24:12.26 S  132:13.63 E

Kings Canyon

16-17^th July 2007-07-22

The 425 kms drive from Alice Springs to Kings Canyon gave us a good feel for driving out in the desert, thank goodness we had a sealed road for this part of the journey

We finally saw the Emu

At our first stop along Stuart  Highway at the Eridunda Roadhouse

Its no wonder they are hard to see in the wild, look how they are blended into the ground colour with these Euro wallabies

This roadside stop was our first experience of swatting the flies around our face whilst we had our

picnic lunch outside.  They had a lot of aboriginal art for sale inside, from the local settlement nearby,

The only form of income the villagers can hope for.

This ariel view of the Kings Canyon range gives more of an idea of the country we were driving alongside

These melons were prolific along the roadside, bush tucker a plenty!

Kings Canyon was like a mini Bungle Bungle area.  The soft sandstone has been worn away by roaring

Waterfalls which sculpted all these wonderful forms and gorges 300 million years ago, now there are just a few pockets of water left, with the lush tropical vegetation which would have been windespread at the time.

The ghost gum eucalyptus hangs on to the side of the rocks, sending its roots down into the crevices for water

David is brave standing on this thin ledge at the edge of the canyon

It seemed a tough climb up to the top of this ridge, but the mountain side had been cut away with easy steps – cheating for us the effort we thought we might need to get there!  The views from the top of course are worth the effort :

A good soak in our spa bath after the climb back down was one of the best hotel (Kings Canyon Resort) experiences of the whole journey.

A couple of wild dingo dogs walked right past our window, searching for food in the nooks and crannies