King's Canyon

After spending time at Uluru for sunrise, in and around the National Park, the only wildlife we had seen were the noisy miner birds, magpies and the occasional spider.  At dinner that night, I mentioned to Robert I really wanted to see wildlife that I don't normally see in Brisbane.  His only comment was to watch out for snakes.

Soon, looking out the window of the restaurant, my wish came true:  There were two field rabbits helping themselves to the tasty green grass by the pool.   Not exactly what I was looking for, but did meet the "wish" requirements.  :P

On our second day at Red Center, we met a bus driver and 12 other people at 4:00 am to drive to King's Canyon for a day of hiking.  Due to the temperatures, they would not let us on the bus if we had anything less than 3 liters of water per person.  We drank every bit of it and then some...

Leaving at "O dark thirty", along with minimal traffic at night, there is a higher chance of seeing wildlife on the roads. This day was no exception.

First, we almost slammed into a pack of feral camels.  Australia does have a LOT of wild camels (estimated upward of a million) roaming the Outback.  Someone turned a few loose a hundred years ago expecting them to die (which is another whole discussion) and they thrived.  There are enough camels to support a business to export them to the Middle East. (Which makes me wonder why we only saw 6...Northern Territories is a BIG place.)

Next we came close to hitting large red kangaroos.  They grow quite big in the desert.

Then there were the brumbies...the wild horses.  Beautiful animals that survive on scrub brush.

And then there were the various cows, bulls (open pasture) and smaller roos on the road. Unfortunately, I missed the dingo.  He was on the other side of the bus.

Once we arrived at King's Canyon, we had a choice: 1 - climb up 500 steps and do the rim walk in 3 hours (6 km); 2 - walk in the valley for 90 minutes then go to the resort.

Robert and I chose to do the rim walk.  After all, it was a little cloudy and the temperature was cooler - in the 90's.

I made it up the first 200 steps on the vertical climb, realized I was on vacation, turned around and walked the valley.  Plus my knee started acting up and this is a place you don't want to be rescued from.

Robert continued on and did the full hike.  Below are some of the pictures he took.  Unfortunately, the captions are my interpretations as he is at work and I wasn't on the walk to hear the guides.

Facing back to the valley about 1/3 of the way around the rim.  The point across the valley is where the hike ends.

 Facing towards the back of the canyon.  That is the direction they are heading to circle around.

 On the far side, there are steps going down to the Garden of Eden, an Oasis with fresh water at the bottom.

 Garden of Eden watering area.

 The entire canyon has beautiful colors in the various rock faces.  Note the tiny people on the other side...and nothing to stop you for going over.  Another good reason to walk in the valley.  :)

By the way, if you have ever seen the movie, Priscilla Queen of the Desert, the scenes where they are climbing up the steps in show girl costumes and work boots were filmed on the first 500 steps mentioned above and there are several shots around the rim hike in the film.