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Published: September 9th 2008
King's Canyon
Looking down Heartbreak Hill from the top.A rare lay-in this morning, till 7:30am, which was gratefully needed by all after two really early starts in a row. We had time to all have our showers, pack our things and have a decent breakfast: cereal, and some exotic fruits. Today was a special day; it was Jacqueline’s twenty-ninth birthday. We sang ‘Happy Birthday’ to her while on the coach. Today, our destination was the King’s Canyon Outback Resort.
It was a long journey there, which took in more of the Lasseter and Stuart Highway’s. We had another couple of stops on the way, at the same roadhouses as before. Also during the journey we watched some ‘topical’ video. It was a film about a group of English down-and-outs, who owe serious money. One of them goes a telly dating show, and wins a holiday with his ‘date’ to Australia. However, the date falls for one of the crew out there, and so the guy is on his own. His mates get roughed up back in England, so decide to meet up out in Australia. The ‘baddies’ trace them out there and finally get their man. However, the locals stick up for their new-found friends, and they end
King's Canyon
At the foot of Heartbreak Hill, ready to start the challenging 6 km King’s Canyon Walk, which took about 4 hours to complete. up living a life on the run in Australia.
This made up for about an hour-and-a-half of our journey, and then we stopped at the side of the highway. This wasn’t a toilet stop; this was a wood stop. The guys had planned to have a campfire tonight at the camp, and needed some wood to burn. We all got out and looked around for any old dead timber. Suprisingly, there was quite a bit and we filled the back compartment of the coach with it all. As we were out searching for the wood, I could hear things moving around. I knew there must be snakes around, but didn’t really want to find out how big they were.
We reached our destination of King’s Canyon, and finally came out of the shadow of Uluru, which by the end of our time there we were getting sick of the sight of it. Hard to believe, being sick of the sight of those amazing sights. King’s Canyon, is located in the Watarrka National Park. The name Watarrka comes from the Luritjja Aboriginal word for the umbrella bush (Acacia Ligulata). King’s Canyon has the deepest gorge in the whole of
the Red Centre, along with sandstone walls, which rise to a height of 270 metres.
As we drove into the resort, we noticed how nice it looked. It was well maintained and had all the things needed. At the entrance was a garage and petrol station, which also had a well-stocked supermarket. Also to the side of the garage, away from the road, was a bar. As we drove further in there was a large swimming pool on our right, and a campsite on the left. We went further still and into the heart of the resort, and we came across our campsite for the day and night. It was a large open grassed area, which had capacity for five large parties at a time. There were five small buildings dotted around, one for each group, and each also had a small campfire area. In the centre of the area was a large toilet/shower building. There were a few small trees also around.
We all got off the coach, and started to unload the coach. It really is surprising just how much you can fit into all the storage compartments of a coach. We unloaded all the wood,
and when we had it all laid out, we realised we had probably too much. Looked like we’d hacked up the Amazon!
It was now time to put our beloved tents up, which after the first night, we had mastered. Five minutes top to put the tent up and we were done. We were on the edge of the site, just under a tree. It was a good spot slightly out of the shade of the sun, which would have made the tent unbearable to be in. Once we’d all got sorted, we were bound for King’s Canyon. It was about one in the afternoon when we arrived there, and the heat was again searing and just breathing made you sweat.
A short walk from the coach took us to what they call ‘Heartbreak Hill’, the start of the 6 km ‘King’s Canyon Walk’. This walk requires a medium to high level of fitness with some strenuous sections.
‘Heartbreak Hill’ got its name because of it’s daunting climb to the summit, which demanded a lot of effort. The trick was to keep going and not stop. I thought it was a very fitting name to give it
and half way up felt like stopping, and having rest, but I just dug deep. It was a very demanding climb, which took about half-an-hour, and I took on lots of water once I’d reached the summit.
Once at the top we could see for miles, and apparently on a very clear day Kata Tjuta can be seen, but on this particular day there was a hazy horizon, making it not possible to see far enough into the distance. Once everyone that had decided to go on this walk had made it up to the top - we scaled the heights, allowing us to look into the canyon from a great height. The wind was moderate today, so we weren’t in any real danger, but on some days, when the winds build more strength, it became unsafe for climbers. There were no safety rails in place for walkers, so if you wanted to look into the canyon you had to go real close to the edge, which took a little bravery. When you’re looking 300m directly down, with no protection, you don’t want a gust of wind sweeping you off your feet.
We walked across one entire side
of the canyon, and reached the point where you could see down into the ‘Garden of Eden’, a large spring which is sheltered by ferns, and lying deep inside the canyon. We could see people diving in and swimming around. They were making plenty of noise. We walked a little further, and came to a bridge that linked the two sides of the canyon.
This was a strong bridge, but as we were crossing, the original bridge was pointed out, and this was a little rickety piece of wood, which looked very weak.
On crossing the bridge we walked a little further, and the walk began to descend into the bottom of the canyon. There were permanent waterholes, which meant there was more vegetation here, including palm ferns. As we were right down deep in the heart of the canyon, it was refreshingly cool. The ‘Garden of Eden’ ran on our right as we were going down the steps, and ran off a tiny stream, which ran through the entire canyon. There was a wide bank where we could sit back and relax. The people we had seen earlier had now moved on so it was just our
King's Canyon
Looking down into the Garden of Eden, on the northern edge of the Canyon. group there. Johnny advised us it was probably wasn’t a good idea to go swimming in there, not that I could anyway, as there was a high level of iron and other minerals which had run off the rocks. We didn’t really have the time to do anything like that anyway. Riki started to act the fool. He was being a typical Japanese guy, by taking snaps all over the place. He even tried to photograph in between a small, narrow crevice in between these rocks!
After a short while, we climbed back up to the summit, and began our walk along the other side of the canyon.
From this side, which was slightly higher than the other, we managed to see ‘The Lost City’. This is a large area of red sandstone rocks weathered into semblance of ruined houses and streets. The rock here though was brittle and therefore not safe for rock climbing.
As I was again fairly used to the long walking, I was up the front with a few of the others. This meant that when we did finally get to the end of the walk, which incidentally took about four hours, we
King's Canyon
Long way down, and no safety rails! had to wait for the others again. This was good, as we had a little time to relax, and take on more water, before we had to go in the stifling coach. We were all very tired and didn’t really want to do much else, except take it easy.
As we drove into the camp, we stopped off to get some beer for tonight, the last night of camping for some of us. Four bottles of Fosters would be fine for me. It was to be a night of chilling back and doing nothing. On returning back to the campsite, we had the rest of the afternoon to ourselves. For some reason, the weather at King’s Canyon seemed much more intense. We had some lunch and then some of the others went off to the pool to cool off. I went for a walk down to the grocery shop, for some postcards, ices, sweets and some more bottled water. It wasn’t a far walk down, but we took it slowly. Once back to the camp, others were sunning themselves, while others were reading in the shade. I took this opportunity to catch up with writing what I’d done that
King's Canyon
Descending into the undergrowth. day.
The guys came back from the pool half-an-hour later and we were now getting a bit hungry. Dinner tonight was Spaghetti Bolagnese, which was a nice change. Had a shower before dinner in the hut in the centre of the campsite. They were shower cubicles, though because it was shared by a couple of groups, people kept turning the lights on and off, as they didn’t realise others were there. So one minute, you could be having a shower, and then all of sudden the lights would go out, and you had to shower in the dark.
At dinner, everyone ate at the same time. As there was no large table for everyone to sit at, unlike at Ayers Rock Resort, we had to eat whilst balancing everything on our laps. For some reason, the conversation got onto beers, and which was the best, and also which everyone drank when back home. After dinner, was a nice surprise, as Katina brought out a birthday cake with candles on. Once more, we sung ‘Happy Birthday’ once more. Tijanka and the girls had also bought her a few presents too. Once dinner was cleared and cake was eaten, some
of us retreated to the campfire, which the other team leader Ian had began to start. We helped put some wood on, and get it going nicely. Some of us ate our cake round the campfire, and generally chatting about everything we’ve done over the past few days, and what everyone will be doing when they get back home. As the evening went on, more and more people came and sat round, until everyone was round it. We were really just taking it easy. The sun had long gone down, and it was beginning to get a bit chilly, so the campfire was a great place to be spending the evening.
As the night went on, Ian had the idea of getting the didgeridoo, and seeing if anyone could play it. We were all now in a circle round the campfire, and the ‘didge’ was passed round one by one. Most of us had at least two or three tries, and some were really getting the hang of it. The trick was to ‘blow a raspberry’ down it, and this should produce the sound. I tried a number of times, but just couldn’t do it; while some had the
giggles, and couldn’t even make a sound. A small number were able to get a good sound: the best being Ivan. We were all knocking back the beers, generally having a good time. It was the first time we were all together having a good chat, and we stayed up till about 11pm. As time went on, everyone turned in, and there ended up being just a few of us left, including Katrina, Miriam, Kim, Ian (tour leader), Edwin, Tim and, I think, Marjon.
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