambling their way up a little hill. I was curious and just had to go investigate what they had stopped to look at - I knew it had to be something interesting if a tour bus was pulled over. Gemma and I made our way up the hill. It turned out that the attraction was a series of salt lakes - basically dried lake beds lined with salty deposits. In the picture below is one of the salt lakes off in the distance.

I have reflected back on our visit to the Red Centre often, and am so thankful we took the time to visit it. I understand why those who have visited the area are so adamant that it is a must-do while in Australia because it is truly a remarkable place. Now I am one of those people!

Until next time,
love H, D, G and R