Well we truly have been in the outback in the last couple of days. Completely off line for 2 days, if we were to make a call it would have been from the telephone box at the reception.
Kings Canyon is approx. 350km from Uluru. As both Uluru and Kings Canyon are very popular at this time of year we were only able to secure one nights accommodation at Kings Canyon. From all that we had been told the rim walk at Kings Canyon was a must do. This walk is a 6km walk supposed to take approx. 3.5hrs. In order to get to Kings Canyon from Uluru and still have time to do the rim walk it was another early morning, up and out of Uluru by 7:30am. No surprises there was a lot of morning grumpiness and complaining from the junior two within the party nonetheless the adults prevail and we were on our way on time. After arriving at our accommodation and settling in, we headed off for the rim walk. Amazing walk with some fantastic views - 6km's of initially directly up and then across rock surfaces etc. After the Ayers Rock climb and then this - Adam has determined that he is covered for going to the gym for sometime to come :)
From Kings Canyon to the West MacDonnell ranges there are two choices of road. One on tar in which you back track and drive to Alice Springs first before proceeding to the Ranges. The second a dirt track (4wd only) which is a direct loop to the ranges and at least an hour and half shorter. No prizes for guessing which one we took. Although we reduced our time in the car and didn't need to back track, the van suffered a few minor bumps and bruises along the way. Nothing that could not be fixed though - thankfully.
On arriving in the West MacDonnell Ranges we were to find our accommodation for the night as we had not booked any for this evening. We were told about a very nice spot on the Finke River and headed down the track to find our special spot for the evening. After receiving some guidance from the local ranger (lets just say we would have been better off not listening) we headed down towards the water to come to a sudden stop in the sand and no longer moving - uh oh!!!!. Tyres were let down, winches were attached to other 4wd's and after some effort we were pulled out of our little situation. After that small detour we moved on to Ormiston Gorge and found a campsite with amenities etc. This has probably been one of our nicest spots so far. After a good nights sleep we headed off towards Alice Springs (only 135km today) visiting a few gorges and chasms along the way.
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