18th September 2023

Distance: 21 Km

Fuel: 38 Litres

Kings Creek Walk

Up a little after 6am before sunrise. Was woken by the young ones setting off on their trip to do the Kings Canyon Rim Walk.

My task for the day was less ambitious, I wanted to walk the Kings Creek Walk of about 2 km (there and back) on the canyon floor.

After having breakfast and getting yesterday’s washing on the line I drove to the car park where both walks commence. It was obvious that the Rim Walk was beyond me no matter how enthusiastic I was, the initial climb was a killer and far too steep for me! BTW the walk is one way only, you cannot turn back.

When I arrived I found myself behind a large school group but I needn’t have worried, they took off up the Rim Walk and apart from following them to the start of their walk I never saw them again. The Kings Creek Walk was lovely, the flat terrain though rock strewn it was relatively easy and I enjoyed every moment of it. There were only a few people on this walk and they either quickly passed me or were travelling in the opposite direction. It was a great morning’s walk.

When I finished the walk and returned to the car I found Andrew, he had left Geoff and Katie behind and was ready to go back to the campground.

By the time we got back to the campground it was still early morning so I called in at the servo to fill up with fuel, It seemed to take ages with a caravan blocking all the bowsers. Eventually I filled up and by the time I returned to the campsite so too had Katie and Geoff.

It was another hot day of over 35° so by 2pm we were already for the pub, the air con, a few drinks and many rounds of Exploding Kittens. The pub had happy hour from 3pm to 5pm which made things a bit cheaper  and we followed this with a meal but neither Uluru nor Kings Canyon Resort are cheap places to eat out.

That evening we made some preparations for leaving in the morning, Kate and Geoff are going to Alice Springs via  the Mereenie Loop while the rest of us are returning south the way we came. The bush fires at Tennant Creek and Barkly have meant a big change of plan for us because we originally intended returning home via Queensland.

One final moment – we  wandered to the edge of the campground from where we could see the coloured lights of another light installation done by the same artist who created the Field of Lights, pretty enough but not exciting.

17th September 2023

Distance: 310 Km

Not a very complex drive today, basically follow the Lassiter Highway until the Kings  Canyon turn off then follow that road to the resort.

Checked into the resort but took a wrong turn down a narrow, rocky lane and had to reverse. There was not much room to manoeuvre but after a few scrapes managed to get out.

Finally found the way to a site, very spacious sites it had to be said, with all of us together. once set up the boys went to the swimming pool before we went to the pub and had a few drinks and many games of Exploding Kittens.

Just before sunset we wandered over to the lookout to observe sunset at the canyon, another over rated sunset, then returned to the pub.

However, to be fair, it was a stunning view, sunset or not.

Just to give some idea of the climate this is the thermometer in the camper’s cabin.

As you can see the cabin temperature got as high as nearly 43°C (it was in the high 30s outside) and the humidity ranged from 10% to 25% – I told you it was dry!