Day 4 - Uluru to Kings Canyon

Dingo...

Kings Canyon at Night
Our Trusty Hiking Shoes

Olga's

Olgas, Mel and Loz

Olga's

Up and at ‘em early again this morning...Thought this was meant to be a holiday...ha ha...We were on the road leaving the campsite at about 630...a quick stop for petrol and the sun rising and we are on the way to the Olga’s. Through the magical boom gates to the National Park and away we go....
Up to the Dunes lookout and we get to see the Olga’s in full that and the flies, as we had been missing them dreadfully we needed to get our fix for the morning, plus the protein provided by inhaling these as you try and breathe is a key building block for nutritional requirements in the Red Centre. These rocks also take your breath away. They are dramatic and they are more then you would ever expect. The pictures and write ups you see before getting here just don’t do any justice. We left the Dunes lookout and heading around to the Valley of Winds. We took the leisurely stroll to the first lookout for an hour return trip, due to the extreme weather conditions in Central Oz at this time of year the larger walks are cancelled and the big red signs with black marks alert you to this, however it is only written in English so hopefully it works out for everyone. On our decent back to trusty Penelope we noticed the tourists decked out in Kathmandu attire and hiking boots, this came as a shock to us as we had our trusty thongs, shorts and hats, 350ml bottle of cordial, we were set!! Another harsh reality set in when we were the only people in a 300 km vicinity that did not own a fly net to wear over our heads, it even comes with camoflauge for your scalp so you blend in to the surroundings. Luckily before hitting this harsh reality about our attire we managed to take the beauty of it all in. Just speechless about the whole red centre even though we wash alot of it down the drain after we have been walking through it... the red dirt appears to have stained out feet ... If you have not been and get the chance to see it I would strongly encourage you to do it.
A quick toilet stop at the long drops. And a vegemite sandwich with fruit box and we are off to Walpa Gorge. Again another hour (return trip) stroll to the top of the hill. Completely different to the Valley of Winds but in the same place. Again just awesome to see...Loved every minute of the Olga’s now we just need to see her brother Maurice!
From here we went to the Dunes lookout for Ayres Rock and took some more photo’s. Got a last chance to admire the Rock and before moving on to King’s Canyon. We have so many pictures of ourselves with flies...they are like our friends...or sould I say our worst enemys that just won’t go away. THE FLIES ARE OUR NEMESIS!!! Even at The Olga’s the flies chose us over the camel shit...and we have showered everyday...sometimes twice a day...but when your’e on to a good thing why compromise
The trip out to King’s Canyon was smooth sailing. We stopped off at Curtin Springs. A one woman town. The Petrol station/general store/pub was all in one building. They had toilets and showers for Blokes and Sheilas. Very classy spot...We fuelled up and were on our way.
Now we have discovered the Australian desert doesn’t do things in small scale. King’s Canyon is huge. MASSIVE!!! No other way to describe it. Again we go and check in...find our camp spot and charge up the camera’s. Stop in at the general store to buy postcards and a tomato with some onion and pasta salad for sandwiches for lunch. Before heading off to do the ground walk at the canyon itself...the cute guy in the shop laughed at first as he thought we were going to attempt the Rim walk...It’s 46.7 degrees...we are not that stupid as to do a 3.5 hour walk around the top of the Canyon.
I had really high hopes for the Canyon, and the size of it and the beauty of the rock formations were fantastic. But the ground walk itself was not that great...the heat might have had something to do with it. We were dripping with sweat when we made it back to the van after an hour walk. There is Kings Creek running though the Canyon...and if it had water I’m sure it would be beautiful...But not today...slight correction........there was a puddle of water maybe stagnant looked like nothing we saw on the postcards though which just goes to show how water depleted we are in Oz at the moment.
As soon as we arrived back at the van we jumped straight into the pool. About an hour after we got in all the tours started rolling in. There is Mel swimming around going I’m a Crocodile and snapping her arms opened and closed like a true blue minda...when one of the tour guides clearly heard and says “you don’t look like much of a crocodile”...Slightly embarrassed to get caught in a moment of child like retardedness she retreats to the other end of the pool to pretend she is an otter and float on her back. Next tour rocks up and there are some chicks from somewhere in Eurpoe asking the other tour guide why we have so many tyres in the trees...His explanation was that it’s an Australian initiative to grow organic tyres in trees along the highways, and this was specificly for GM. They believed him for about 5 minutes before he fessed up and said just for decoration. Just like the trees with shoes and bottles along the way. Where we stayed for about 2 hours or more...Now this pool is massive...and very refreshing. Oh and spot the two Aussies in the pool...we had hats and t-shirts on and everyone else was wearing as little as possible...we did get a couple of strange looks...but hey we are not burnt...
2 minute noodles for Mel and rice for me for tea and a quick walk for a couple of photo’s and a couple of phone calls and we are done for the night, the moon was amazing over the Canyon... We have set ourselves up for the night...I’m in the camper writing this blog and Mel’s standing at the back being DJ for me and what should just decide to stroll on past but a Dingo...Disco Dingo was attracted by the fat tracks Mels was playing and wanted a bit of a Jive...Only to be cut short by Mel jumping over a board we have in the back of the van making her leap about 1 metre from the ground and me being a bit slow wondering what the hell was going on...Oh just a little wildlife popping in to say hello...there are signs everywhere saying they would be around and to not feed them and they can be dangerous so we had no idea what to expect... Now we were going to be sleeping with the back of the van open...Hopefully we see the morning...and will tell you more about our adventure to Alice tomorrow....
Oh yeah we have a change of plan too. Now it’s only Alice for one night and then Tennant Creek followed by Katherine and into Darwin on Friday...
Love you all. More tomorrow.