June 21st-23rd, 2011- Kings Canyon Resort

Tuesday June 21st saw us travel back part way along the Lassiter Highway and then north to Kings Canyon Resort. About a 300Km trip on sealed but narrow road. We saw a number of wild camels and horses along the way. We arrived around noon and checked into the caravan park at the Resort. While the location was beautiful the Resort did not score well in our books. The reception and general store both stunk of mice. The amenities were complete but disgustingly dirty and didn't improve during our 3 day stay. We left very negative feedback at the front desk. Suffice it to say this was the most expensive location so far at $42/night and the dirtiest. Even some of the free campsites we stayed at were cleaner. Everything was also very expensive (diesel $2.20/litre).  Well enough of our winge and on to the highlights of the location.
We went on a short walk around the resort in the early afternoon. It is a built on rock and was a rough but interesting walk. The day was beautiful and the forecast wasn't too good for the next day so we decided to take our planned helicoper trip that afternoon. The Ransleys, Sandra, Diane, and I all went on a 15 minute flight over Kings Canyon. We went in two separate trips with Sandra and I on the first trip. It was amazing and of course we have a number of wonderful photos. The other three enjoyed their flight just as much. We all couldn't stop talking about it that night.

Wednesday morning was cloudy and windy which was our first cloudy day since Broken Hill I think. As such we decided to postpone the Kings Canyon Rim Walk for a day. All six of us enjoyed a short walk at Kathleen Creek which was very easy and nice in the morning. We returned to campground for lunch and as the weather had cleared up somewhat we decided to do the Kings Canyon base walk in the afternoon.

 We (less Terry) spent an enjoyable 1.5 hours walking to the end of the Canyon along the base. It was a fairly easy walk with a beautiful waterhole at the end of it. Once again the vegetation was incredible and totally unexpected for this part of the world. We thoroughly enjoyed and all went to bed hoping for great weather in the morning to do the Rim Walk.

Thursday morning was cool with some wind; but mostly sunny and clear. The six of us travelled to the Canyon again to do the walk. Terry did the base walk while the other five attacked the Rim Walk. It was a tough walk with a steep climb to begin with. Diane was quite uncomfortable with the climb but with all our help made it to the top. The majority of the rest of the walk is more level with a more gradual descent at the other end. The scenery as expected was incredible, although somewhat scary in parts. I ventured on a few sidetracks by myself as the others weren't as adventuresome with heights. Even I was somewhat nervous at stages as the edges are unguarded and the first wrong step would be a doozie to say the least. Coloring of the rock and vegetation was out of this world. The Garden of Eden was also spectacular and a surprise. You descend into a section of the Canyon via steep stairs and find a river/waterhole with lush tropical plant life. Of course this meant we had to walk up again to complete the walk. Well worth the extra effort. We all made it to the end and as you can see below Di was quite happy to be back at the bottom!

We had therefore experienced the Canyon from the Air, the Base, and the Rim. All offered a different but spectacular perspective. Some people had said there was nothing to do other than the Rim Walk and we shouldn't waste more than a day at Kings Canyon. Although the caravan park was not that good I would certainly recommend taking at least a few days and enjoy the Canyon and surrounding area from a variety of perspectives. A must see in any trip around Australia!