Australian Road Trip – Act 3 – Kings Canyon to Coober Pedy

The 3 hour drive from Uluru to Kings Canyon was uneventful. We had to drive back most of the same road the next day to get to Coober Pedy. We earmarked a few things along the road to explore that day and kept going.

We didn’t need to check into our Kings Creek Station accommodation until much later that day so we went straight to the canyon.

From the web site:

“The Northern Territory’s Watarrka National Park, home to Kings Canyon, covers 710sq km (274sq mi) and has been home to the Luritja and Arrente peoples for more than 20,000 years.The ancient red canyon walls soar 100m above Kings Creek to a plateau of rocky domes.”

There is a long trek called the Rim Walk, it takes 4 hours. We didn’t have time to complete that so we did the much shorter Kings Creek stroll. It was a stroll, not a walk as advertised.

View from the gallery at the end of the stroll

Even though it was short we were rewarded by an abundance of birds flying all around. I managed to catch a picture of one.

Some of the other birds were a lot easier to photograph

On the way along the Kings Creek stroll we saw the start of the Rim Walk. The first part is a climb of over 500 steps to the top of the canyon. Even though we didn’t have time to do the whole thing we decided a trip to the top was worth it. You can’t come this far and not go that extra few metres, even if its near vertical.

Mountain goats, Andy and Jenni bounced up first. I wheezed up after them pretending to stop and take lots of pictures on the way up.

Taking advantage of every rest stop, I made it to the top

Nice views from the top, well worth the effort

We never did however, get to see Priscilla’s Crack close up. If you know, you know.

I did not take this picture. None of these people are me, Andy or Jenni. Any resemblance is pure coincidencidental.

Next stop Kings Creek Station accommodation.

Dinner was included. Camel burgers and sausages were the speciality of the house. I had the sausages and Andy had the burgers. The sausages were excellent. Recommended.

The accommodation was a tent in the wilderness. We could hear dingos howling in the distance as we watched the sun set from the back deck while having a cold beer. Wonderful.

Coober Pedy.

The drive from Kings Canyon to Coober Pedy in one day was our longest of the trip. Nearly 8 hours and 750 kms. We were planning a few stops along the way so we left very early.

Leaving Kings Canyon along the Red Centre Way

Along the road we saw an abandonded roadhaouse and had to stop and explore

The sign said it was Mt Ebenezer Roadhouse

From Wikipedia on why it is abandoned:

“The Mount Ebenezer Roadhouse was closed for several months in 2012. When William O’Donnell signed a lease to reopen the roadhouse, he was driven from the property by a spear-wielding Indigenous man. The owners of the roadhouse terminated the contract shortly afterwards.”

If I did it might look something like this

Just as well I didn’t go in. Too scary and dark.

As I sat in the back of the truck watching the scenery whisk by I tried to practice my camera panning techniques. With a slow-ush shutter set and trying to keep focus on the tree while it zoomed past produced some weird, but not unpleasant effects.