I have to put a final word in on the German Cyclist if anybody has followed his story. I like to report happy endings and I think this is a happy ending. When we got up for breakfast, it became apparent the gentleman suddenly had two bikes by his orange tent and there was both and male and female voices coming out of the tent. Yes it had happened, our German male cyclist had met a German female cyclist and last seen they were both partaking in breakfast at a picnic table in Yulara, this is the last time we saw this gentleman on our travels. It now explains why here scrubbed the floor of his tent?
We drove from Yulara to Kings Canyon Tourist Park, on the map this looks like a next door neighbour but it is over a 300 Kilometre drive. Kings Canyon is in the Watarrka National Park and is part of the George Gill Ranges. This is the place where three major land forms intersect; the Simpson Desert, the Western Desert and the MacDonnell Ranges. We’re told the scenery is stunning and are keen to explore it for ourselves.
Our early arrival allowed us to find a really good place to put the tent up, it was private and shaded and on the edge of the park. Pleased with our luck with the camp site we headed to the Canyon to take a look and see what kind of walk we might do the next day. We pulled up in the late afternoon, it was hot, the local thermometer read over 36 degrees Celsius, and the flies were as bad as ever. We had a choice of a one hour walk or a three and half hour walk, we opted for the hour, we would leave the three and half hour for tomorrow.
The hour walk is into the canyon and tomorrows is around the perimeter of the canyon. There are plenty of people walking this track to a look out point and the small water hole, it gave us some idea of the grandeur of the place, it did not lend itself to the “must see” reputation it had. I was hoping that tomorrow the walk would be more stunning.
We went back to the camp had a beer at the pub, and wandered back to our tent site to have another drink and prepare dinner. While doing this dingos had turned up in the camp, and they quietly skirted around us into the main camp ground.
We saw a few in the park during our stay, both in the evening and in the morning. A lady came around who was apparently part of the bush band entertainment for the evening, to drum up support for their act and again warned us of the dingoes.
“Don’t leave ya shoes or towels out luv they’ll flog ’em” came the friendly warning.
Given that piece of advice, we decided to go and watch these guys “The Roadies” and see what their act was all about.
The act was a laugh, the old man played guitar and sang while she acted as the MC and the percussionist playing a stick covered in bells with a boot on the end of it. They played a mixture of soft rock, country and good old Aussie bush music. Their collection of battery powered animated soft toys started when an appropriate song played and the group got everybody involved in games and actions, yep even us.
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