AYRES ROCK-KINGS CANYON

11th – 15th April 2010

AYRES ROCK-KINGS CANYON

During our stay in Coober Pedy we met and made very good friends with Maxine & Graeme Turnbull, (no relation to Malcolm, but Graeme says he is) who have come from NZ to see Australia and work their way around. They have been doing this for the past 3yrs. We departed and travelled together towards NT. At the end of the day on the 11th we had travelled 415klms to Kulgera just over the NT border where we made our overnight stay at the Kulgera Roadhouse. Joined by another couple we met in Coober Pedy who were not far behind us, Heather & Graham Cassidy, we had a few drinks at the bar before having a lovely meal.
Curtain Springs Station, a working cattle station over 1 million acres in size located on the Lasseter H/Way & 85klms east of Ayers Rock and 220klms from Kings Canyon was our stay for the next 3 nights. We parked our vans and done day trips from there. During a few drinks at the bar met the matriarch of the station, Peter Severin, who at 82yrs of age told us many interesting stories about the history of the station. Maxine & Graeme elected to take their vehicle as they said it was more economical to run. Our first stop was at the Yulara Resort in the vicinity of Ayers Rock & The Olgas. It was quite amazing to see such an enormous and modern facility out in the middle of nowhere. We stopped off at The Olgas first and after having our picnic lunch, of course wearing our fly hats, we explored the scenery during a short walk. Sunset was a must see at Ayres Rock. The changing light and colours does make for a lovely sight. Before this, we stopped to witness tourists climbing & attempting to climb the Rock. Graeme being one of them, although he did make a very good effort was unable to complete it. It was a very steep ascent. As the pics will show.
We made it back to Curtain Springs in time for dinner by 7.45pm.
Because our next days journey was over 220klms each way, we decided to make an early start and have breakfast at Kings Creek Station, a distance of 179klms. After a lovely cooked breakfast it was off to Kings Canyon where we explored. Graeme and myself decided on doing the rim walk, which after a 100mtr. climb up was a 6klms walk around the rim which took 2hrs. 10mins. A very worthwhile walk as the scenery was just beautiful. As there is a number of walking & trekking paths D’Arcy & Maxine chose to take a different path which was also beautiful. A lunch stop was made on our return journey back at Kings Creek Station.
The next day was a 360klm. trip to Alice Springs north along the Stuart Highway after a fuel stop at Erlunda Roadhouse. Nothing of interest along this 200klm. stretch. Just our usual stops for rest and coffee and to change drivers. Our first impressions of Alice Springs was not too good, due to the aboriginal population in the town, although we did stay for a week to explore the surrounds.
Till next time.........