After watching the sunrise I entered the Kings Canyon. Again there were some short walks available (~1h). However, I decided for the longer and more exciting (still less popular) 4h walk along the canyon rim. So after about an hour and a half I was completely alone on my walk.
Every outback experience so far was better than the last one, from Uluru to Kata Tjuta, and now the Kings Canyon. This rock range somehow gives you the impression that you are walking on an ancient fortress. It felt like walking through the terraces and stairs of Angor Thom in Cambodia. Like an even older civilization had left their old city here in the middle of the red desert. The sandstone forms wide even patios that are connected by natural staircases perfectly spaced for human legs. The terraces are so clean and even that it is very easy loose the designated path and end up exploring the wide range of plateaus and natural amphitheaters. I am really glad that could come here and have this mesmerizing experience.
After my meditative walk through the ancient terraces of the Kings Canyon, I visited another small site called “the Kathrine Gauges”. It is a small canyon that contains a water hole throughout the year. That is very precious for the local desert people it was therefore frequently visited by aboriginal tribes for hunting and later by western settlers to water their horses. The trees here are fascinating. Many of the trunks are black and turned to carbon from the bushfires. However, some parts survived the heat and regrew with a smooth shiny silver bark, an impressive contrast of life and rebirth. The silver shimmer is so luster it can´t be caught by my camera, actually quite like the weirwoods from Game of Thrones (they seem to bleed as well, once they are injured).
This concluded my 950km detour to the red heart of Australia. I had to drive 5h to get back on the main road connecting Adelaide and Darwin. I found a very nice free camping ground about 100km south of Alice Springs. This time I wasn´t alone. There were several other campers of older age having a big barbeque. After trying to scare me with some creepy questions (in reference to the Outback Horror movie “Wolf Creek”), they invited forced all their leftover food on m. Since I mainly lived on baked beans the last day, this was a very welcome change in my diet :D We had a great barbeque sharing all the food and drinks we had brought with us. Another memorable outback experience.
thanks for all the food >D
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