The Mereenie Loop Road

It was a quick brekky this morning before we threw a few clothes and supplies into the car for our overnight trip to Kings Canyon.   

Where are all the left shoes?
How does this happen?

Without solving this mystery, we waved goodbye to the caravan and set off to Glen Helen to purchase our permit to travel on the Mereenie Loop Road.

The Boot Piano

This was an interesting find at Glen Helen Resort.  Many keys are missing and the paint has chipped off in several places, but someone went to the effort of painting an Aboriginal design on it.  I could have found a home for the four right shoes I left back at the caravan!

The Mereenie Loop Road takes you through Aboriginal country, hence the need for the permit.  The road is unsealed but apart from the corrugations, it was pretty good.  It is a lovely 225 km drive through some beautiful desert country, certainly more appealing than the much longer detour along the sealed highway.

Most of the time was spent listening to our new audio book, Eragon, which Jack has declared is better than Harry Potter.  Big statement!!

Synopsis -

Fifteen-year-old Eragon believes that he is merely a poor farm boy - until his destiny as a Dragon Rider is revealed. Gifted with only an ancient sword, a loyal dragon, and sage advice from an old storyteller, Eragon is soon swept into a dangerous tapestry of magic, glory and power.  Now his choices could save - or destroy- the Empire.

Eragon and Sophira's adventures were interrupted a couple of times by the local wildlife.

 Caravans of camels
(yup, that's what they're called!)

 

And hundreds of brumbies

We arrived at Kings Canyon Resort by mid afternoon.  Calling this place a resort must be some kind of joke.  Unfortunately, it's the only place anywhere near the canyon that you are permitted to camp so we were forced to pay the $65 to sleep on the ground amongst the rubbish.  The sites were disgraceful, the pool dirty, and the camp kitchen shameful with just a filthy microwave and a gas oven that didn't work.  

It was just a case of making the most of it.  We set up and decided to cool off.



 Jack was up to his usual tricks.

Unfortunately, it was all a bit much for his injured finger.

Probably for the best.

He's putting it under his pillow to see if the tooth fairy will give him anything for it.

We had an early dinner in the company of the local dingoes.  We had to shoo them away when one got a little too close to Fletcher's toasted sandwich.

We watched the sunset over Kings Canyon

 

But soon enough, the boys lost interest in the sunset and regressed to sword fighting.

We left before we upset the chardonnay set.  We had an early night, knowing we had another early start in the morning.  With the combination of the stifling heat and sleeping in an ants nest, the dawn couldn't come early enough for me!