Woke up early (at least somewhere in the world), said goodbye to our little tent haven and determined to leave no walk undone set off for the Kings Creek walk – the dry riverbed along the base of Kings Canyon.
It was a relatively short and easy walk but very beautiful with towering orange rock faces on either side and lush undergrowth thriving in the shade. A mix of beautiful ghost gums and various native shrubbery and grasses. Little pockets of wildflowers around the place.

After a quick refuel with coffee and toastiest we headed back towards Yulara aiming for Curtain Springs on the way. A largely uneventful drive except for helping out a tough old bird from Towoomba who had managed to get her car stuck in sand while doing a u turn at the entrance to the Red Centre Way. Fortunately no pushing/pulling required just some careful reversing/steering to get traction. She had hit a rock on the way in but all seemed to be ok to David (un) trained eye – he did look very knowledgeable as he lay on the ground in the dirt. I nodded a lot and provided encouragement.

Arrived at Curtain Springs just before 2. It’s in the middle of nowhere and quite quirky. after reading this sign we put our shirts back on quite quickly!

Like Kings Creek station it is a working station – a whopping 1 million acres that has diversified to include a paper mill in their old abbittoir and providing basic camping facilities and accomodation along with a general store and fuel. It was purchased by the family running it in the. 1950s. Pretty much every car/camper/caravan stops on their way through. David and I are staying in a very basic 70s style motel room, tiny and immaculately clean. Have been getting lots of attention from the 7 year old son of one of the workers who has very generously shared his whole life story – and everyone else’s – very cute.

Have checked out the dinner menu – as you’d expect steak features highly, so looking forward to a big nosh up -dinner served between 6 and 7 so we will have our appetites ready. And make su we have our shirts on!

Awoke at 5am to our friendly (or not?) dingo family prowling and howling around our tent. Too squibby, or sensible to poke our heads out and see how many there were but I could discern at least 4 and it sounded like there were also pups in tow – either way they made quite a racket.

It was a freezing night so was hard to step out of our warm bed but we managed it and were breakfasted and heading to the canyon just a few minutes after sunrise.

Next big decision was which walk to do. After much examination of the routes and the relative difficulty warnings we decided on the south rim walk – rated as 4.8km moderate (sounded more like us than 6km extremely difficult in places). We will do the canyon floor walk tomorrow. Being a ‘rim’ walk the first 500m or so was pretty much straight up- a bit of scrambling involved and some narrow ledges but mostly one long rock staircase albeit uneven. It was another thing altogether coming down of course.

The climb was definitely worth it – with every new turn revealing another view, and there’s no doubt that when it comes to views, higher is better. David was in photography heaven – his only remit was no photos of me from behind as I scrambled over rocks.

After the walk and a quick lunch at the Thirsty Dingo Hotel (gotta love outback names) we managed to secure one impromptu spot on a helicopter flight over the canyon- David went due to his superior photography skills and my preference to keep my feet on the ground. It was over in just a few minutes but he did the pictures proud.

Dinner once again at the Kings Creek Station eatery, at 5 with all the others needing to dive back to camp before sunset.

Said goodbye to both Ruth and Uluṟu this morning (at least for now) and started on the next leg of our adventure – to Kings Canyon.

We left Ayer’s Rock Resort at around 10.30 after inhaling one last ‘real’ coffee.  It was about a 300 km drive- on tarmac but narrow with few places to stop. 

We did find a place to pull over and photograph Mount Connor- yet another large table-like rock looming purple out of nowhere.

And of course we stopped for a brief roadside picnic. But otherwise it was full steam ahead.

The landscape was much more vegetated and undulating than we expected (we had expected uninterrupted red earth expanses). 

Arrived at Kings Creek station (beef & camel farm) around 2pm.  The station seems to be the gathering place for the whole region. The general store is the only one within 330k and the only fuel source.  

After checking in to our tented camp – beautiful canvas sided cabins with mesh sides to keep things cool- we set off on our first walk. Picked a shorty – 3.5km return to to Catherine Springs-as we had to be back to the general store for dinner and then back to our tent by sunset (rental cars are only insured to drive between sunrise and sunset here).

Dinner (at 5pm) was a chicken burger the size of Texas – decided I couldn’t go the camel burger when all its buddies were calling to me over the fence.

Am now sitting on the verandah of our tent with the sun gone down and a glass of red to ward off the looming cold listening to the howls of a pack of what we think are dingos. Definitely zipping the tent tonight.

No early sunrise, slept in and headed off on the dot of 9am to explore Kata Tjuṯa (formerly the Olga’s).

The ‘don’t risk your life’ sign was a bit off-putting but there’s safety in numbers and there were three of us so….

Took the falsely named ‘easier walk’ to the Waḻpa Gorge. A lot of mountain goating required but thankfully no ankle injuries- the hiking poles did their job.

Flush with success we went on to the supposedly harder Valley of the Winds walk which was a cinch – at least to the first  lookout- after seeing the steep rock face to the second we bailed.

Home for a quick regroup we put on all the clothes we owned – on top of r leach other- and off to the posh dinner (our one indulgence of the trip). Picked up from our hotel at 5. First stop was bubbles and canapés at the rock at sunset, followed by three course fine dining under the desert stars.  Menu included most of the wildlife Aus has to offer, infused with lemon myrtle, wattle-seed, saltbush and the like.

We were treated to live didgeridoo and a guided star gazing session.  But by far the most magical part of the night was walking through the field of lights- a light installation by Bruce Munro (British artist) which is literally an enormous field of 55,000 solar LED lights. Amazing!

Day 2: from sunrise to sunset

Today was a 24,000+ step day.

Another 5.40 alarm this morning to join the procession out to the rock to watch the sunrise. Some of the most spectacular views were from the car on the way there- we had underestimated the time it would take us to get through the park gates etc.  But even with the sun almost up the rock was magnificent.- changing colour with each new ray of light.

From there we struck an early start to the Ularu base walk.  When driving to the Mala carpark to the start off the walk we put our sun visas down to shield our eyes from the rising sun- only to have a MASSIVE spider drop in my lap. After not too much screaming we realised it was plastic! No doubt left by the very cheeky previous car renters!

After brief CPR, two (N&D) set off on the base walk while the other (R) did the two waterhole walks. ironically we all ended up doing the same number of steps.

It was amazing getting up so close to the rock and definitely worth the 3.5 hour walk.

Came back mid-afternoon to join the free didgeridoo lesson in the town square.. only males were allowed to actually play a didgeridoo due to cultural taboos but undeterred Ruth and I blurted our lips and managed to make a better sound than many of those that actually had a didgeridoo. 

Determined not to let a second of the day go to waste we did a quick turnaround and headed back to the rock for sunset.  We joined a cast of thousands all vying for prime position armed with cameras and tritrpods. Sadly the sun didn’t show her colours tonight but we had great photos nonetheless.

Finished the day once again with our baked potato all you can eat feast at the Outback hotel  with follow up dessert in the poolside restaurant at our hotel from the ridiculous to the sublime.

All in all another amazing day

Five- thirtywake up and after a seamless ride to the airport arrived 2.5 hours early and joined the long wait for our flight (which ended up being delayed a further 1 1/2 hours).

Eventually got on the plane and left Ruth in her palatial Row 1 seat while David and I languished with the masses in the southern-most corners of the plane.

David and I napped our way through the flight while Ruth chatted up the young 27yo next to her who said he had been working towards visiting the rock for 20 years. He couldn’t quite fathom our collective 180+ years of waiting.

Landed in Yulara around 2, picked up our vehicle (sadly not the cute little 2 door Jeep but the way more sensible Mitsubishi parked next to it).

We’re staying at Sails in the desert- beautiful spot with the nicest and most welcoming staff we’ve encountered in a long while.

Capitalised on the free local shuttle bus to stock  up on breakfast supplies, finally got our first look at the rock at the Naninga Lookout a short climb up from the AR campground.

Then on to the Outback Hotel /youth hostel where we have just partaken on the all you can eat baked potato and salad bar under the enormous canopy of the outdoor bar. Definite outback vibe here.

The place is filling up fast with live music due to start any minute. The staff are lighting gas heaters so it seems the desert freeze is about to roll in.

Hearty food, puffa jackets, wine and music – all bases covered!