Watarrka (Kings Canyon)
Trip Start
Jan 31, 2006
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22
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Trip End
Jun 01, 2006
Watarrka National Park, Australia
Sunday, March 19, 2006
This morning we back tracked some 14okm of the Lasseter Highway to take the Luritja road out to Katarra (King's Canyon). We checked into the KC Resort and set up our campsite before driving out to the walker's car park. The temperature was 38 degrees in the shade (there was a shaded thermometer at the track head under a novelty sized akubra hat), and the sign suggested we consider not setting out on the 2 hour canyon rim walk. We had limited time so we loaded the film into the camera, the fly nets onto our hats, the staminade into our water bottles and with determination, we took on the very steep climb to start the rim walk. The views up into the steep walls of the canyon show a lush green in the water catchment at the base of rust coloured walls that contrasts to the parched red sands that surround us.
Along the rim of the canyon, we wander through eroded rock that have the appearance of large beehive formations with evidence of an ancient sea bed on the flats, the water rippled sands frozen in time as the rock on which we now stand - in the middle of a vast desert. Strangled gum trees have established themselves against the odds with searching roots that plunge deep into the rock crevices to find scarce water and nutrients. There is a deep water hole deep in the canyon that is a refreshingly cool swim at the halfway point of the walk. Continuing further around the opposite side, we could witness the effects of the erosion and weather in peeling large section of the walls, falling to the canyon floor.
After a warm night and a hard days walk, we hoped to sit down to a cool beer and a meal at the KC Resort's bar. We found out they only seem to have food on every second night as we sipped the most expensive beer we have paid for on our trip yet! Lucky we had some supplies remaining in the troupie camper to fashion a meal out of.
T
