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Published: February 24th 2011
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Today is earmarked for visiting the Kings Canyon
There are two options:
• A walk around the rim of the canyon which is around 6km and takes 3 hours (which is a long time to walk 3kms – but it is at a leisurely pace with numerous stops do describe the rock formation and the fauna & flora of the region. There is an initial steep pull up onto the rim, but a walk along good paths around the rim
Breakfast: 04:45 Continental Breakfast
• The second walk is less strenuous, and is along the shaded canyon floor giving good views of the cliffs
Breakfast: 06:30 Full Cooked Breakfast
I decided to go for the Rim walk, and Di decided to go for the Canyon Floor walk, so she got a lie-in.
I crawled out of my bed at 04:00, showered and dressed. I had got everything ready the night before: hat, sun-screened, lots of water in my rucksack. I left Di still slumbering and went for my Continental Breakfast. It turned out that there were only two of us from the Wilderness Lodge doing the Rim walk. We finish breakfast and meet up with our guide Ian and set off
for the start of the walk. As we roll along the road in a big 4x4, Ian is telling us about some A$19,000 of damage that one of the vehicles had sustained when hitting a Kangaroo. Just as he is speaking we spot two kangaroos in the half-light at the side of the road, luckily the kangaroos head off in the direction away from the road.
We arrive at the start of the walk and have to wait for three other people who will join us from the Kings Canyon Resort Hotel. They eventually arrive and we can set off. The first part of the walk is hard going to get up on to the Canyon rim, but we have a couple of stops and underfoot it is essentially steps – so it’s not too bad. The Rangers have put a lot of work into the walk circuit, any difficult parts of the walk has stone paths and steps, and on the canyon faces there are wooden steps. Ian explains how the formation was formed and tells us about the various, plants, how the Aborigines used the plants in various ways, he also describes the various wildlife that can
be found in the area.
The walk skirts the canyon rim, before coming on a place called the “Garden of Eden” which is a lush piece of vegetation and a natural pool and the head of a canyon. We finish the walk before the day has got too hot and arrive back at the lodge at around 10:00. Di is just arriving back from her walk along the canyon floor, which she has enjoyed.
We have until 11:30 when we need to be checked out of the lodge. We check out, go back to our “tent”. Do some sunbathing, leave our luggage to be picked, and after showering. Make our way to reception.
We now have a 5 hour bus ride to Alice Springs. Despite a couple of station stops it is still a long way by bus. We doze, read and I catch up with my Blog.
Eventually we arrive in Alice Springs, and check in to the Chifley Alice Spring Resort Hotel. We get showered and changed, and decide to take the recommendations of the coach guide Adam and try a bar called Bojangles, which is a bit like a frontier saloon bar. We have a
beer and dinner there. Di has Spaghetti Bolognese, she can't make out what the meat is, it is definitely not beef (I suspect it was Roo, poor Skippy!). We feel decided uneasy making our way back, and are glad to get back to the hotel - not the place to wander around after dark
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Hi Bernard, I hope this adventure you will remember your entire lifetime! Kings canyon is such a wonderful place for trekking; and the way you describe the place is simply superb. I think Alice Spring make this trip more significant. Enjoyed the story a lot, keep it up!