Kings Canyon

You might think Kings Canyon has been named in honor of some royalty. However, it has been Ernest Giles, one of the great Australian explorers, who named it after his friend Fielder King.

It took us a few hours drive on tarmac to get us from Ayers Rock to Kings Canyon. The resort there has a defacto monopoly and charges accordingly. Late afternoon we were strolling to the sunset viewing area and saw the rim of Kings Canyon light up dark red as the sun went down.

The next day, we had planned to do the Kings Creek walk. It is not the famous rim walk, which takes you up and around Kings Canyon for a few hours. On the picture in the middle, you can see the start of the rim walk, which is a fenced off and supposedly CCTV’ed area, because you must not start the walk after 9am in the morning under hot weather conditions. This walk is not suitable for folks carrying a little toddler around. On the photo on the right, you can see the ‘ant trail’ of tourists and hikers ascending towards the rim.

Kings Creek walk

The Kings Creek walk on the other hand follows the valley of the creek until the walk hits a fenced area about two thirds into the valley. The rest of the valley is closed for public as it is considered a sacred site by the local Aborigines. This walk is suitable for families even with small kids and is open throughout the day.

To tell the truth, we have been very disappointed with Kings Canyon. It’s probably due the fact that we couldn’t do the rim walk with our little one. The creek walk is a nice walk, but it cannot cope with other spectacular sites we have seen in Australia and elsewhere. Since the last and – presumably – best part of the valley has been fenced off, which we didn’t know, our disappointment has been even more profound.

After a few hours in the heat, we spent the late afternoon at the pool. It featured a natural rock fountain and served as oasis for a number of thirsty insects. A wonderful opportunity to take some close-ups of butterflies and wasps, which appeared there in dozens. The spider on the right hand side is an overnight guest of our hotel room. I didn’t know you can get a flash red-eye effect even on a spider until I took a series of photos of this little fellow.

Towards sunset, we settled in at the viewing area again and indulged the colors of the sky and landscape as this side of the planet left the heat of the sun behind.

The next morning, we packed up and hit the road for Alice Springs.