Ayers Rock with 7yo son

John_Johnny

Long Timer

We pitched our little dome tent in Kings Canyon caravan park. Little Andy Pandy is amazing!

Uluru to Kings Canyon 304km
About halfway between Ayers Rock and Erldunda there's a turn off heading North to Kings Canyon. Other than returning the stones to Ayers Rock, there was no plan, no timetable, just making it up as we go along, so the locals at Yulara tell me that Kings Canyon is Australia's version of the Grand Canyon.
The road there is all sealed and like most roads I've encountered in NT, in excellent condition and NO speed limit! Whoo Hoo! A couple of hours into the trip I was ramping the speed up as there were no cars and the road was wide and straight but then we came to an unsigned left curve. It was only slight so I kept the speed on (and it was right up there) but the long sweeping bend just kept getting tighter. It caught me by surprise and at some point the lean on the bike passed that 'comfortable' stage to something where I feared the slightest twitch by Andy Pandy, or a few loose stones and we were gone. With my heart in my mouth, I stuck it out but boy oh boy I shat myself. Andy didn't know how close that was, but then again, maybe it was just me. For all I know, we could have been well within limits but it sure felt like we were gone. The Kings Canyon resort has various levels of accommodation from 5 star downwards. The camping area was beautiful so we set up our tent. This was one of the best camping/caravan parks I've ever seen.
Beautiful green grass, trees, great toilet/shower blocks.
See this link showing a site map... http://www.kingscanyonresort.com.au/Resort-Map.aspx

There was a kiosk at the entrance selling all the standard hamburgers, chips and stuff as well as groceries. When I walked in, blow me down, there was my arch enemy. A bloke I'd crossed swords with a few years back. We looked at each other, thought for a moment, then shook hands. There is something magical about this remote land. All was forgiven and we chatted for quite a while. He was now a teacher here, with mainly indigenous students. The aboriginal population here is high with lots of jobs in the tourism industry and the kids are all clean cut, well dressed and cheerful. Most pleasant. A stark contrast to that disgraceful Halls Creek and Fitzroy Crossing. We wandered all around the resort until bedtime. The upmarket 5 star accommodation was empty, but all the rooms were unlocked and open, with fully stocked mini bars there for the taking. Obviously Kings Canyon has honest residents or this stuff would walk. Andrew had his eyes on all the Mars Bars and Snickers sitting in the wicker baskets, but it was look, don't touch, besides, those mini bar prices are ridiculous. In the morning we're off to the Canyon. You can walk all the way around it and we plan to find the secret swimming holes at the bottom of the many waterfalls. I've heard there's a lot of back-to-nature skinny dipping going on there.
 

John_Johnny

Long Timer

^Should be safe here....I hope! We'll be gone for 4 hours.^






^Hamming it up for the camera.^


^I'm on top of the world.^
Imagine Dragons - On Top Of The World (Official M…: http://youtu.be/w5tWYmIOWGk


^The Garden of Eden swimming hole under a waterfall.^ Sorry, no nipples allowed on forum.

We rode out to the canyon nice and early before it got too hot. We were warned that the loop around the canyon can take 3 hours to walk.
I was a little nervous leaving my beloved BM in the car park, but the Canyon is quite a way from the resort and there doesn't seem to be any trouble around these parts.
We took the 6km rim walk and it was tough going. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kings_Canyon_(Northern_Territory)
You have to get over the heartbreak hill at the start, then we had quite a climb down to the swimming hole known as The Garden of Eden. It's no wonder the skinny dipping is popular here.....no one can get down there to perve. Well, I did, but there were no naked girls I'm afraid. Sorry to get your hopes up there. As requested by Willo, I have edited out the nipples.
 

John_Johnny

Long Timer

^Nice rock sculpture of the MacDonnell Ranges but who's idea was it to put the 'Tune into 87.6 FM' on it.^

Kings Canyon to Alice Springs 474km (The long way)

It's only 322km straight across via Hermannsburg but it's dirt so we back tracked down to the Lassiter Hwy and across to the Stuart Hwy at Erldunda. We setup the tent at the Big 4 MacDonnell Ranges. These ranges are steep and wrap themselves around Alice Springs. Maybe Alice was built here to take advantage of the wind break provided by the ranges. It couldn't have been because of the Todd River because there's no water in it. The dry river bed has groups of aborigines sitting around drinking. There was a grocery and liquor store just outside the caravan park and I had to stand in line while these people were constantly swiping their credit cards. Waiting for government money I presume, but I don't want to err on the wrong side of political correctness here. It must have been a Thursday morning, and sometimes there was an exclamation of "Bewdy mate" and a slab of VB and a wine cask was purchased. I didn't like what I saw.
To the North of the Big 4 there were rock wallabies bounding up the rocks with consummate ease. There was a bloke in the kiosk with lizards. Andy loved one lizard called Craig. He looked the same from both ends, sort of two headed. Apparently a clever design to fool your enemies. We had a look around Lasseters Casino, then settled for Pizza Hut. It was grubby with cockroaches and a floor covered in black smears from spilt Coke and Fanta that hadn't been cleaned up. Can't say I'm too impressed by this whole place, but at least I've been now as previously we only got as close as Tennant Creek on the Around Australia trip, and again close but no cigar on the bus trip from Pt Augusta to Ayers Rock. In the morning we'll head back South. Coober Pedy was impressive and I'm keen to look around the area. That underground backpackers lodge is really cool in both senses of the word and there is also the William Creek/ Oodnadatta mail run. It's heavily booked and only allows 8 passengers but I rang and put our names on the waiting list.
I reckon we can make Coober Pedy in one run and one stop but after you cross the border in SA you're back to speed limits.
 

John_Johnny

Long Timer


^Homeward bound. Great Southern Land.^ Note: Click on the photo to go to my photobucket page where you can browse all my other photos.

Alice Springs to Coober Pedy 688km

Nice easy ride. One quick stop at Marla for fuel. Great road. After our near death experience around these parts on the way up, I was keeping my eyes on approaching vehicles watching for any drifting off their line. There was actually very little traffic all day. We checked into the underground backpackers, same room, Swedish girls were still there, or maybe they were different and just looked the same. Went to a really good Greek cafe/restaurant for dinner. I rang the guy who does the mail run again but no luck. He rang back later and said one person agreed to pull out as he was a local and so there was a place for me and he would squeeze Andy in, so off to bed early tonight. Tomorrow it's William Creek and Oodnadatta.
 
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