Kings Canyon, in Watarrka National Park, was one of our favorite stops of our Outback camping adventures. After a great night of "freedom camping", we headed to Kings Canyon to hike the 6 km (3.7 miles) Rim Walk. This hike took us along the edge of the canyon, the walls of which are 100 meters (328 feet) high above Kings Creek. It also required a lot of scrambling up and down rocks.
There were impressive rock walls and gorgeous views of the rest of the national park.
We hiked down to the Garden of Eden, a lush waterhole in the middle of the rocky canyon.
And we marveled at the shear cliff faces and colors in the rock.
In the afternoon, we drove on and saw our first dingo!
We left paved roads and continued along the 4WD-only Mereenie Loop, which allowed us to continue from Kings Canyon on towards the West McDonnell Ranges (outside Alice Springs) without backtracking. We were watching out for wild horses along the way.
At this point in our camping, we'd been without cell service for several days because we were in such remote areas. Being on a 4WD road, in the vastness of the Australian Outback, made us feel even further away from everything!
We stopped at the Tnorala/Gosse Bluff Conservation Reserve, the site of an enormous meteor's impact approximately 142 million years ago.
We parked inside the crater's impact zone and walked a short track around the site. The peaks you see in this photo are the remains of debris that was thrown into the air when the meteor hit and the crater (what we're standing in) was formed.
Leaving the crater, we saw wild horses!
They crossed the road not too far in front of us.
As we continued further along the road, we found a lookout point that gave a great overall view of Gosse Bluff. The peaks off in the distance were where we were walking earlier-- everything sticking up is the result of the meteor's impact.
We stopped near Glen Helen and found a freedom camping spot along the Finke River. This river is described as the oldest river in the world, and except for one other camper we were the only ones at the site.
Let's just say that our trip through rural Mongolia had prepared us well for freedom camping in Australia.
This was our favorite night of camping of all. When we woke up the other campers had already left, so in the morning it really felt like we were completely on our own. We packed up the camper for the last time and headed out for one last day of sightseeing in the Outback.
We saw the Ochre Pits, which local Aboriginal people have mined for generations. The multiple layers of differently colored rocks provide the materials for ceremonial body painting and decoration.
We made a long stop at Ellery Creek, a permanent waterhole that's part of the West McDonnell Ranges. The boys swam in the cold water and relaxed on the shore.
We passed through Alice Springs and headed east to see Emily and Jessie Gaps. These breaks in the East MacDonnell Ranges contain Aboriginal cave paintings and are sites of particular spiritual and cultural importance to the local people. Many of the paintings relate to stories of their ancestry.
The sites were interesting but the flies were ridiculously bad, so we had a short visit and then continued on.
With our arrival in Alice Springs, our camping adventures in the Outback were over! We returned the camper and checked into a local hotel.....and all immediately took long, hot showers.
There was so much to see and do from Adelaide to Alice Springs that we could have easily spent more time along the way. We all agreed that we would have enjoyed a few more days on the route, but I was pretty much over the novelty of the truck top camper. Having to pack it up completely every morning and unpack it again every day got really tiring, especially since everything had a specific place and order in which to be packed. Even with 4 people helping, it seemed to take forever.
What we all also agreed on was that our favorite nights of camping were when we "freedom camped". The campsites had convenient facilities but they were crowded. The nights that we were off on our own were the most peaceful and exciting. We were glad that we had a camper that allowed us to freedom camp more easily, so a combination of separate car/truck + camper (that could be left behind during the day) might have been a better fit for us. Lesson learned for next time! The novelty of sleeping on top of the truck was fun (especially for the boys, they loved it), though, so I'm glad we did it---once!
The beauty of the arid land, the vastness of the wide open spaces, and the remoteness of the Australian Outback were exhilarating to experience and take in. Camping in the Outback was certainly an adventure we won't forget!
No comments:
Post a Comment