I slept well for most of the night. But come about 5.00 I started having weird dreams and didn’t really sleep well. At 6.00ish we were both awake and chatted for a bit; we could hear our neighbours were waking up (also in a campervan), but it was looking cold outside. We turned our electric heater on (we had paid for a powered site so wanted to get our moneys worth!) and got up a bit after 7. It was warm inside, but outside was fresh. It took a while to get started – not sure why, other than unfamiliar set up. But eventually my mushrooms were cooking, and then some bacon and eggs. The frypan wasn’t non-stick so I cooked with butter, but still made quite a mess of it. It still tasted great though!
After breakfast we had green tea, and Kaoru did the dishes. We decided not to bother taking the bed apart – we could eat outside tonight. So prepared our lunch, and left the campground a bit before 9.00. It was about a 10 minute drive back to Kings Canyon, and we started our walk just after 9.00. No idea what was in store, but we had heard several people say that Kings Canyon was more of a highlight than Ayers Rock. So we had plenty of water (I had a bit over 2 litres and Kaoru had about 1.5 litres), some mini mars bars, tiny teddy’s, and lunch, and off we went.
We were doing the full circuit walk which was supposed to be ~5km and 2-3 hours. It was a moderate grade walk so we knew it would be a bit of a challenge. It started with about 500 steps up. Our hearts were going, and luckily there were a few level areas to catch your breath on the way. We could see a large tour bus group starting below us when we were at about the 200 step mark. So we wanted to stay ahead of them for the rest of the walk!
It was beautiful as we meandered around the canyon. We kept being presented with the most amazing views. Every corner presented us with another unique view, and the cameras were going off constantly. There were a couple of “600 metre return” walks off the main walk which we did as well – we weren’t in any rush. One of these was to “The Garden Of Eden”, which was this beautiful little watering hole. We decided that was a good place to stop and have lunch – even though it was only 11.00. So we had cruskets and tuna, with cheese and vegies, while enjoying the serenity – only spoilt by the fact other noisy people where there.
Our walk continued for quite some time, and eventually we were presented with “view of the day”. This was absolutely amazing – we were looking back on a face we were standig on an hour or so earlier, which looked great then, but we didn’t know just how great. The fallen sandstone presented some amazing colours from the thousands / millions of years.
We continued around the South Ridge, which wasn’t as impressive as the North Ridge. And eventually we were back at the car. It had been just over 3 hours, including the stop we had taken. We had another crusket to complete our lunch, and casually got back in the car.
Our next stop was Kathleen Springs. We had seen it on the map back at Kings Canyon and it looked like a short walk that we could do. As we were approaching (it was only 15 minutes from Kings Canyon) I was starting to feel tired; so we decided to have a siesta before doing the walk. Unfortunately there was no shade at the car park, so we pulled over where we could (at least it was pretty empty) and jumped in the back, closed the curtains, and laid down. I was awake for a while, and then not long after going to sleep my watch beeped to say I had been inactive for too long. It had been about 30 minutes in total, so I considered that a powernap, and we got up to do the walk.
It wasn’t as impressive as the Kings Canyon walk, but it was nice walking through the gulley to the spring. It was about a 20 minute walk, but in the hot (27 degree) sun. I wouldn’t have wanted to be doing it any later in the year when it’s warmer. At the end we sat at the watering hole and took in the beauty before walking back to the vehicle. It was a much quieter place than Kings Canyon – as we got back to our car there was one other car in the carpark, of people just starting the hike.
We completed the next 15 minutes of driving, to Kings Creek Station, where we had already booked our accomodation. We got to our site, and because we were both quite warm (although had cooled down a bit with the air conditioning) we had a shower and really freshened up. According to the forecase from when we were back in Melbourne, this was going to be the last warm day of the trip. I had a beer and set up the outdoor table and chairs, to see just what we were given from Britz. It wasn’t too bad.
After Kaoru’s shower we had some cheese, salami, smoked salmon and biscuits. And I went and filled the car up so we didn’t have to worry about it tomorrow. We passed the time until 5.45, and then made our way up to a lookout point that was recommended to us at reception, for watching the sunset. It wasn’t as nice as last nights, but this time the actual sun set was beautiful, rather than the colours it was presenting on the mountains (although the colours were still quite special). There was a Japanese couple there who were on a large tour, so we had a chat to them on the way back – lots in Japanese (so more with Kaoru) but some in English, and me practicing my Japanese when I had something to say.
Back at camp Kaoru cooked pasta and meat sauce, and we had a couple of drinks. We set the heater up outside so it probably wasn’t doing much, but it was starting to cool down so we needed something while we wrote our diaries. Then it was off to visit our neighbours. They had a camp fire going, and also had Victorian plates on their car, so we said Hello and were invited to join them. They were probably about 5-10 years older than us – Mark and Alison – and lived in Bendigo. They were doing a 4 week trip – pretty much what our original plan was, although a few different places to visit on the way which I hadn’t considered. We sat up and enjoyed the warmth and company for a drink or two, but then thought we should hit the hay as we had an early start tomorrow. We went to bed about 10.00.