Kings Canyon

The alarm sounded before first light, around 4.45am.  It felt like I'd just gotten to sleep after spending most of the night fighting off the colony of ants I'd bedded down with.  This time we didn't even have to get dressed as we had all slept in our clothes.  So it was straight into the car for our much anticipated trek into one of Australia's national treasures.  Kings Canyon.

While Kings Canyon wasn't always on the map of must see places, it has enchanted people for millions of years.  The impressive Rim Walk begins with a challenging 500 step climb. 

 Here we can see how impressed Jarrah is!

 

But it was worth every single step. Upon reaching the summit at sunrise, we were treated to breathtaking views of Watarrka National Park and stunning and ever changing colours of the canyon.

 

We walked around the rim of the canyon's sandstone walls.  Small cracks in these walls have eroded over time eroded to create the spectacular canyons of today.

 

 

Jarrah standing a little too close to the edge of the canyon!

 

The walk has some amazing points of view looking out and over the white and red sandstone cliffs of the canyon, also allowing you to (carefully) look down over the sheer 270 metre cliffs edges.

 

Laid flat on my belly to take this shot over the edge!

 

A jarrah staircase then took us down into the chasm, between the sandstone cliffs and into the Garden of Eden.   Here we found a natural spring waterhole surrounded by local and exotic plants and trees such as river red gums, clover-like ferns, floating pondweed and 400 year old cycads.





The Garden of Eden

 

The sandstone domes that are prevalent throughout the canyon resemble bee-hives in appearance, reminding me very much of Western Australia's Bungle Bungles at Purnululu National Park.

 Despite the long trek, the boys still had the energy to chase the many long nosed dragons, or ta-ta lizards, back into their holes.

 

It was hot by the time we returned to the car park at 9am.  In three and a half hours we had covered a total of 7.2 kms and Fletcher had walked the entire trek!  Very impressive on those little legs! 

We made our way back to the campground for brekky.  We threw everything in the car and hit the pool.

It was a great way to relax and cool off after the tough walk. 

Before we left Jarrah couldn't resist spending some of his birthday money on a snuggly souvenir!  

Meet Kai the Camel

We refuelled the car, treated ourselves to lemonade icy poles and hit the road!  The drive back to the West Macs was peaceful, with entertainment by Eragon, wild camels, brumbies and even a wild donkey.

We were home by mid afternoon, though it seemed later.  Ravenous and exhausted, we ate dinner at 4.30pm.  We enjoyed a twilight swim in the water hole to finish off the day.

The boys - big and small - were in bed early so I spent the evening outside enjoying the tranquility, the cool breeze and my new book, the only interruption being a stray dingo who wandered through the camp at about 10pm.