Friday 24th August 207: With not much planned for today, it was a bit of do as you wish at the time that you want to. Sally and I went for a walk around the Campground while the others did their own thing. We had a look at the camel rides but decided to wait until we reach Alice Springs where we hope to take a camel ride down the Todd River. Soon it was time for our final look around Eyres Rock which included more photos. Bruce, Malcolm and I climbed up part of the Rock before taking some photos and finally returning to ground level. Not too sure about the others, but it was time for me to go back down before the height factor took over.
Back at the caravans for a late lunch and then it was time for Sally and Maree to catch up on some washing. The remainder of the afternoon was spent sitting around in the shade as the sun now had a bit of bite to it. To our surprise, the number of tenants stopping in the campground had decreased each night since we arrived, perhaps it was our presents that scared them off? Tomorrow we head for King Creek Station for two nights.
Saturday 25th August 2007: It was just after 7.30am when we left the Campground and headed to the Industrial Area to empty the toilet cassettes on our way to Kings Creek Station which was to be our home for the next two nights.
With what seemed to be easy going, we arrived at Kings Creek Station at 10.58am where we set up the caravans on our sites after being guided to them by a very wise man on a quad motorbike. All of the sites here are dirt as is expected in this part of the country, but the place has a character to it which a city Caravan Parks can not offer. After a lazy afternoon, it was an early night for all in readiness for the Kings Canyon walk the following day.
Sunday 26th August 2007: Now that the weather was starting to warm up during the day, it was decided to leave for our Kings Canyon walk early to beat the heat. It was 8.30am when we started the Kings Canyon walk and unfortunately Maree didn’t make it up the first big hill climb and had to turn back while the remainder continued onto the Garden of Eden and back to the car park. This particular walk is well worth the effort to complete.
We had a quick spell and then headed off on the Kings Creek Walk which took us up the floor of the creek to just below the wall face. By the time we had returned to the car park, we had been walking for a total of five hours. After fuelling up with a few expensive litres of fuel at Kings Canyon Resort which would allow us to travel through to Erldunda tomorrow where we hoped fuel would be a more realistic cost, we headed back to our caravans for the remainder of the afternoon.
Monday 27th August 2007: Leaving Kings Creek Station at 7.28am, we were on our way to Stuarts Well with the intension of leaving the caravans at the Caravan Park while we tented it at Rainbow Valley. After an easy drive where we also collected some firewood for the night’s camping ahead, we stopped off at the Finke River for lunch before arriving at Stuart’s Well by 12.36pm.
Booked in for two nights, we headed of for Rainbow Valley. From Stuarts Well, it is fifteen kilometres toward Alice Springs on the main road before turning right to head out to Rainbow Valley for twenty two kilometres of corrugated dirt road. Both Bruce and I broke eggs in our Engel fridges during the rough ride out. At least I didn’t lose any beer in the fridge like I had on the road out to the Painted Desert last week. Traveling time from Stuarts Well to Rainbow Valley was 45 minutes.
The weather was hot so we waited for the heat to reduce before we set our tent up for the night. While waiting, a 4WD group arrived making us think that we had lost our desired camping spots but this wasn’t to be as they had come to watch the sunset only and were not stopping for the night. With the tents now setup, we were off to photograph a perfect sunset on Rainbow Valley. Once the sun was down, the night was cool enough to have a fire which was enjoyed by all before retiring under full moon light for the night.
Tuesday 28th August 2007: Up early in the morning, we lit the fire to cook our breakfast before packing the camp up and heading back to Stuarts Well to have a shower and relax for the day. Another hot day ahead for us although it was nice sitting under the shade of the trees with a breeze blowing through every now and then.
During the day we were lucky enough to see Dinky the dingo perform on the piano and hear the story of Dinky from Jim, his owner. We had heard so much about Dinky and the meals at the Roadhouse that we all decide to try an evening meal to see if they were as good as we had heard. Anyone stopping here should not miss the meals here as they are worth every cent that they cost. After talking to a fellow traveler, we have decide to cut our stop at Alice Springs short by two days and spend another two nights back here to allow us to travel to Chambers Pillar from here instead of going via the dirt road out of Alice Springs.
Wednesday 29th August 2007: With only 90 kilometres to travel today, we were on the road for Alice Springs by 8.20am. Before long we had arrived at the MacDonnell Range Caravan Park where we booked in for six nights. Bruce & Maree stopped to have some things check on their caravan before they arrived at the Caravan Park so they arrived nearly one hour after we had. Once we were all set up it was off to Anzac Hill for those who hadn’t been here before to have an elevated look at the Alice.
Not very much was done during the afternoon other than a quick look around Alice Springs including some shopping to restock the fridge with the essential items of food. During the afternoon we went to the Telegraph Station where we had a very good guided tour which gave us a lot of information on how it all began. The sun again was hot during the afternoon when we stood in it so shade was the order when possible.
Thursday 30th August 2007: To beat the heat, we headed for the Alice Springs Desert Park at 9.10am where we spent three and a half hours including a display at the Nature Theatre where the birds of prey demonstrated their talents. This was the highlight of the Alice Springs Desert Park and should never be missed if possible. From here it was out to the Transport Hall of Fame where some very interesting transporting stories were on display along with some old trucks that were used in the early days of road transport. There is also an excellent Kenworth truck display on show as well. After fuelling up for tomorrow’s trip to Palm Valley and having a look at the evening Todd Mall market, we returned back to the Caravan Park for the remainder of the afternoon where we had the company of Maree’s brother Pat who just happened to be in Alice Springs at the same time that we were stopping there.
