Majestic Kings Canyon

 

We successfully traversed the Mereenie Loop Road, 150km on the dirt, to arrive at Kings Canyon Resort in the Watarrka National Park. Sippy let the tyres down again to 35psi and we found the road in reasonably good condition and the journey quite comfortable. This was contrary to the posts we were reading on social media saying that the road was terrible and warning people to think twice. Perhaps we have travelled too many dirt roads of late?? We saw plenty of wild brumbies along the track and a dead snake, but no camels.

The resort had undergone significant renovations since our previous visit 7 years ago and we were lucky enough to be allocated one of the new sites with a pretty good view of the range. We were also delighted that the sunset viewing platform had been upgraded, now inclusive of a permanent bar. We enjoyed two nights watching the sun set over the ranges, turning them orange, whilst listening to some great live music and enjoying a sparkling wine. The Dirty Dingo Bar and Bistro also served a great schnitty and a delicious sous vide lamb rump with mushroom gravy. We did manage to cook one night …

We again marvelled at the absolutely awesome views along the 6km Canyon Rim Walk and thought the steep climb up was actually easier than 7 years ago…. Go us! This time we didn’t miss the Garden of Eden – a definite highlight of this walk, with its impressive flora and deep, spiritual waterhole at the end of the garden along the canyon floor. We enjoyed a lovely half hour of quiet time and a snack break at the edge of the pool before climbing back out of the valley for sensational views of the steep cliffs from the other side. We made sure we were way back from the edge – it’s a long way down…

The next day we headed back out to the canyon to complete the 2km Kings Creek Walk and in the afternoon we loved our ‘family catch-up’ via messenger for Mother’s Day. It was great to chat to Mum, Dad, Hayden, Maddie, Bree and Kieren. Even Eb made an appearance with her bandaged feet (after too much fun on the tennis court that morning removed the pads from her little paws …. silly dog).

As we headed to Uluru on Monday morning, we made a stop at Kathleen Springs for the 2.6km walk to the spring-fed waterhole at the head of Kathleen Gorge. It was interesting to read the signs along the track telling the story of Aboriginal culture and cattle mustering that occurred from the 1890’s. After approx. 160km we turned onto the Lassiter Highway, stopping for a view of Mt Connor (the fake rock before the real rock) and finally 50kms out of Yalara we caught the view of the inspiring Uluru. We had made it to Central Australia!