Busy day today with our aim to visit some of the gorges of the West MacDonnell Ranges. First stop was the Ormiston Gorge where we chose to do the 2.5 km Ghost Gum walk: it took us up high in the gorge at a lovely lookout directly above the main waterhole. We then descended down into the base of the gorge where the waterholes were. The water was freezing, but nice and refreshing on the face. Coffees and drinks at the kiosk were a nice ending to that exper...

Quick 120kms out to the Glen Helen Resort today which is at the far end of the McDonnell Ranges. A number of places don't really look like the brochures, and I've come to realise that the term 'resort' simply means there's a variety of accommodation available such as camp sites, caravan sites, bunkhouses, and motel rooms, and there maybe a pool - it certainly doesn't equate to 5-start luxury however! This place has a nice bar and restaurant but the sites are qu...

Early start today - our plan was to drive from Kings Canyon through to Stuart's Well Roadhouse via Erldunda. We left before 10am and were saddened to hear via CB of a bad accident near Yulara (Ayer's Rock Resort) - the road to Uluru was closed, but that didn't affect us as we were due to head east on the Lasseter Highway. We stopped for lunch at Erldunda and said hi to the emus that we saw a few days ago. We were making such good progress that we continued th...

Warm 29 degrees today, so we got out 'early' to do our walk. We're within the Watarrka National Park and it was a quick 10 minute drive from the Resort to Kings Canyon. We did the Rim Walk which is a 6km loop considered a moderate grade, with about 500 steps at the start of the walk to the top of the canyon. The walk then follows the rim around - about half way along the walk is the Garden of Eden, a delightful area of cool waterholes and vegetation. We made...

After 5 nights, we were ready to move on from Uluru, although we were sad at the last glimpse of the rock. It's a 304km drive to Kings Canyon, and we arrived around 2pm on a 27 degree day. Kids visited the playground while we set up, then they put swimmers on for the first time. Renee jumped in the lovely big pool straight away, but Eamon took a couple more minutes. The ater was very chilly! We headed to the Thirsty Dingo Bar for a couple of drinks, then ...