9. – 12. July

Kings Canyon or Watarrka National Park

Then we were on our way to the next stop: King’s Canyon. We did the Kathleen Spring Walk which leads to permanent waterhole. This walk is completely sealed so you could push a wheel-chair. At the waterhole was lots of green and lush vegetation but not many wildlife. And you couldn’t spot any bubbles or other signs of the spring so we returned to camp and waited until the slide show with the ranger began.

The Northern Territory Parks and Wildlife rangers offer a lot of activities during high season like guided walks, camp fire talks, track reading and slide shows. Luckily the slide show in the King’s Canyon resort is Fridays so we won’t miss it. The show is called “Watarrka (King’s Canyon) exposed” and lasted one hour. We saw several pictures of the Canyon (including sites not accessible anymore) and the ranges spoke about the creation of the canyon as well as about the importance for the wildlife and the three different bio-diversity areas (ranges, valleys and desert). He also mentioned what their daily duties are: patrolling the walks, ensuring the fences are intact, conserve the endangered Mala and get the feral pests (cats, dogs, camels) under control. The Mala is a little animal nearly extinct in the wild. It lives under spinifex bushes and was an easy target for cats. They live now in a 1km2 enclosure and hopefully they start breeding and can be released into the wild – this reminded me of the Bilby enclosure. He also mentioned that the dingo is a naturalised species – which means it didn’t evolve here but has lived for such a long time that it could be called a native species.

 Next day was the time for another longer walk – our legs had rested long enough. We did the Kings Canyon Rim Walk which should take around 4hours to complete. We started early and had to climb some stairs (500). These stairs are man-made just hammered into the stone  so they were uneven, steep and had different heights. There are even some stories that step 300 is called the “vomit step” – luckily we saw it as a normal step. After the steps you have good views into the canyon as well as to the carpark – if you would have a yellow car you’re guaranteed to see it. We went on and had a look at the flowers (Mala Mala was still in flower and the so-called Umbrella trees were nice to look at). At several places you could see the wave profile – some kind of proof that Australia was covered by water long, long time ago.

Then we came to the Jack Cotterill lookout and had to cross a narrow gap but luckily there was a bridge (original build by Jack Cotterill in 1960 but in the meantime replaced). From that lookout you had fantastic views into the canyon as well as to the waterfall and the top of “Garden of Eden”. You really had to be careful where to step as some rocks were just 20cm thick and then a sheer drop of 150m. It should be a good idea to keep away from the edge (but where would be the adventure…).

Next we entered the area called “Garden of Eden” by climbing some wooden steps down. This area must be really nice on a hot summer day as it’s boosted with lush vegetation and has a permanent water. But we arrived in winter on a cool day so it was nice but not as refreshing and amazing as the other places were green as well. But anyway we walked down into the garden and had the company from some Spinifex pigeon. This pigeon is travelling in a group, so if you see one sooner or later the others will follow. And exactly the same happened.

We followed the path onto the other side of the canyon and had a look at the rim wall we walked earlier. The thin layers of rock look more dangerous from this side… and the geologist are sure that the next rock slide must happen soon – it’s already overdue by 30 years. I don’t want to be near it…

Back at the resort we did the little resort walk which is like a little rim walk it self. You walk around the hotels and could walk to a good place to watch the sunset.

We left Kings Canyon via the Mereenie Loop Road, we wanted to have a look at the Gosse Bluff. This road is (of course or should I say still) unsealed. Although there was a little bit of rain the other day, the people drove crazy. One caravan overtook us and sped away. But we came close at every muddy section. And he pushed the gas pedal down. Anyway he didn’t go to the Gosse Bluff.

Gosse Bluff is a big crater formed by a comet million of years ago. Scientist believe that a comet (600m in diameter) crashed to earth and created the crater which should have been 20km in diameter but today it’s only 5km. The Aboriginal belief is similar – it says that a baby in a wooden crate fell to earth and created the crater on impact. They say that the parents are still looking for their baby (parents should be the morning and evening star).

We camped again at the 2Mile 4WD camping area at the Finke river. The rainfall caused the river to have much more water, also visible as more water was over the road. This time we had a look at the Glen Helen Gorge (one of three gaps on the southern side of the West MacDonnell). But we could only have a look from the distance as it was full with water.

Cheers,

Tom and Anja