Thorny Devils and washed out of the Kings Canyon

We started out early in order to make it to King's Canyon at a reasonable time in the afternoon. The kids settled into their schoolwork, excited by the prospect of a couple more days in a tent at a new location. En route we caught a good glimpse of Mt Conner - an Uluru mimick we noticed on the way in. It's a monolith about half way from the Stuart Highway turn off to Uluru with less rounded corners but a similar largess sort of stature. It probably doesn't capture the light as well as Uluru and perhaps does not have the spiritual association as much, so has been left alone by the tourist mobs. After the turn off to King's Canyon I finally managed to pull off the road to check out a thorny devil lizard that I hadn't run over. They are incredible little beasties which look like they have actual thorns attached to their legs and backs. On the way we pulled into Kings Creek Station for a coffee and fill up. The flies continued to be incessant in their desire to push us to insanity so we gave in and invested in the colourful head mesh screens - they even had a pink one left! We made it to the Kings Canyon Resort by early afternoon and enjoyed some lunch and a swim by the pool. Dried and refreshed, we made a quick trek into the canyon for a short walk to the valley lookout. On the walk out we noticed an enticing little pool of water to the side of the path and ventured the short distance to check it out. Small frogs littered the rocks and tadpoles with legs scittered around the shallow pools. Dragonflies - both red and blue, zipped around the surface and the kids found small ledges and areas to explore in the near vicinity. As we clambered out we crossed paths with a patronizing guide from the local Adventure Lodge who advised us to "stay to the trail" as some of these off-trail areas were sacred to the aborigines. There were no signs indicating this to be the case and plenty of footprints to suggest we weren't the only ones to explore this little pool. We are quite sensitive to the aboriginal areas and had no intention of trespassing where we weren't meant to go so I was a little perturbed by his lecture as we had done nothing noticeably wrong other than appreciate the beauty of the area. We headed back to camp and enjoyed another swim. The boys didn't seem to want to leave the pool and were good and water-logged by the time they eventually emerged for dinner. A game of snap, a quick read and we settled into a deep slumber.

I woke early and on my way back from the toilet block heard the distinctive clunk of something walking over the bonnet of a car. I looked up to see a dingo maybe 8 feet in front of me scampering off another camper's car. They had placed their cooking pots on the roof (clean or uncleaned I'm unsure) and the dingo was obviously up having a look. As I made my way to the tent the howls began in earnest, lasting maybe 30 seconds to a minute then abruptly stopped. The sunrise had an iridescent purpley-red glow on the sky and the old adage "red skies in the morning - sailors take warning" rambled through my head. The flies were in full force so we elected to have breaky at the resort as dark clouds began to muster and thunder and lightning to strike in the distance. We had set our sites on the canyon rim walk in the morning and a productive, fun afternoon at the pool if  the weather cleared. As we headed to the canyon, buckets of water seemed to be hurled at us such that my wipers had trouble keeping up with the deluge. We waited about ten to fifteen minutes to see if it would pass at the canyon parking lot and our window came...briefly. Traipsed up in our head meshes, hats and nylon rain slickers we trudged up the path to the rim. Two-thirds the way up and the sky opened up again with torrents. We pushed forward despite complaints from the boys about the loud thunder seemingly moving closer and closer the higher we climbed. We made it to the top and called it quits as it looked as if we would be washed away if we persisted on track to the "Garden of Eden" - the goal of today's trek. The waterfall visible from the parking lot, high on the canyon walls, had turned into a veritable Niagara Falls in contrast to its initial trickle and the steps down had come to resemble small cataracts building up steam. By the time we'd made it back to the car we were drenched - seems our slickers weren't so slick! We decided to push our travels ahead and pack up camp (which was very damp by the time we returned) to make our way to Alice a day early. The rain persisted in droves as we made our way to Kings Creek for lunch, with low areas of the road actually covered in a few inches of water, making that wave-spray of water as we drove through. I tried to convince Jen to run ahead and capture our "river crossing" on the camera but she declined. We eventually made it to Alice and Fiona directed us to where we'll be staying for the next three weeks - a small two-bedroom unit at the end of a cul de sac - a bit basic but we'll manage. We didn't know what to expect of Alice and initial impressions suggested significant impoverishment and social issues with numerous aborigines lounging on sidewalks and around the city centre, unkempt and very rough looking, but it wasn't only the aborigines who looked liked they'd had tough times. I start monday at the Aboriginal Medical Service about 15 kms out of town - should be a bit eye-opening.