Saturday, July 14, 2007

Day 3: King's Canyon to Glen Helen

Clarke, our guide, gave us a big talk last night about "Heart Attack Hill" that we had to climb to get up to the top of King's Canyon, and told us of the easier valley option. I really wanted to see the views but have become much less fit over recent months while I have been studying and munching chocolate.
But I decided I was still going to try! I was the slowest in the group, but Clarke stayed behind me so I could just take the climb slowly. And it was soooooo worth it. The views up the top of King's Canyon were just magnificent!
Photo 1 shows Clarke sharing some of his extensive knowledge about local trees.








Again, the red was only 'skin deep'. There were places where you could see the very white sedimentary rock, made from white beach sands.

The tree here is not a palm, but a much more ancient beast. If I remember rightly, and I might have muddled it, this tree is a cycad.

After our walk we had lunch at King's Canyon resort. Here are a young Dutch couple, Hilco and Coby, cooking our burger meat.

We arrived at Glen Helen before dark, which gave a wonderful chance to sit quietly beside the water as the sun went down.

2 comments:

  1. Kiwi, some really extraordinary pictures and it sounds like a wonderful trip. Thanks for sharing it with us. :)

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  2. It was a wonderful trip. I saw so many wonderful landscapes. And the colours in Central Australia are so strong and powerful.
    I thought you were meant to be studying though;-)
    Btw, I got an A+ for my NZ fauna paper and I am pretty pleased with that!

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