Jenny and Brian's Travels: Yalara to Alice Springs

Tuesday, 15^th July - A very cold morning, but beautiful clear skies for our departure from Yalara. We travelled 140 kms east on the Lasseter Highway, then 170 kms north on Luritja Road to Kings Canyon. We had been here in 2009, but thought it worth a second visit. This time our site was in the front row with uninterrupted views of the canyon! We walked to the sunset viewing platform and were there early enough for a seat to enjoy the wonderful colours of the sun on the gorges. A bar was set up under a large desert oak to relieve the tourists of a few more dollars.

A very unique bar

It was another cold morning on Wednesday, so we did not start the Canyon Rim Walk until 10am - it was a magnificent hike, perfect temperature and stunning scenery – didn’t seem like 4 hours of walking.

A bit like the Bungle Bungles

Amazing colours

A long way down ... and up again

Worth all the steps - the Garden of Eden

Beautiful trees growing out of rock

Thursday – clear blue skies, just like winter travelling through the centre of Australia should be. We returned to the Lasseter Highway, then east 108 kms to the Stuart Highway. A lunch stop at Erldunda, then north to Alice Springs. We had not travelled this section of highway previously, so views of the West and East MacDonnell Ranges from south of the Alice were great. We stayed at the Big4 MacDonnell Range again, but this time in a different, more crowded area. We were fortunate to meet people in a Kimberley Karavan parked opposite, and discovered it was the treasurer from that owners’ group and his wife, who we had not met before. During our chat, found that Shan and I had gone to the same primary school in Rockhampton, just 3 years apart. It is indeed a small world. Friday was spent washing, shopping, car and van maintenance. So far the only visible damage from the Great Central Road is a small chip in a coffee cup.

Saturday morning dawned cold and cloudy, but we decided to revisit a couple of areas of the West MacDonnell Ranges. It was just over 40kms to Standley Chasm, and luckily by the time we arrived the sun was shining and clouds clearing. It was a 1.2k return walk on a well made track, but there is a charge to do the walk now - $10/adult!!! After a quick discussion we decided to pay the money, since we had taken the time and diesel to drive there. On our return to Alice, we called in to Simpsons Gap and enjoyed the short walk here, for free, and found there was some water in the creek this time.