Kings Canyon - simply breathtaking

Yes we are still alive, we've just been really outback at Kings Creek Station without any signal for anything...even Telstra!

On from Alice we travelled and Vince was keen to take the road less travelled so we headed for the dirt. We were keen to view the Henbury Craters, where some thousands of years ago meteorites landed on Earth and formed gigantic craters. It was incredible to view except the wind was blowing a gale & it was bitterly cold so we decided to continue to Kings Ck Station and set up camp.

When we arrived at camp it wasn't what we had expected but we had a shelter to do our cooking and washing up and we had a "lush" grassed site amongst the red sand. It had potential to be a great bush camp, even though it was a 200m dash to the amenities! The blokes went out foraging for firewood as Vinnie was determined to have a campfire. We used our bikes to travel to and from the ablutions as they were quite a distance from the campsite. The plan was to travel 40km to the Canyon and complete the four hour rim walk the following day. Charlie cooked a superb meal and we,quite rightly, "ate like Kings" - although the canyon wasn't named after a king but a regular person who sponsored one of the early explorers of the region.

It was a cold night and we were determined to stay in our tent until the sun warmed it the next morning so we set out later in the morning after we had thawed out and eaten a king's breakfast!

The Canyon was stunning, absolutely amazing. I'm running out of adjectives! The rim walk began with a steep climb up some steps which had me reaching for my puffer and the rest of us stopping to catch our breath. The rock formations changed at every turn and we were amazed to learn that tourists only began to come here in the 1960s. The local aborigines, the luritja people, saw the first white people in the 1890s. The story of the growth of tourism is quite an interesting tale but would take quite some time to tell so I'll wait till we return home.

We were all awe-struck with the beauty of the area and were pleased that we had booked a 4 night stay. Vinnie was anxious about fuel as the diesel pump at the King's Canyon Resort had broken down and no diesel was available. Fortunately we were carrying 40L of diesel so it wasn't an emergency. Thanks goodness for Vinnie's foresight and planning, however we didn't end up needing it because the pumps were fixed the next day.

The next day we awoke to find frost on the tent. That early morning dash to the ablutions was put off as long as possible!! Thank goodness for the sub-zero sleeping bags Ben!

Zelinda had hired a bike for a week while we were in Alice so we decided to ride the 40km return journey to Simpsons Gap. It had warmed up so we bared our legs and set off. It was a pleasant ride and we enjoyed reading the history both indigenous and white on the well posted track. We headed back to camp for some reading and an early shower before the temperature dropped.

Friends & family, thanks for your comments both on the blog and emails. Matt, I hope you're keeping the class up to date and that you're learning lots with Mrs Sanderson while I'm away.

Cheers to all.