Waking up well rested from a wonderful night under the Australian stars at the “Kings Creek Wilderness Lodge” we headed towards the Kings Canyon in Watarrka National Park.

As K was still suffering from her stiff neck and because the proposed tour started with a steep climb we separated from the rest of the group and opted for a shorter hike taking us up to the canyon and then back again.

After a bit of a walk F all of a sudden started yelling something about kangaroos he had seen. And sure enough there were two kangaroos hopping away at the other side of the mountain. We believe they were “Euros”, a amaller type of kangaroo.

All excited from the discovery we continued up the mountain when all of a sudden B , who was following me too closely, stepped on my heel climbing down some steps amd fell about half a meter from a rock onro flat ground. She landed on her right side. Luckily there were no sharp rocks. But nevertheless her side was still hurting the next day any time she laughed or had to cough.

Still she made it up the mountain where we were rewarded with a beautiful view of the canyon

All excited from the discovery we continued up the mountain when all of a sudden B , who was following me too closely, stepped on my heel climbing down some steps amd fell about half a meter from a rock onro flat ground. She landed on. her left side. Luckily there were no sharp rocks. But nevertheless her side was still hurting the next day any time she laughed or had to cough.

All excited from the discovery we continued up the mountain when all of a sudden B , who was following me too closely, stepped on my heel climbing down some steps amd fell about half a meter from a rock onro flat ground. She landed on. her left side. Luckily there were no sharp rocks. But nevertheless her side was still hurting the next day any time she laughed or had to cough.

Still she made it up the mountain where we were rewarded with a beautiful view of the canyon

Still she made it up the mountain where we were rewarded with a beautiful view of the canyonOn our way back we. stopped on a resting area with a barbecue where the men griĺled hamburgers and the women made the pasta salad- just to keep with the cliché.. While we were still eating a skinny looking dingo came over to check for any leftovers. When he found none, however,  he was gone quickly.

After our delicious lunch we got back on the bus ro take a shortcut road to Alice Springs. Unfortunately we did not get very far. After about half an hour on this road a loud beep indicated that something was wrong with the bus. The air pressure of the gear shift had dropped forcing us to make an unvoluntary stop right in the middle of nowhere. Our guide was able to fix the problem for a short while but soon it became evident that we would not be able to make it to Alice Springs with this bus.

We were lucky enough to make it all the way to a camel farm that was supposed to be our next stop. A new bus had already been sent from Alice Springs to meet us there so we could continue our trip. Apparently an air pressure pipe had broken making gear change impossible.

While we were waiting, the four of us decided to try camels riding. B and I got to ride on “Chrissy”, a six timed gold medal winner at the Alice Springs tournament. She was a bit shy but very beautiful. Meanwhile F and K were riding on “Curly”, who had come in on 2nd place at last years tournament.

With the new bus we then continued on our journey. Dropping off the other members of the group we reached our hotel about an hour later as expected. But since all we had planned for the evening were a hot shower and dinner it did not make much difference.We ended this exciting day at a pub with delicious pub food and a pitcher of beer. Nothing more to wish for!