Day 130 - Sunday - 7 May - Knigs Canyon

Day 130

Sunday

7 May 2017

Kings Canyon

The 7am alarm had us up and on the move, ready for our morning of hiking through Kings Canyon. The sun was just setting a golden glow across the skyline and there was a cool, brisk breeze wafting over camp.  The sergeant calls of the high school teacher marshalling his troops could be heard over the sounds of campers readying themselves for departure.

We had our breakfast, did a quick clean up and then were ready to make our way to the canyon. We pulled into the car park and were on the trail for 8am. WE had been told the initial start of the walk was a killer; a steep walk up the rock face to the rim and from the bottom all we could do was look up and see the path laid out before us. All right lets go!

The climb was indeed a challenge, requiring you to keep your eyes on your feet and watch the stones you were passing over. Bench seats half way up offered a good spot to take some photos before continuing the climb, finally making it to the rim 15min later. A pretty good effort we thought and apart from the drumming heart and the heavy breathing, we were doing ok.

We followed the blue arrows indicating the “path” to follow. We marvelled again at the colours splayed out in front of us, glowing in the morning sun. It was just stunning. We made our way to the Cotteril Falls path to the lookout, opting to take the extra 600m to check out the view into the Garden of Eden and the waterhole below. We marvelled at the sheer cliffs opposite and the drop into the canyon. Tour groups on the opposite side were busy taking photos.

We returned via the same path and then continued to follow the blue markers. We passed a section of stone that looked like the sand of a seabed, evidence of the ancient inland sea that once passed over the land. The stone behind was stacked in neat wedges, different to that of Uluru and the Olgas.

We descended stairs and crossed a bridge from where we could see into the Garden of Eden. We climbed more stairs on the opposite side and then took the path into the Garden of Eden, making it all the way to the waterhole we had seen from above. It was so peaceful in this spot that we shared with two older ladies.  I happily wandered, taking in the beauty of the space.

Fortunately, we were on our way back when a large tour group came crashing through, spoiling the serenity. Back up another set of steep stairs where we continued the rim walk. The sun was warming things up, but the breeze was keeping us nice and cool and the flies at bay thankfully.

We meandered along the south side of the rim finding the lookout we had seen others standing at earlier and gave us a great view of the sheer cliff face and the evidence of rock crashing to the floor below.

The path lead us to the sandstone domes that have horizontal stripes of colour and from a distance appear a little like the Bungle Bungles. There were so many of them peering out from the distance. They were once ancient sand dunes.

Finally as we rounded a corner we spied the car park in the distance and then a sign saying 1km to go, from here it was all down hill and a fairly easy route back, 3 hours later.

We were back at the van by 11.10am and ready to relax for the afternoon. The place had cleared of many vans and now the dingoes were in to pick through the sites for morsels they could eat. I got busy with the photos and Paul read, happy to unwind for an hour.

We put the car on the trailer and then had lunch. We were happy to spend the afternoon reading and recovering, though by 3pm we needed to get up and go for a walk to prevent our legs from stiffening up. We did a lap around the back of the park, returning to Bruce and Denise for a chat about our adventures. We then continued our walk on to the Thirsty Dingo Bar, where we stopped in for a drink.

Bruce and Denise joined us shortly after, so we stayed for another enjoying their company.

We opted to return to the van for dinner, but detoured via Bruce’s van only to see another Avida Eyre parked, so we all went over to introduce ourselves to Vi and Trevor. I left Paul to it, while I went to take some photos from the sunset lookout platform, but returned as the light faded. It was a little easier to get photos tonight, not having to fight through the school group.

We eventually returned to our van to organise dinner, only to find our sweet potato had been partially chewed. Hmm. I smell a rat. Well maybe a mouse, but a problem all the same and probably the culprit that woke me in the middle of the night as it scurried over my exposed arm.

After dinner, we returned to the Bar to listen to the one-man band “Brett”. He was singing good old classics that we could sing along to. Bruce was already in the bar, but his wife had opted to stay in. The smell of the food also brought in a wily dingo. We couldn’t believe how brazen it was. It obviously found food easily as it was in very good condition and large and unlike the others we had seen that were motley and more likely crossed with wild dogs, this one appeared to be all dingo.

Not long after Vi and Trev joined us as well and we enjoyed the evening chatting and swapping stories. Hopefully we will catch Vi and Trev at their home near Townsville as we pass through.

At 9.30pm we were kicked out of the bar, we made our farewells and returned to our van, the howling call of dingoes could be heard in the distance as we wandered back to the van. Once there we were ready to call it a night.