Day 13 – Glen Helen Gorge to Kings Canyon

Today we woke for a quick breaky and cuppa, packed up and were on the road again, this time for Kings Canyon.

We stopped at Redbank Gorge for a quick hike to the gorge. It was a 1 hour return hike and we were kept entertained by the kids along the way. We saw some hikers which decided to set up camp in a river bed, and I know we are in the desert but there has been a lot of rain, my choice of camp would not be in a river bed ANYWHERE!

Miss Amelia's little legs were tired so Daddy carried her for a while! 

Uncle Phil and Miss Amelia.

All the kids doing some kind of pose! 

After the hike we went onto the Mereenie Loop, the dirt road that would take us to Uluru. The rain was in and the road muddy and slippery although no match for Phil and I who had combated the  William Creek road, this one was a walk in the park. We stopped along the way to check out the dirt, Pete was very impressed with the state of his car and absolutely loved fishtailing along the road. Phil and I raced ahead of the group to get some photos of the Briscoes and Spooners coming along the dirt road. We got a winner of a shot with Nel and Ella waving from the car! The sound of the cars coming along the road and ploughing through the dirt was incredible!

The Briscoes in action

Nel and Ella loving the wet.

Pete & Nel very proud of the state of their van....

Ella not so much!

The Spooners in action

The result of the trip!

We made it to Kings Canyon with a lot of stares from other campers. We had a group photo of the state of the cars. And many questions from other campers about which way we came in, of which some decided they would not be taking the Mareenie Loop road….. where’s their sense of adventure?

Today was also the day I saw my first ever wild Dingo. He was quite skinny and manky, not quite the golden coat I had imagined although very cool all the same. He/she wasn’t going to be the only one, we saw plenty at Kings Canyon and as we were camped up against a fence with bush behind us, the little buggers tended to hang around and keep an eye out for me. I was not keen on the thought of going to the toilet in the middle of the night.

As we still had rain, an early dinner and bed for us. We had T-bone steak and salad and ate inside the camper by romantic lantern light (hahaha). Off to bed for a big day and big trek of Kings Canyon tomorrow.