Ayers Rock and to King's Canyon................

LEAVING COOBER PEDY

After the day of domestic duties we were on the road before 9am, leaving behind the mullock heaps that come out of the ground where they are digging for opals. 

Another decision and this was an easy one, we were going north!!

We journeyed north on the Stuart Highway and had a quick stop for fuel at Marla. All these little settlements on the highway consist mostly of fuel station, roadhouse, occasionally a caravan park or motel and little else. We didn't stop for meals, as we packed lunches each day to have on the way. In fact we have not supported the local economies by purchasing meals, but do buy fuel and caravan park sites.

IN THE NORTHERN TERRITORY

We had to stop at this sign as we crossed the border into Northern Territory from South Australia. This is my first time in the NT, and was the only state I had not been to, until now. There were lots of people stopped here for the same photo opportunity and always someone else to take a photo for you.

I found it very disappointing to see the grafiti and stickers left on the sign by people. Why do they have to spoil it for others??

We stopped for the day at Erldunda, which is about 50km from the border, and left the car hitched up for the night. 

This map and the yellow line shows how far we had come from Bordertown.......and the purple line is the border of South Australia. (both roughly drawn!!)

ON TO AYER'S ROCK (now called ULURU)

Our journey now turned off the highway and headed West, towards the Rock!!

We came across this and Barry was quick to tell me that it was not the rock, although many might think it was. This was Mt Connor, and you could be forgiven for mistaking it for Uluru.

This is The rock, and we did the selfie thing in front of it. Sorry for the absence of smiles, but we have not perfected selfies yet, and too preoccupied with pressing the camera and forget to smile.

 

A very striking feature of the landscape, in the middle of rather flat land.

We fuelled up at Uluru, and diesel was $2.77 a litre there. The oil Barry purchased for his car was actually $3 litre cheaper that he could buy it for at Bordertown!!

I mentioned in the last post about the "Aussie Wave" we were doing to brush away the flies.....we have now got this sorted, and you may get a smile about this selfie!!?? But the nets do work!

We camped that night in a rest area on the side of the road, and used the generator, gas and batteries for power and had water for a couple days in the van. It was a lovely quiet spot and quite a few other vans joined us there.

ON THE ROAD TO KING'S CANYON and SURROUNDING MOUNTAINS.

The next morning we turned north on another road and the vegetation changed once again, this time we saw more trees and shrubs.

The George Gill range was following us along the Luitja Road.

We decided to camp for the night at Kings Creek Station, which is about 50km before King's Canyon, the next tourist spot we were aiming for.

We were fortunate that Kings Creek were doing helicopter flights out over the ranges and up to King's Canyon, so we booked an hour's flight from there. It was amazing to see all this country from the air. It was so much better than seeing from ground level at the designated walks. Just a few photos for you...........

The photos don't really do the views justice, it was just amazing to see these formations and realize just how vast and stunning this country of ours is.

This was King's creek station as we were coming in to land.

And of course the obligatory photo of us in front of the helicopter........

.............and as a former gyrocopter owner, Barry was very interested in the workings of the helicopter.

After our flight we had a late lunch at the cafe on the station. This has been the first purchased meal on this trip......a Camel burger!!

A few photos taken around the station, which is very busy with tourists in vans and buses coming and going.

There was much more that we could have seen, and we could have spent many days around here, but.............we had more places to see, so Monday morning we departed and headed back onto the Stuart Highway again.

I will finish this post here, and come back another day with the next part of our trip.

Blessings, From Jude