The King and his Canyon.

What can I say about Kings Canyon. Well it is a three hour drive there, four hour walk up and around the rim and back down, then a three hour drive back, that's it.

I almost had a bad accident on my way there. I was much to busy admiring the James Range on my right when I looked back to the road I had veered off to the left. The road is basically just a one lane tarmac strip and I veered off it and then overcorrected to the right went a little sideways and slammed on the brakes. Left some very long skid marks and just managed to maintain control of the car. The last hour of my journey was much less eventful as I barely took my eyes off the road.

I suppose I had better let the pictures do most of the talking. I was very impressed with the Kings Canyon and I can highly recommend it if you are near there and have the energy. Unlike the Olgas there aren't any water points along the 6km loop and I did run out of water before the last couple of km.

Accompanying me on my trip around the rim were Betty, Martha, Ken and Brett. They were my constant companions, buzzing (flying) around my head all day much to my annoyance. They weren't that bad and it was the winter so I can imagine it being much worse in the summer time.

Me near'ish the edge!

You can see the 'beehive' domes which have been created by weathering.

You eventually end up walking along the edge of the left hand side later on.

Me even closer to the edge of the 100m drop!

The view looking back from the third photo.

The canyon rim.

At the end of the canyon creek you can climb down some wooden steps to see a small water area called the Garden of Eden!

This guy was busy sunning himself at the top of the canyon and posing for me too!

Enlarge this photo and read the sign. I though it was quite funny, but obviously not for what it actually meant.

I stayed at Kings Canyon till just before sunset and then started to make my long journey back to the Uluru resort. Once it got dark about an hour into my journey, I was even more surprised by the amount of wildlife around the roads. Roger had warned me to be wary of animals running around the roads at night so I was possibly expecting a kangaroo or two if that.

However, along one thirty minute stretch of road I must have encountered half a dozen kangaroos in separate incidents, one dingo and a couple of rabbits! Most of them were obviously playing chicken and just darted out from left to right just as I was coming along. I had to slam on my brakes every time I saw them run out. One kangaroo and its offspring were in the middle of the road when I came around the bend! I would have taken some photos but I was a little busy trying to control my emergency stops.

Fortunately I managed to avoid them all and got back to the resort without hitting anything, other than the millions of flies and monster dragon flies on the front of my car. I think that having the kangaroos on the roads would be very good for the UK roads to keep the drivers speeds down and alert at night! I certainly didn't go past the recommended speed limit knowing that one might jump out from the bushes beside the road. Much better deterrent than speed cameras I think.