Mon 10 Oct – Tues 11 Oct 2011 – ‘The Canyon’

We left Ormiston Gorge around 10am and called into Glen Helen again to ‘put some’ fuel in.  $2-10 a litre made me cringe, but only needed 20L  - still, I told the girl who was in charge of the pump that it must be broken cos the $’s & L’s are the wrong way around!  It was also better than the $2-19/L that they sting you for at Kings Canyon! 

So, we were on the road again (bit early for that cliché’ I know).  We stopped in at Gosses bluff, which is a massive crater left by a comet that crashed to earth a very long time ago..   The road sign in said ‘4wd only’…  red rag to a bull for me, as long as you could turn around at the end.   We drove in on the sandy, then rocky road and didn’t realise that we had actually driven into the centre of the crater until we got to the picnic area at the end of the road.  We didn’t drop down into it or anything, must have passed through a gap in the wall, as the crater base was the same level as the ground outside it.   Must check it out on google earth – would be interesting.

Anyways – back out on the main road, and then we hit the 150km section of dirt road that is the Mereenie loop.   I had aired down the tyres for this trip, (for those that care, front down from 40psi to 27, back 45psi to 31, camper 40psi to 28).   This would ensure that I did not shake the whole kit to bits and give a better ride, but also meant not going over 80km/hr to avoid overheating tyre sidewalls.  Not an issue – not in a hurry.

It was a pretty scenic drive, and the road was in good nick, with only a few bad corrugations that slowed you right down, but most of the road could be done at speed (80 in my case). 

We arrived at Kings Canyon at around 2-30pm, and booked in 2 nights at the only campground there.   We then set of later in the day, just before sunset to do a short 2.4km walk up the valley of the Canyon.  This was a good time to do it , as the setting sun provided a glow on the canyon walls.

Next morning, we were up early to start the main 6km Canyon rim walk.   We set of at about qtr to 7 and did the hike straight up to the top and around, with drop into the ‘garden of eden’ thrown in the mix too.

This is by far the most impressive walk we have done – just amazing.....



The walls of the Gosses bluff crater in the distance

inside the 'crater'

At the base of the climb up to the rim of Kings Canyon

Ready for the climb up 'heart attack hill'.   Didn't stop Scott from talking all the way up....

How fit are we!!!

atop the Canyon, with cliff behind...

Follow me, I know where I'm going...

Not the place to walk around in the dark....

That night, we started to get a bit of a lightning show in the distance…..last time we had that, it got a bit blowy, so I wasn’t taking any chances again.   Out came the ratchet straps around the camper, only this time, we had the awning up too, so had to baton that down as well.   Nothing happened for a few hours, and then Bang! It hit….when these storms out here hit, they arrive with a massive howl of wind for a few minutes before settling down.   Those first few minutes wreck havoc    Everything held together OK, but the boys were terrified, so told them to get in the car with Mum while I stood inside bracing the roof and still hoped the awning ropes held – they did, thanks to man-size pegs...

Looking out the window was not dissimilar to a mini-cyclone, with horizontal rain streaming past the camp ground lights, caravan awnings flipping up everywhere (glad I didn’t have a fiamma wind-out awning).