Day 192. Ayers Rock to Kings Canyon

Pancakes at the Olgas

An amazing thing happened this morning; I managed to get Shane and Scarlett up again at 6am for the third day in a row. Today’s mission was to catch sunrise at the ‘Olgas’, and to pull this off I had to promise them both a yummy breakfast of pancakes to get them out of bed!

Looking East: Watching the sunrise and Ayers Rock

We got there just before 7am and joined in the hoards of people jostling for position to get their perfect sunrise photo. In one direction the sun was peeping over the horizon right next to ‘Ayres Rock’. In the other were the beautiful pinks, oranges, and yellows as the sun hit the Olgas. I really didn’t know what direction to look, so I took a million photos in both.

Looking West; the sunlight on the Olgas

When we got back to the car we drove to the picnic area nearby and set up the burner, where Scarlett then made us all pancakes with maple syrup for breakfast. She is becoming such a good cook and loves to take care of Shane and I. After our bellies were full we decided to tackle the ‘Olgas Gorge Walk’. This walk was only an hour return, which was good because we still had to get back and pack the van to move on.
 

The walk started out a little gingerly, with yesterday’s leaving me more than a little sore. Lucky it was relative flat, and not too far, so we managed to make it there and back again in good time. Deep within the Olgas we felt like ants. The domes towered more than 270mtrs above us in the air, and it was quite cold with the wind blowing through. Shane joked to Scarlett we were going to climb them, to which she promptly replied “not me dad, not today”.





I was so glad we made the effort to visit these massive domes they are quiet spectacular from afar, and even more breathtaking up close.

We fuelled up, grabbed some groceries and finally made it out of the park by 11:15am starting the long 310km journey to ‘King’s Canyon’. I drove the first 150km’s, then we stopped for lunch and Shane drove the rest of the way. Scarlett and I had a great sleep in the car, while Shane kept an eye out for feral camels. There was camel poo everywhere along the road, and he was keen to see another wild one.



When we arrived at Kings Canyon, Grace was at our car before the engine had even been turned off. The Nixon’s arrived here yesterday, and the kids have been very eagerly awaiting Scarlett’s arrival. Well that was the last we saw of her, as they were off and played all afternoon in the playground with the other kids.

Scarlett up on stage playing the bucket drums!

Shane 'doing the actions' to 'Home among the Gum-trees!

After set up, Shane and I went to have a beer with Karen, Greg and Barry. It was down at their camp that we spied our very first dingo here. He was a very game trying to get into someone’s camper trailer looking for food. He finally settled with a tuppaware container left out on the camp table, containing one lonely biscuit. I ran at it clapping and growling, but undeterred the dingo made off with the whole container in its mouth. The dingo’s/wild dogs seem to be a real problem here, as we saw another not 10min later. When the kids returned from the playground they said they had seen another couple up there. We were even told to bring in our shoes at night, as they sometimes even take off with them.

Bec singing: "Do wa diddy diddy dum diddy do"

This evening after homemade pizza, we all decided to go up to the pub for a free stage show called ‘the Roadies’. They are a husband and wife duo, who do quite a funny musical/comedy act. They had all the kids up on stage playing instruments for a few songs, and Scarlett was in her element. They then pulled up all the kids dads to do the actions of ‘Home among the Gum-Trees’. Poor Shane had the funniest wig on, we couldn’t stop laughing at him. I didn’t get away scot free either, being dragged up with a wig on singing; ‘Do wa diddy diddy dum diddy do’ - (sorry mum you would have known what this song was called).

It was a very enjoyable evening, we all laughed, danced, sang, and had a great time. Tomorrow we are all off on a 6km walk around the rim of the canyon. I’m sure we will be regretting letting the kids stay out so late then…..