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I walk nervously into the breakfast room expecting the usual chaos. But no, it seems bus people have finally packed up and gone, and peace and tranquility has returned … and they didn’t even break the coffee machine, or burn the place down while they were trying to work out how to use the toaster...
I’m keen for Issy to see at least part of the splendour of Kings Canyon, so we set off up the path onto the south rim. It hasn’t got any less spectacular overnight … and we see another animal, the second in two days, and this one’s even a native. OK it might only be a few centimetres long, a lizard sunning itself on a rock, but when you haven’t seen a single native animal in the wild since you arrived in the Territory over a week ago you’ll take anything. I wonder if it’s endangered. The seemingly almost complete lack of wildlife here is leading us to suspect that all native animals up here might be endangered …. except for the flies …. they’re definitely not at risk. There are signs all around the resort settlement warning about the dangers of dingoes, particularly to
dogs and small children; the bar in the barn’s even called The Thirsty Dingo. You could be forgiven for thinking that the whole place would crawling with packs of these marauding canines waiting to tear you limb from limb at any opportunity, but have we seen even a single one, well no we haven’t. Hmmm.
Next up is a short stroll through a wide gorge into the permanent waterhole at Kathleen Springs, around 20 kilometres south of the Canyon. The gorge is sacred to the local indigenous population; they believe that the rainbow serpent lives in the waterhole. Swimming and any other disturbance of the water is forbidden to avoid annoying the serpent and causing the waterhole to dry up. The area was an important food source for the indigenous inhabitants. Native animals would drink at the waterhole, and the indigenous men would then form a barrier across the gorge and spear them as they tried to leave …. which suggests that there at least used to be native animals here. I wonder if maybe the flies eventually got too much for them?
Next up is a drive 30 kms or so north to Ginty’s Lookout to watch
the sunset. The map tells me that the road’s sealed all the way there, which is good to know. The unsealed section is part of the notorious Mereenie Loop; we’ve been warned to avoid this 80 odd kilometres of unsealed hell like the plague. So why is it then that when I get halfway to the Lookout the bitumen suddenly runs out … and from there on it’s all dirt with corrugations the size of the watermelons. And as soon as you go from bitumen to corrugated dirt you’re instantly allowed to up your speed from 100 to 110 kms per hour. There wouldn’t be much left of your car if you did decide to do that … still nice to know you’ve at least got the self destruct option available to you. Issy’s got a headache, so she didn’t come with me. Just as well. If she didn’t have one before she certainly would after a few minutes rattling around on this poor excuse for a road. The view’s excellent, but now I’ve got to drive back. I assume my brain will eventually stop vibrating …
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D MJ Binkley
Dave and Merry Jo Binkley
Very cool
We loved these formations.