Month: May 2017

Kings Canyon

We didn’t manage to get to Kings Canyon when we were here in 2008, due to a tight schedule and some essential van repairs in Alice Springs so we were looking forward to seeing it on this trip.

There’s a choice of two walks – a 6km Rim Walk and a 2km Creek Walk.  Mr Intrepid did the Rim Walk which starts with a lung busting climb up to the rim of the canyon.

We stayed at Kings Canyon Resort for the night – I think ‘resort’ is stretching things a bit but it was the closest camping to the Canyon walks.  Also the most expensive site so far at $25 per person.  Goodness knows what they do with the money but we had a gravel site with power and drinking water.  There’s no phone reception here but there is wi-fi at the Canyon car park.   Later, we sat having a drink at the campsite and watching the sunset over Kings Canyon when a dingo appeared.

It seemed pretty tame and more interested in saying hello to Winston but I quickly headed back to the van with the fluffy one.  This seemed a good reason not to stay a second night.

The next morning, we returned to the Canyon, which is a 6km drive from the campsite, along a sealed road.  I decided the Rim Walk was too scary and did the creek walk.  My guided tour of the Arid Lands Botanic Gardens came in handy.

 

The roots of the Witchetty Bush provide a habitat for Witchetty Grubs which are highly nourishing and rich in protein.  Often seen in bush tucker trials on ‘I’m a Celebrity’.

Priscilla Queen of the Desert movie note:  Guy Pearce’s character has a dream to climb to the top of King’s Canyon in full drag and they do this towards the end of the movie. The writers wanted it to be Uluru but weren’t allowed.

 

The Stuart and Lasseter Highways

The Stuart Highway between Adelaide and Darwin is called The Explorers’ Way and it largely follows the route of John McDouall Stuart, the first man to successfully cross Australia from the South to the North.  He appears to have been blessed with more common sense than Burke and Wills.

When you’re heading for the centre of the centre of Australia, even if it is on a very good sealed road, it’s a little nerve-wracking.  There’s a whole lot of nothing, phone reception if you’re lucky, a handful of roadhouses selling fuel, very little drinking water, dingoes, oh yes … and billions of flies.  Here’s a little guide to the places we stopped at after Coober Pedy.

Marla Roadhouse (220km)

Fuel and a well stocked supermarket with reasonable prices.  Camping – $10 per person and an extra $10 for power.  Bore water which isn’t drinkable.  Good amenities.  Most of the grass is nice, some three corner jacks (see Peterborough post) to watch out for.

Marla Roadhouse – we broke out the fly net.

 

110km further on is the Northern Territory border.

The Northern Territory border.

Erldunda Roadhouse (200km)

At the junction of the Lasseter Highway which takes you to Uluru.

A popular stopping off point for tour buses and travellers and this might explain the exorbitant prices for fuel and groceries.  It does have probably the best grass we’ll see in the Outback and Winston took every opportunity to have a roll.  A powered site was $32.  Good amenities.  No drinking water.  Winston saw his first emu at their emu farm.

 

Curtin Springs Station

Halfway between Erldunda and Uluru.  $40 for power, very basic amenities, showers cost $3.  We decided to camp unpowered which was free.  They have a restaurant and small bar and also run paper making workshops.  From what I can gather, the paper is made out of spinifex and poo.  This cattle station is over a million acres and has sitting on its land, a mountain that’s bigger than Uluru, called Mt Conner.  The only way you can get close to it is on a very expensive tour.

 

Being a teacher, I desperately wanted to correct the spelling and punctuation mistakes in their signage.
Winston is loving the Outback sand.

Going Underground …

… in Coober Pedy, Outback South Australia.

About 50% of residents live underground in Coober Pedy to escape the heat and their houses are a constant 25 degrees. You can see the air vents poking out of the hillsides.   Staying in an underground hotel was listed as a must do experience and there were a couple of underground motels that allowed dogs.  So we decided to have a break from the van for a couple of nights and booked into the Comfort Inn.  The ceilings have upside down umbrellas suspended below the air shafts to catch any debris falling through.  Winston couldn’t believe his luck when he was allowed in to the motel. The owners have a Cavoodle called Winston too and they were instantly great mates.

Most of the residents of Coober Pedy are opal miners which comes in handy for digging an underground house.  The Old Timer’s Mine had a great tour and a museum.  I also bought a pair of beautiful opal earrings from one of the many jewellers in the town.

All in all an amazing town to experience but not live in!

 

Australian Arid Lands Botanic Garden, Port Augusta

A top tip is to do a guided tour around this Botanic Garden before travelling north to Alice Springs, to learn all about the plants you will see on the journey.  I was the only one booked on the tour and a lovely lady called Chris Nayda showed me around.  They recently had a year’s rainfall in two days and, combined with the fact that the local MP is visiting tomorrow, the gardens were looking spectacular.