Alarm went off at 5am, breakfast at 6am and on the bus at 6:45am. Rain that had fallen over the last two days had closed the usual dirt roads to our bus so we had a revised schedule on bitumen roads which meant more hours on the road (oh joy). Today we were checking out a couple of the breaks that had occurred in the McDonnell Ranges
Our first stop was Standley Chasm which had been named after the first female teacher to work in the area. It was very pretty and the drizzling rain gave the rocks a lovely sheen.
Then back on the bus to Simpson’s Gap which again was an impressive sight. Back on the bus again and after two and a bit hours travelling we stopped at Emu Station for lunch. This was for me a bit of a let down as it was not, as I had imagined from the program, an outback cattle station but rather it turned out to be a petrol station.
On the positive side they had some pet emus and Jeanette took to feeding one grapes which it seemed to like. I was somewhat surprised by this as Jeanette a few years back, was mugged by an Emu who snuck up behind her and stole a sandwich out of her hand and since that event she has always tended to have a rather dim view of that species. Time seems to have worked its healing balm here. The other amazing sights here were the huge cars towing giant caravans and the bus-sized motor homes towing trailers with sedans on them, pulling in for petrol.
Anyway back on the bus for another two and half hour stint to Kings Canyon. With the wet summer and recent rains the country was really looking its best and I was struck by how pristine and untouched it looked for hundreds of miles.
We got into our Kings Canyon accommodation around 4pm.
I should note that I have had a defect occur on my camera sensor resulting in a large circular moon shaped like blob appearing in the middle of all the photos. As a result, from this post onwards, Jeanette with her iPhone has assumed the offical mantle of trip photographer. If you notice a dramatic improvement in the quality of the images, please spare my feelings and don’t tell me.
Hardys’ Travels 