Into Kings Canyon

Left Alice fairly early for the trip into the heart of tourist country. Alice Springs airport is storing planes from all over the world during covid. The dry climate makes this airport ideal.
The Stuart highway south was quite busy with caravans but at least the straights are long for passing opportunities. We stayed at around 90km/hr which was too slow for some people. First stop was the Stuart Well road house which was a little run down and a whole lot of quirky including the emu in the front paddock.

We stopped at Elmunda which is the turnoff to Uluru and Kings Canyon. The fuel was expensive and in fact markedly more expensive than the more isolated Birdsville track. So our conclusion is that they are cashing in on the tourists and not just hiking the price due to transport costs. We always expected to pay more.

The road into Uluru was narrow but sealed so had to keep alert due to the steep drop from seal to gravel. Lunch stop was 300km into our journey at the turnoff to the Canyon. Lots of bush flies and plenty of 3 cornered Jack to pick out of footwear and carpet. The last 180km was really quiet on the road with not one vehicle catching us to overtake. We were still only doing 90km/hr.

Arrived at Kings Canyon resort by 4pm and have a non powered site for 3 nights. The resort has a mix of high end accommodation and the camping area. A pleasant 26 degrees. Wandered the camp for a stretch talking to a few people. Lots of red dust so a lot of our cleaning may be in vain. At the rear of the camp there is a viewing platform where alot of the campers watched the sun setting on the hills. Bright red rocks on sunset is spectacular. We will be walking in these hills tomorrow.Read more