Day 6 - Thursday 28th May

We had another early start today because we were going to view the sunrise over Ayres Rock and so we had the alarm set for 5am. They were still forecasting rain for the next few days and a maximum today of only 15C. When we left, it was 12C and so the early morning temperature wasn’t as cold as it could have been.

The bus arrived at the hotel on time at 6am and drove us into the national park to a special area set aside to watch the sunrise. There were a few light showers but it held off most of the time we were waiting for the sunrise. As we waited, the rock changed colour but, because of the overcast sky, we did not see the sun.

Next, the bus took up to Kata Tjuta (the Olgas) – about 30 minutes away. There we went for a walk into the Walpa Gorge. It was a stony path that was a little slippery because of the showers and there was strong wind blowing down through the gorge. At the end, there was a viewing platform giving a good view back through the gorge. There is another walk at the Olgas called Valley of the Winds Walk but we found the Walpa Gorge Walk was windy enough.

We got back to the hotel at about 10:30am, packed up, checked out, picked up the hire car and had lunch. We set off on the 300km drive to Kings Canyon at 12:15pm, stopping a couple of times to take photos along the way.

As we got close to Kings Canyon, we stopped at Kings Creek Station to get petrol and coffee. When we headed off again, we missed the turn-off to the Kings Canyon Wilderness Resort. We thought it was close to the Kings Canyon Resort but it turned out that it is close to Kings Creek Station where we had stopped for petrol and so we had to double back about 40km.

We only drove past the Kings Canyon Resort but it didn’t look very impressive. We were glad that we’d booked at the Wilderness Lodge.

The Wilderness Resort is run by APT as a joint venture with Kings Creek Station. It consists of large tented cabins each with air conditioning, ensuite bathroom, 240V power and a double bed. Luxury camping. It is currently managed by Linda and Harry who we had met a couple of years ago on our holiday with APT in the Kimberleys because they were managing one of the camps up there at the time.

After settling in, Suzy and I decided to make the 2km walk along a sandy track through the bush to Kings Creek Station. On the walk, we saw an American family who had been on our bus trip. At dinner, we met other people who had also been on the bus.

Because of the showers, we had pre-dinner drinks on the veranda of the main building rather than out in the open around the camp fire. Linda, Harry and their two staff (Colin and Lisa) produced an excellent dinner for us in the dining area inside the main building. After dinner, there were enough breaks in the cloud for Colin to point out the Southern Cross and other stars – mainly for the benefit of overseas guests.