We left the beauty of The Rock, and headed east back to the turnoff for Kings Canyon. The trees in this whole area are mainly Sheoaks, but not mop-top shaped. They are more like tall columns of foliage, and there’s little undergrowth. I’m doing a series of videos of our scenery to put up – but haven’t come across enough power and reception simultaneously – yet.
Moving on – Kings Canyon.
Truly stunning. (I’m sure I’ll run out of superlatives soon).

We started the 6km walk around the rim about 3.30pm, so the afternoon sun light made for some great photos.
This area was only declared as Watarrka National Park in 1989. The gorge itself is about 1km long, and at the end is the lush Garden of Eden, where heaps of different plants (including the ancient Cycads) enjoy the moisture and cool at the foot of the cliffs.

Fergus took this great shot:

The red and orange of the sandstone cliffs certainly rivals Uluru in the late afternoon sun.

Now there’s two things I really don’t like. Crowds and cliff edges. I can’t say Kings Canyon was crowded, but it certainly tested me on the cliff thing because there’s a whole lot of unprotected cliff edges. The Fun Police have left the public to their own devices!
Here’s Ferg taking a peak and making my stomach churn.

And watch this video for more alarming stuff!

And Harry made an equally harrowing video. At least he said it was scary.

Occasionally, I managed to keep the boys away from the edge for a nice photo. Here’s Harry, pretending to be an angel.

Once we got round to the other side, the boys really sent me into a spin. First, I’ll show you this.

And now this is where they were “in the scheme of things”.

Now, will some other mothers out there please tell that I’m not being unreasonable about this edge thing? Comments please.
And I’ll just add one last photo – mini tripod assisted – the family shot. I didn’t quite realise I’d be looking straight into the sun when I set it up!

That would be Rolling round the Rock on bikes! After John had a spin round the circuit walking track the other morning on his bike, he found that the Fun Police have realigned the track to be quite distant from the Rock around the north-east side. We know this because John has brought with us many maps from previous trips! So the 1987 map tells the tale of how it used to be.
To avoid the boring bit, John dropped the rest of us at one point with the bikes, and drove the car back to the car park and ran round to meet us.

John’s bike riding mates reading this will see that Ferg has stepped up to John’s bike (the seat won’t go any lower!), Harry moved up to Ferg’s bike, and I got MY bike back from Harry. It sure was better riding 6km than walking. Now Ferg wants a carbon fibre bike too.
You get up close and personal with the rock wall. There are numerous caves, amazing rock formations, aboriginal paintings on the walls and some permanent water pools.

It was a perfect morning, still a bit chilly in the shade, and no wind.

I took a moment to rest my weary knees on one of these handmade timber seats.

The Boy Team (that’s everyone except me and my knees) did a short walk into Walpa Gorge.


The photo above gives some perspective to the size of the towering sides to the Gorge. You can just see John (in blue) taking a photo of Harry (in red) at the bottom of the pic. Click on the pic to enlarge.
And next is one of Harry’s photos.

Last memory of Kata Tjuta……..

Maybe we’ll be back in another 20 years!

Well the overflow camping area emptied out with an exodus of cars off to see the sunrise show bright and early. It’s 20km from Yulara to Uluru, plus the anxiety of getting a spot in The Car Park. We left them to it and skipped the crowds. John rode out to The Rock and did a circuit round it, which we will do together tomorrow.
But today was Kata Tjuta day. The best walk to do is the Valley of the Winds – about 7.5km in a loop. This walk takes you between the big boulders, with great views all the way. My knees are screaming with frustration at having to do this walk, but I’ll settle the argument with a bag of frozen peas later this evening.
Here’s a couple of pics from this morning.


And I like this one – it has heaps of beautiful purple wildflowers in the foreground.

The birds have been singing everywhere we’ve stayed so far, and on this walk we found these Budgerigars. Can’t be more specific. I’ve let my bird watching skills drop since Africa.

The frenzy of the sunset snappers goes into overdrive round these parts as the afternoon nears a close. There are huge designated “Sunset Viewing” car parks – separate ones for cars and buses! We came close to losing Harry (unsuccessful attempt) at the Cultural Centre just before sunset, and ended up parking out on the road, rather than near the throng in the car park. Nice move. Thanks for getting lost Harry!
And sunset delivered – big time. Harry took this photo.

I really don’t think the photos do the colour justice. The red colour comes from the rusting of the iron content in the sandstone of the Rock.

Although this isn’t the prime time for seeing wild flowers, there are still plenty around to impress.