CAMPSITE # 92 - A canyon fit for a King

On route to Kings Canyon, our first stop was to Ellery Creek Big Hole. As it was only 9.00 in the morning, we wished we had visited this place during the middle of a stinky hot day because the water hole just looked so inviting. We chickened out, and for me it was a great excuse because it is said to be one of the deepest watering holes in the MacDonnell Ranges... and I've heard way too many dreamtime stories about evil water serpents.

Tom spied some wild budgerigars ...  I realised I had only ever seen budgies in domestic cages. It was incredible how much more colourful the wild ones were and these ones were a lot smaller than any I've seen.

A wild Sturt Rose...

The 'Orche Pits' where aboriginals use dark red coloured rocks mixed with animal fat and water as paints and dyes.

We were heading towards Gosses Bluff & Kings Canyon... we had a lot of touring to squeeze in before we reached Uluru. The Mereenie Loop Road is an unsealed road that takes you from Alice Springs around to Kings Canyon. It was restricted to 4WDs only with high caution at some of the creek crossings. We were prepared for the worse. But other than some uncomfortable road corrugations, it wasn't too bad. To drive the Mereenie Loop Road, you must obtain a pass as you are entering Aboriginal Land, for $3.50 for per day. You are not allowed to consume alcohol while on this road or deviate from the road in anyway. It is said that there are still a high number of tribal aboriginals living in these areas. 

And some beautiful looking brumbies as well...

The Scientific Explanation of Gosses Bluff reads : About 140 million years ago an object from space, believed to be a comet about 600 metres across, crashed to earth. Now exposed by erosion, this area marks the point of impact where shock waves shattered the rock strata thousands of metres underground and stood them on end. While the crater itself has since been worn away, geological evidence indicates that it was at least 20km across. Today's land surface is about 2km lower than the original impact surface and the formation is about 5km in diameter, reduced over time by erosion.

However, the Western Arrernte Aboriginal people believe that Tnorala (Gosses Bluff) was formed when a group of women danced across the sky as the Milky Way. During this dance a mother put her baby to rest in its wooden baby carrier. The baby carrier toppled over the edge of the dancing area and crashed to earth where it became the circular rock was of Tnorala. 





We checked ourselves into...

Site : Kings Canyon Camping Ground
Rating : 5 / 20
Facilities : While this site was nice and well laid out with good facilities, it is ridiculously expensive. We paid $34 for an unpowered site. Why do they charge so much? Because they can! So, the negative three points for being over $30 is why they scored so low however, there is a swimming pool and you don't have to pay for showers. N.B. Photo from Kings Canyon website cause we forgot to take one ourselves.

It was a bright & early start the following day. It's always hard getting up before the sun but this time, it was worth it (even though it took me about 45mins to agree to that!) We drove the 10kms down the road to the walkway entrance of Kings Canyon. It's a rude awakening as the very first part is up the steep canyon walls which certainly take A LOT of breath out of you (particularly me!). But once you're up there watching the sun chase away the shadows over the plains, it is simply unforgettable. All in all, it's a 6km walk that took us just under 2 hours to complete, including stopping numerous times to take it all in.

Dear injured person,
while we appreciate that you have just hobbled all of the way to this emergency phone as we understand that you may be experiencing a life threatening situation, we haven't been arsed climbing all of the way to the top to fix the phone so please make your way back along the track, up and over the canyon in order to radio for emergency assistance.