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Published: March 31st 2008
King's Canyon
Oh, that hill doesn't look so bad.Woke up early to slightly damp, dewy swags. Ate an early breakfast, and then we were off to hike King's Canyon! It was a
very steep initial uphill hike (fortunately it was man-made stairs), and then leveled off for our rim walk. The view from the top was absolutely spectacular! I can't even begin to describe how beautiful the view was; pictures won't do it justice. It was much less touristy than Kata Tjua and Uluru, so there was virtually no one there but our group. Also, the views were fantastic--I seriously just wanted to sit on a ledge for the whole day and soak in the view in the warm sun (finally it had cleared!) and the gentle breeze. I took about 100 pictures that morning... it's honestly one of the most beautiful places I've ever been.
Near the end of our 4 hour hike, we ran across a perente (spelling?), the world's second largest lizard. This fella was about 6 feet long, with beautiful black and antique-white color patterns. It decided to be photogenic, and then walk right across our path! It's lucky we saw one too; I think they're a little bit uncommon in those parts.
*Puff*
Half way up... Hi, Geoff! Got back from the hike, ate a good lunch, and then got ready for an afternoon of fun. I went quad biking on the ranch (which was the first time in forever that I've driven something). Quad biking, or ATVs, as we call them in the states, were an interesting introduction to manual driving. The things were semi-autuomatic; you had to change gears, etc. but there was no clutch. Driving was sort of a strange combination between car and jetski... It was quite fun, actually! As I'm sort of a Sunday driver, I ended up near the back of the line of people... what can I say? I like to look at scenery. ^_^ I was actually glad that I drove slowly--one of the girls ended up flipping her bike (despite the fellow who taught us how to use them saying that they're almost impossible to flip). She ended up being OK, but had a nasty scrape on her forearm and sort of broke the bike (oops).
After my quad bike session, I went on a sunset camel ride. It was quite nice to sit and watch the world go by from camelback (although their gate is a strange
Looking back at the bus
Half way up the starting hill side-side, back-front rolling sort of walk), and the sunset was very pretty. I rode Mona, the 37 year old camel, who was named because he tended to moan... lots. Tonight was no exception, and he certain moaned heaps as we went around the bush (it can't be because I'm heavy--the camel in front of me didn't make a peep and had two large old folks riding him). I learned lots on my walk, and really enjoyed the company of my moaning camel. ^__^ I posed for a picture at the end of my trip, petting Mona, but it's a little blurry b/c it was dark.
Headed back for dinner at camp on a dutch oven (delicious lamb and potatoes; evidently there was a wild dingo outside while we were cooking, attracted to the camp fire!), then fell alseep right after showering and washing up. The swag was once again fantastically comfortable, and I enjoyed a great night's sleep.
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Heather
non-member comment
oh man
i can't believe the size of that lizard, thats crazy. glad you enjoyed the moaning camel trip! and again, the scenery is just spectacular!