Go to Kings Canyon, they said.

Go to Kings Canyon they said.
It's a highlight they said.
It's a steep climb they said, but it is worth it.

So we did. We went, we climbed we oo-ed and ah-ed.

The Kings Canyon is a big gash in the escarpment and it's hard to believe that it wasn't accessible until the late 1960's when a local guy made a great push to get a road built to it.
Now it is awash with tourist buses who include it as part of a 2 or 3 day dash from Alice to Uluru.

Anyway.
You park with everyone else and make sure you've got a shady hat and water and sunscreen and then you climb up.
There are steps.....there are steps for all of 100m and then that is it - you are up. And then you think "it that all?".

Then it's mostly going along the rim, with a few (lots) of fabulous beehive rock formations.
The rim edge takes your breath away....hopefully we wouldn't also get blown away!

There are a few side trips and we couldn't resist doing a bit of "off track" wandering.
One to a lookout across a bridge.

And another down to a gully with water and cycads, aptly called the Garden of Eden.

Then you go up again to the top and by this time you have taken so long noodling around that all the tourists have gone apart from 2 delightful overseas research students from James Cook University.
After wandering along the rim on the other side and gasping a bit more.
Then you walk down steps back to the car.

It was an overcast day when we started out and so not too great for photography but good for climbing steps.
Later the sun peeped out and so did the flies.

Yes. The chasm is breath-taking.
The colours of the rocks are astonishing.
The shapes of the rocks are boggling.
I lovelovelove the white trunked trees and the red rocks and the green leaves.
The walk is extremely pleasant, a leisurely 4 hour toddle for us.
I know that it can be very hot there, I guess we were lucky in that respect and they close the walk when temperatures exceed 36 degrees.

All in all a great day out.