The drive from Uluru to Kings Canyon took us quite a long time – mainly due to the fact that my family would stop and rescue any lizards that they saw on the road! We saw our first (live!) Thorny Devil quite early on and stopped to take photographs before ‘encouraging’ it to move off the road. This attracted quite a bit of attention and before long we had another 4 cars stopped and a group of about 20 people standing around snapping photos and helping in the ‘rescue operation’!
We stopped at Kings Creek Station first and the girls had a 30 minute camel ride through the bush which they thought was great. (Didn’t get many photos though as Mum and Dad were too busy having a ‘real’ coffee and missed them coming back!)
After sunset that night we went to a great Ranger Talk about the flora and fauna of the area.
Early next morning we set off on the magnificent Rim Walk around the top of Kings Canyon. This 6 km walk was amazing. At first it was a steep climb to the top which the ‘mountain goats’ loved and then a gorgeous walk around looking down the sheer cliffs into the canyon, at the beehive domes on top and at some VERY old cycads. We normally do walks quite a bit quicker than the stated time but this one took quite a bit longer as certain members of the family looked in every nook trying to see a Stimson’s Python to no avail! Again, this is a place that is hard to photograph – it’s so vast and beautiful that the photos don’t do it justice.
In the afternoon we did the walk along the creek at the bottom of the canyon with the ranger which was good also. The wildflowers are incredible – apparently better than they have been for over 10 years. And everything is so green – if we came back in a couple of years it would look completely different.
That evening we had a BBQ at a different sunset viewing place.
Next day we went to Kathleen Springs nearby. It was pretty with lots of wildflowers but not as good as the walks the day before. We did see two snakes though bringing our total to 16. (Not counting the one we saw on the road between Uluru and Kings Canyon which was alive when Mal drove past but by the time he turned around to show everyone else a big tour bus had flown past and……..let’s just say it wasn’t alive any more!)
Back to Kings Creek Station and Mal went on a hour’s Quad Bike ride out into the bush and came back absolutely covered in dust but smiling! (Boys will be boys!)
We spent the rest of the day reading, doing journals and swimming enjoying the last of the warm weather before we head south……….none of us really want to start ‘going home’ but as we are due back at work and school next Monday and are still about 3000kms from home we really did need to think about it!
Oh no! The Aussie Adventure is almost at the end. I’ll miss all of your beautiful pictures (although, I can’t say I’ll miss any snake pictures LOL.) You MUST bring your girls to our national parks in the SW US — they look so much like your pictures!
Oh wow – Where does time go?? Oh you’ll have the most wonderful memories from this trip (& lots of red dust accompanying you home I’m sure!!) Haven’t you just had the most fantastic journey!!! Thanks for sharing it online along the way! I feel as if I’ve had a little holiday each time I’ve read your updates, and looked at all your photos!
Safe travelling back home. Take care. Lots of Love, Moira xxxxx