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Published: August 31st 2009
Day 123 - Kings Canyon
Another day dawns, another walk to be done! This part of Australia has so many magnificent walks but you do get sore feet after a few days! Nevertheless we packed up our sandwiches in the old rucksack and smiled, smiled, smiled!
The ‘Happy Hour’ gang were already up and showered but we were first out of the campsite and the first to arrive at the walking shelter! Not that it’s a race of course but we need a head start on the others because they are bound to catch us up along the way!
On arrival at the car park we find tour buses parked up with one group just getting themselves ready. The challenge is now on to strike out in front so we don’t have a massive crowd of people in all the photos we take! It’s a good challenge but we pay the price of breathlessness because the first section of the walk is a climb upwards and it’s steep! Great view from the top though, stunning in fact. The rock formations here are amazing and the scenery really gives the WOW factor.
We’re away from all the other
tourists now and it’s lovely. It’s quite a cloudy start to the day so we have got the piercing blue skies but we have moody clouds above us to give us a bit of atmosphere! As you get further around the canyon you can hear the bird calls being magnified and really echoed, it’s great!
With the towering vertical walls and the lush vegetation in the sheltered gullies, the Kings Canyon rim walk is spectacular. It’s a 6km loop which take between 3 and 4 hours but we stop and admire the view a lot so we’re expecting to spend most of the day up here!!
We make it to Cotterills Bridge and the lookout across the gorge which is fabulous. On the way back who should we spot but Tony and Jane closely followed by Carol and Ray! You see, we knew they’d catch us up! We all have a great chat sitting on the rock and then Tony & Jane go to check out the view from the lookout and we start to wander with Carol and Ray towards the next section which leads us to the Garden of Eden.
Kings Canyon is a stunning
place and lends itself very well to a days scenic walking. We have to queue for the bridge and the stairs leading down and across but we wait and let everyone complete the whole thing then we’ve got it all to ourselves again which is so much better! Carol and Ray head off in front while we stay behind trying to photograph some Rainbow Bee Eaters but fail miserably! While we’re hanging around on the bridge Tony and Jane catch us up and we all walk through the Garden of Eden together. This lush oasis is provided with rain water soaked up by the sandstone, it’s lovely to walk through and the birds are plentiful, but quick! We pass Shelley and David who we met at the Cotterells Bridge lookout, they are here for a year from the UK too, they came out in April but started from Sydney so it’s quite amazing that this is the first time our paths have crossed. Whilst we’re beside the waterhole David snaps a couple of shots of us, I try to do the same but I’m really not doing a good job of pictures today! Tony & Jane find an extra view
across the gorge hidden behind the waterhole, so we wander round to have a look and it’s stunning! What a view, amazing and from here you can see where the waterfall would be if there was enough water. That would have made our extra walk impossible so it’s an either or type situation!
Amazing to think that this Canyon went from a crack to a full blown canyon in only a matter of million years! The information boards tell how the South wall follows the main crack from which Kings Canyon was formed and how the wind, rain and floodwaters deepened and widened the crack in the Mareenie sandstone. As the lower, softer Carmichael sandstone eroded blocks as big as houses sheared away and tumbled down.
Tony and Jane have walked on now so we wander back past the birds nests which Darryl spotted and climb the steps the other side of the gorge. It’s really warm and anyone starting the walk at this time of day should have their head examined! It’s not even mid-day! It’s definitely something to do early morning!
We find Tony and Jane sitting high on the sandstone so join them for
a quick rest and finish the walk together. Tony is excellent at finding new views across the gorge and Jane spots a formation which we think should be a new feature, “Cowpat Rock”!
The climb down from Kestrel Falls is magnificent and this is a lovely way to come back down to earth at the end of the walk. In the wet season water cascades from the cliff sides here and is a magnificent sight.
Back on the ground we sit shaded for a short while and then grab some lunch at the back of the cars which have been unknowingly parked back to back! There’s another walk here into the lower section of the gorge so we head off to do that and we’re happy to find it’s cool! First though we line up for our photo under the information hat!
The Kings Creek Walk is only 2km but gives another view of the area and focuses on the wildlife that lives here and we’re lucky enough to spot a couple of lizards. We wander along the creek and finally reach a platform looking at the sheerness of the stunning Canyon walls.
With all the
walking done we head back to camp to chill out. Shelley comes around with a few photos that David snapped of us during the walk. Lovely, thanks very much for that.
There’s just time for a shower before we go off for dinner at the sunset BBQ area out at Kings Canyon. It’s just the four of us, Tony and Jane plus us two. When we get there we realise that none of us has brought a light for the gas BBQ so I run along to the next bay and luckily find someone who will lend us theirs! Dinner is lovely, the boys cook up a great treat and we sit and eat while the sun slowly fades away behind us.
Back at camp we see Ray and Carol heading off to the Outback BBQ for the nightly entertainment show by husband and wife team ‘The Roadies’. We tidy up and then go and see if Tony & Jane would like to come too. We get to chatting and looking at photos on the computer and by the time we’re ready Ray & Carol are back! They weren’t impressed and the description sounded dire but we had
to go see for ourselves if only for the laugh! Well, what a hoot! It’s a very family, comedy orientated show and we get there just in time to hear Waltzing Matilda with all the kids on stage playing various instruments, ‘Damien’ from the audience playing the didgeridoo and The Roadies in full swing on the rattle stick and guitar! This was followed by what can only be described as ‘the’ highlight, a rendition of an Aussie song incorporating lots of visual actions where they grabbed people up from the mainly non-English speaking audience! In the background The Roadies sang and played guitar whilst all the motions were being carried out by the audience and a fluffy wind up Rabbit sang along whilst his ears shot up in the air in perfect time to the music. We honestly thought our sides would split, it was hilarious to watch but thankfully we weren’t dragged up on stage! The lady ‘Roadie’ took a liking to Darryl and tried to encourage him up on the dance floor when they played some slow music but he was having none of it and then they sang a song to Tony after they announced in jest
that he was the managing director of Telstra! We couldn’t hear the words to the song but we guess they were taking the rip out of the coverage! Anyway, the pair took a break and we scarpered but were very glad we went to watch for the laugh!
We did a bit more blog work and looked through the photos but hit the sack pretty hard, the warm weather tires us out something rotten let alone all the walking!
We’re on the move tomorrow heading back towards Alice Springs where we should be back in the land of phone signal and internet access for anyone wanting to get in touch. Hope all is well
Dar and Sar
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Jan Kettle
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Lovely Lizard
That is a beautiful lizard - do you know what it is? We have found some pretty lizards in your garden - enough for us to build them a 'lodge'!