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Alex woke us up around 445am for breakfast and we packed up the swags and set off on the bus for Kings Canyon.
Watching the sky get brighter and brighter. Arriving at Watarrka National Park - look at the stars! A million of them! Our epic 6km of hiking the Rim Walk begins on Heart Attack Hill. It's not called that for any other reason. Honestly, I was really panicked going into this, it had been talked about and how it was so difficult and I didn't think that I would make it; even the guide didn't think I'd be able to, because my fitness is not that great. But you know what, I pushed myself to the max and made it to the top in the first group, and was it worth it? Oh yeah! The views were astonishing! I did think I was going to die and it took me forever to get my breath back, but luckily we got to wait for everyone else to climb the mountain at a normal pace. If you do this walk and are worried about the hill, don't be. Just take it nice and slow, if you are not there with a tour group, you have all the time in the world. Absolutely amazing views from the top. You will notice the car park in the bottom left of the shot, this is how high we climbed. It was a damn lot of stairs.
The colours! Oh the colours in the outback are like nothing else. I wish I had a really great camera, but even that wouldn't do it justice I don't think. You just have to experience it yourself.
Watching the sun rise over the vista while climbing and walking all over the canyon top was simply breathtaking. We stopped a few times for Alex to relay some interesting facts about the area, but I didn't really pay much attention as the scenery was just too awesome. We came to the part where they filmed some epic shots for The Adventures of Pricilla, Queen of the Desert. I have no idea how they got all of the equipment for a movie shoot up here, apparently the team pretty much walked it all up, and only used a helicopter for a few key shots. My god that crew gets a big pat on the back from me!
A lot of people dress up in a drag and head on out in a sort of pilgrimage to the movie, but I think they are mental! This walk isn't extreme (apart from Heart Attack Hill), but I still wouldn't want to lug any more than I had to up there!
There were many photo moments on this walk. I even got daring and climbed to some high spots for the right shot, and I'm glad I did as the feeling was like being on top of the world.
As you can see, there is no real path as such, though it is signed quite well, so you shouldn't get too lost, but its not a flat walk. You are constantly climbing over rocky ledges and mounds, you kind of need to be like a mountain goat, or good at rock hopping at the beach, which I consider myself a natural. If you take your time and make sure you rest a lot and keep hydrated, this walk should be ok for most people. I had read a lot about it and was quite scared of how I'd go, but it was really good, I had the best time. In fact, I got to the bottom back to the bus and was like 'lets do it again!!!!!'. And I probably could have if it wasn't for my damn ankle!
The canyon top used to be at the bottom of the sea, which you can see by the patterns left in the rocks here and there, looks like the bottom of the ocean floor and really smooth.
We descended down into the canyon by wooden stairs which were quite easy to navigate and got out of the sun for small while, even though the sun hadn't fully risen yet, it was pretty hot by this time. We entered what they call the Garden of Eden, which was lovely. Our itinerary said this would be a swim stop, but no one swam, which was probably wise as there may have been crocodiles in there! We sat around for a rest and a sandwich and after some photos, headed back off again up to the top and back to the rim walk.
The rock formations up here are fascinating and stretch out for miles and miles, as far as the eye can see, and the smooth face of the canyon walls in places were amazing, it is so high up here! I wish I had more time to stop and explore, but as we were on a guided tour we needed to keep up the pace, and finally started the slow decent back down. We finally got a 'jump shot' for Evs! And got some rock'n photos of me! Patrick was kind enough to take a lovely photo of the both of us on top of the canyon, with his amazing camera!
Back down the bottom I could not contain my energy and I felt so alive, I wanted to go again, but after a short rest (like about 5 minutes), it was back on the bus again and back to camp at 1030am for lunch. There is a small shop there where we got ourselves an icy cold slushy!!!! Packed up and headed off for the epic 5 hour drive back to Alice.
Stopped to stretch our legs at the Red Centre Way road sign, and also again at Erldunda for much needed cold drinks - it's funny how sick of warm tap water you get after a while, even though it's hydrating, it's bloody horrible!
Alex got us to fill in our feedback forms and became decidedly grumpy when she read them. We stopped at the Alice Springs sign for a group photo, but Alex cut the group photo session short. That's her fault for reading the feedback while she still had to put up with the group, who had grown increasingly weary of her negativity. So most of us didn't get a group photo! Myself and Joshua in particular, were rather upset about this.
Also, apart from the group photo at Wycliffe Well, this was the only and last opportunity for a group pic, so I think she could have given us way more time to take a damn photo. It was not like we had hours to drive in the dark, it was relatively early afternoon actually, and we were just outside of town. Pretty upset about this.
Anyway, we were dropped off back at hostel, and we all decided to meet up for dinner and drinks later.
Evs and I went for a walk to Coles, then ended up at Bojangles again for a drink. Again, what is it with outback pubs and collectables? There was not a free inch of space on any wall or the roof even in that place. Ange, the Canadian and the two Italians from our group were there as well. We walked to Uncles bar again and met up with everyone for a few drinks. After a while we got bored and decided to head back to Bojangles, but it was now closed. Hmmm, righto, we we ended up at the Rock Bar again, this time doing lots of shots with Bristol Josh, Ange and Patrick. Hahahaha, we had a great night out in the beer garden talking until closing time, where the bar staff told us, no actually insisted, that we weren't allowed to walk home, and that we get a cab, cause it was too dangerous outside. There was a fight happening and it was actually a little bit scary. Lucky the security ushered us into the safety of a cab, and we ended up back in the hostel to sleep it off!!!
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