Wow, what a way to spend your 9th birthday. Staying in the Big4 at Renmark. Big4 Parks target market is families and they cater for them very well. The park in Renmark is situated right on the Murray River and the park has a long river frontage.

We gave Ben his presents in the morning and it was lovely to see his face light up when opening them. I asked what he would like for his birthday breakfast and he promptly replied ‘your scrambled eggs & bacon Gran’. So another batch of scrambled eggs & bacon was cooked in my large SmartSpace saucepan (see my post ‘What are our most useful items’ under Random Stuff). We set the table outside and we all enjoyed our breakfast under the motorhome awning in the warm sun.

We needed some groceries so piled in the car to head to the local Woolies. Groceries and fresh bread purchased we were quickly back at camp. We decided to make some good use of the facilities at the park and went to reception to hire tennis racquets and balls. There is no fee for these but you do have to fill in an equipment hire form. Probably to ensure you bring them back!

We spent the next couple of hours playing tennis. What a hoot and so much fun. Benny is a natural at tennis. Never had a lesson and he was whacking those balls across the net. Pa even put his book down to join in.

After becoming hot and sweaty from playing tennis the kids all wanted a swim so Katie took them to the pool and the water park. While the pool is solar heated , the water park is not. I dont’ know how they go in the cold water but they seemed to love it.

Pa and I needed a rest!

I went for another long walk around the park and it truly is a lovely spot. The grounds are very well maintained and the gardens are lovely. There seem to be a lot of staff and they ride around the park silently in their golf buggies.

The park was fairly empty, and becoming more empty each day, but I could imagine how busy it would get in the warmer months. All the school holidays are over so it’s only us grey nomads left in the park with a few families that are full-time on the road.

Ben was asked what he would like to do for his birthday dinner and to everyone’s surprise he said ‘let’s have Chinese’. I can tell you that Pa was very happy about that. He loves Chinese!

So we all got dolled up in our finest camping gear and set off to the Riverland Golden Palace Chinese Restaurant only to discover when we arrived that they are closed on a Monday. Oh well!

Ben’s next choice was the Renmark Club where we enjoyed a lovely meal and the kids enjoyed a play in their Kids Room. When you check in at the Big4 you are given a 10% discount card for the Renmark Club. A great idea so that park patrons support the club. The Renmark Club is perfectly situated right on the banks of the river and we’ve eaten there a few times before. They have a large deck on the river side that makes a perfect spot for lunch. You can enjoy your meal and a cold beverage watching the river and boats going by. Lovely!

Back at camp Katie organised birthday cake for dessert with strawberries and cream. I found some sparklers, Katie had candles and we all sang an enthusiastic, if not harmonious, happy birthday to Ben.

He’d had a lovely birthday.

We departed from our terrific free camp at Hogwash Bend around 10am and headed further east towards Waikerie. There we stopped to check out their fabulous silo art.

We continued on through the Riverland and took a turnoff to visit the little town of Barmera situated right on Lake Bonney. We’d never called in there before in spite of traveling past many times. What a lovely spot it turned out to be with the town built around the fabulous Lake Bonney.

There is a lovely park all along the foreshore with green grass, picnic tables, playgrounds, the Yacht Club, a walking path and a long jetty. I imagine it would be a busy place in warmer months. It looked like a great lake for water skiing.

We arrived in Renmark around 1.30pm and stopped for a lunch break at a park right on the river. There were houseboats moored up on both sides of the river. It was a lovely sunny day and Riley and I had a long game of GripBall while Ben and Maddie kicked a footy.

We checked in to the Big4 Renmark at 2.30pm and, wow, what a park. It’s a fabulous family park. There are so many activities to do. There’s a pump track, and outdoor theatre, tennis court, jumping pillow, multiple playgrounds, a swimming pool & spa with a fabulous water park next door (and the pool is solar heated), a games room, big screen TV room, and, of course, the whole park is right on the river.

There is all types of accomodation as well. There are large and small cabins, lots of powered sites, most with large concrete slabs, and even four large glamping safari tents. It is a very well maintained park.

While Ben & Maddie scooted around the fabulous pump track I went for a walk around the park and found a swan family with their 6 fluffy grey cygnets. They were just beautiful to watch as they searched for food on the riverbank.

Gotta love a good free camp! Hogwash Bend is a lovely big spot right on the Murray River. It is located between Morgan and Waikerie. There’s lots of space for lots of campers.

I spent most of the day sorting photos and updating this blog. It can be quite time consuming but I do enjoy it. Richard spent the day with his nose in a book.

Katie spent most of the day doing uni work online as we had reasonable reception. She had a very productive day.

The kids played, read books and coloured in. Later in the day I gave them a couple of sets of Grip Ball games I’d bought for them to keep in their van. The next hour or so was spent paying GripBall.

Our big excitement for the day was seeing a large Perentie trying to find bird eggs. Katie was alerted by birds screeching and flying around a tree. She wondered what they were screeching at. Turns out it was a large lizard looking for feed of bird eggs. Isn’t it a beautiful creature?

Late in the afternoon we had a visit from old friends Kathy & George who live in Waikerie. We hadn’t seen them since we came through on our Murray River Run in 2020.

George brought his home made Duck soup for us to try and we had that for our entree. Ben loved it so much he had three bowls and didn’t want any dinner! The soup was so good we declared it good enough for any fine French restaurant. A big thank you to George for his duck soup.

We use our Biji-Barbi to cook some delicious marinated in mint and rosemary lamb chops and had boiled potato and corn on the cob to go with it.

We sat around the campfire until all the children went to bed and eventually had to say farewell to George and Kathy. We had all enjoyed seeing them very much.

The CMCA RV Park at Port Pirie has a dump point and multiple potable water taps so before we left we emptied our cassettes and filled our fresh water tanks. This means we can free camp for a couple of nights. We left Port Pirie after a stop at the Mitre10, which is conveniently located around the corner from the CMCA RV Park. We both needed a gas bottle and we needed wood for our planned free camp on the Murray River.

Most hardware stores and some service stations sell 15kg bags of wood. The usual price is $15 per bag. You can also buy bags of kindling however we already had enough kindling. We store our wood in a couple of the outside bins of the motorhome. One of the bins is meant to be for a generator but as we’ve never had one, nor felt the need to have one, we use that bin to store our wood, our flat pack fire pit and our Biji-BBQ. Also on this trip I took out my inflatable kayak and we’ve been able to use that bin for extra wood storage.

We made a short visit to KMart for some new books and Coles and Bakers Delight to stock up on supplies and fresh bread then headed southwards.

Stopped for a lunch break in Jamestown next to a large park with a playground. Jamestown is the home of the very famous Australian, RM Williams. Reginald Murray Williams was born in Jamestown on 24 May 1908. Once RM made his first pair of boots he honed his skills and eventually he and his young family moved back to Adelaide where he started his famous store, the ‘Bushmen’s Outfitters’. The RM Williams brand is known throughout the world today. Reg died in 2003 aged 95 and was survived by his nine children. What a legend!

Continuing our journey we stopped for a photo in front of the huge 44m long wind turbine propeller blade at Mount Bryan. This area is home to AGL’s Hallett Hill Wind Farm. This is one of four AGL wind farm clusters in the mid north of South Australia. The Hallett Hill Wind Farm produces enough energy to power 40,000 homes. Wind power supplies more than 20% of South Australia’s power needs.

We passed through the historic town of Burra without stopping. Richard and I had been there last year on our Murray River Run and we were all keen to get to a camp. We finally reached the Murray River at Morgan. First stop was for fuel and then we headed down the hill to the car ferry. Katie hadn’t towed her van on a car ferry so this was quite exciting.

It’s a very quick and easy process except we have to be very careful getting on and off with our motorhome. We have a long overhang at the rear and sometimes we have to go at an angle so we don’t scrape our rear end. Fortunately we have a tow bar and it’s usually only the tow bar that scrapes a little.

After crossing the river we pulled up for the night at Hogwash Bend Conservation Park right on the river. There is a good gravel road that leads to the camp area next to the river. There is lots of room for many camps and we found a good spot. There was only one other camp with a couple of caravans camped 200m away. The river was huge and very full.

We set up camp for a couple of nights. What a lovely spot.

At sunset the corellas and kookaburras made a raucous noise but we love it. Being camped in the bush with water views…..how good is life?

As Ben’s birthday was coming up Katie and I took the opportunity to do some shopping in a reasonable sized shopping centre. We set off on our own while Pa stayed back at camp to supervise the packing up of our camps. Shopping done, we returned to the caravan park to find Richard and the kids had the swags all packed up, water tanks full, cassettes emptied, motorhome ready to go and the van ready to be hitched up.

We headed directly to the Wadlata Visitor Information Centre so we could take the kids to the award winning ‘Tunnel of Time’ exhibition. We’d done this before and felt the kids would all enjoy this one.

You enter the Tunnel of Time through the open mouth of Max, a prehistoric Ripper Lizard. What a fearsome creature they were!

You are taken back in time and learn about the creation of the Flinders Ranges and the Outback. The displays tell Dreamtime stories and showcase the changing flora and fauna over time. There are short video presentations throughout the exhibition.

You can learn about the explorers and early white settlers and there is even an Outback Theatre showing a 15 minute film. One display is the legendary Tea and Sugar Train that holds displays of how the railways were built.

You can pedal a radio and listen to a School of the Air class, find out about the Royal Flying Doctor Service, the importance of Morse code and the overland telegraph. You can even listen in to conversations on an old ‘party line’ switchboard.

There’s a mining display where you can ‘drive’ a big dump truck and read all about the coal mining process and experience an ‘undergound blast’.

There is so much to see, listen and read that you need to allocate at least a couple of hours to see this fabulous exhibition. There’s the usual tourist information and souvenirs for sale as well.

By the time we got through the excellent exhibition everyone was a bit peckish so we had a delicious morning tea at the Wadlata Centre Cafe. They make great coffee and great scones.

Back in the RV’s we headed further south to our destination for the day, Port Pirie. Last time Rich and I were in Port Pirie was in 2016 when we did our trip across the Nullarbor with our lovely friends, Kathy & Ed. We were keen to see if it had changed much.

As we drove in down the Main Street we noticed a lovely park on our right including a newish Skate Park. Further along was a huge children’s playground. It looked like a good one. The shops all looked busy and we noticed there weren’t too many empty buildings. A sign that the town is prospering.

We’d chosen the CMCA RV Park Port Pirie as our camp for the night and found the RV Park behind the Port Pirie Football Club. It is basically a large paddock with some grass, a dump point, multiple potable water taps, a happy hour shed with BBQ and fire pit and we were greeted by the current volunteer custodians at the gate. Here you have to give your CMCA member details and pay the extraordinary price of $3 per vehicle and $2 per person, $7 in total for us! As Katie is a non-member she had to pay $15. You do have to be self-contained but there was no problem with the boys sleeping in their swags.

Right behind the RV Park is a large shopping centre that includes KMart, Coles and some specialty stores. There’s a gate that allows access to the shopping centre from the RV Park. How convenient is that? You can also go across to the Football Club for a cold one or a meal. We didn’t do that but quite a few staying in the park did.

Once we had camp set up Richard and I took the kids for a drive to give Katie some time on her own. We set off back to the CBD and our first stop was the Vistors Centre where we purchased tickets to visit Shakka, the Great White Shark.

Shakka was a 5.5m Great White Shark who was caught by local fisherman, David Fletcher (how funny is that? The same name as my brother-in-law!)

After an autopsy it was found that Shakka was a 22 year old female who had given birth in the past year. I wonder how many of her offsprings are still out there? White Sharks give birth to 4 – 12 pups so there could be quite a few of Shakka’s babies still swimming in the Southern Ocean.

The exhibition features a life-sized model of Shakka, displays of the newspapers when she was caught, and one of her actual pectoral fins and her incredible jaws full of fearsome triangular teeth.

Around the walls was lots of information about Great White Sharks and sharks in general. Did you know that more people get killed by falling coconuts each year than by sharks. 150 people a year die from falling coconuts. 3-4 people die in Australia each year from bee stings! Sharks do not really deserve their bad reputation.

Back in the car we drove out across narrow one-lane bridge so we could view the working port on the other side of the harbour. The bridge has traffic lights at each end.

Back in the CBD we stopped at the playground so the kids could have a long play. They had fun playing ‘tag’.

We had the bright idea of getting fish & chips for dinner and taking it down to eat ‘al fresco’ by the waterside so we drove by the skate park and beach area where we found multiple picnic shelters and a lovely park next to a sandy man-made beach. This is the town beach called Solomantown Beach and would be very popular in warmer months. It offers a safe place for swimming. The park looked like a good spot to have dinner.

After asking one of the custodians at the RV Park which was the best fish & chips in town we headed to The Church of Fish & Chips. This truly was a church and was the first church built in Port Pirie in 1879. The church ceased being used in 1991 and was falling into disrepair when, in 1998, it was turned into a fish & chip shop by Kevin & Kim Spirou. They saved this wonderful building from demolition and the family still have the shop today.

We took our seafood feast to the beach and found a picnic shelter right near the skate park and enjoyed our dinner. What a feast! We had fish, prawns, calamari, spring rolls and chips with a variety of sauces and lemon. Delicious.

After dinner the kids had a long play on their scooters while we watched them do their tricks. Where do they get their energy?

Leaving our little camp by the salt lake mid morning we set off towards the south again. We passed a few more salt lakes and just before Glendambo was a lake very close to the road on the left and this one was full of water. Glendambo is a dot on the map and consists of a couple of roadhouses and a pub. It has a huge windmill out the front. it looks like a popular spot for the big road trains to stop for a break.

Just south of Glendambo the Stuart Highway crosses over The Ghan railway line. There is a huge man made hill enabling the road to go over the top of the tracks. I’d love to see the train as it went underneath!

55kms from Pimba we came across a car, with a Jayco Camper on the back, pulled off the side of the road. It looked like they’d blown a tyre. We pulled up and Katie pulled up behind us and we walked back to check if they needed any help. We found Des & Jen and their three kids stranded as they’d blown a tyre and the remains of the shredded tyre had wrapped around the axle and they had no means of getting it off. Des was on his phone on hold with RACV to see if they could arrange something.

We got their phone numbers and said we’d call in at Spuds Roadhouse at Pimba and see if anyone there could help. They were very appreciative as we were the only ones who’d stopped to check on them.

We drove to Pimba and as soon as we got service I called Des to see how they got on with RACV. He said they were not particularly helpful and quoted $1,200 to come get them and tow them to Port Augusta and it would take some 6 hours to get to them. 6 hours sitting on the side of the very busy Stuart Highway….not ideal.

Fortunately a very kind diesel mechanic named Mitch had pulled up to see if they were OK and he had the tools and skills to remove the hub and remove the shredded tyre rubber, put the hub and spare tyre back on. They were able to get back on the road with Mitch following them to make sure the tyre doesn’t overheat. What a kind bloke and what a good outcome for Des, Jen and the kids. Sort of restores your faith in humanity when you hear off kind acts like that. Makes you grateful.

On the way to Pimba we passed Lake Hart and I insisted we pull in to have a look as we’d driven straight past on the way north. Lake Hart is a huge salt lake and it was full of water. The sun was shining and the water shimmered in the sunlight. It is hard to describe and my photos don’t do it justice. It’s a beautiful sight.

The area around Pimba is gentle hills with low grasses and no trees or shrubs at all. Not a tree could be seen anywhere. There are huge salt lakes, some with water and others dried up.

The first sign of trees occurs some 30km south of Pimba where you come across the Woomera Pipeline. This is a water pipeline that supplies vital water to the town of Woomera.

We arrived in Port Augusta late in the afternoon and our first stop was at the car wash to wash the red dirt off our RV’s. It felt so good to wash it all off. Our rigs were sparkling clean again. We’d traveled 316km to reach Port Augusta from our overnight camp. We checked in to the Discovery Parks – Port Augusta where we’d stayed on our way north. It’s a lovely park with lots of the usual amenities including a powered site with water. We could clean and wash clothes after a couple of nights free camping.

We were pleased to see a car and camper pull in to the park. It was Des and Jen and their kids. They’d made it to Port Augusta and had already been to the tyre place and have two tyres to go on tomorrow. They should get home safely then. We were glad they’d arrived safely. You never know, that might be us one day!

Continuing our journey southwards we set off before 9am from our lovely overnight free camp at Mount John Rest Area. Back on the Stuart Highway and there was still quite a few RV’s on the road. It is still school holidays in SA so maybe that’s why.

We stopped briefly at the Quarantine Bin in Marla to drop off our left over fruit and veggies that are banned from South Australia. We didn’t have much to dispose off though. Just a bit of fruit and some baby tomatoes.

The country side along the way to Coober Pedy is all red desert with scrubby bush and mostly flat for as far as the eye can see. Funny! This was how I imagined the Red Centre to be and it wasn’t like that at all. The Red Centre is a land of hills, jump ups and rocky sandstone ridges with sand dunes and desert in between. We chatted about that on the UHF as we drove along and we all agreed that we were surprised by the Red Centre landscape. In particular we all loved Alice Springs and how the town is built in between the rocky hills of the MacDonnell Ranges.

Stopped in Coober Pedy to top up with water, use the dump point, top up with fuel and get some groceries at the IGA. The IGA in Coober Pedy is a very well stocked supermarket and newsagency. Prices are a little higher than we are used to but it is a long way from anywhere so freight would be a high cost. Still we were glad to stock up on fruit & veggies and basic supplies.

We had a lunch break parked in the carpark near the iconic Coober Pedy sign. Just about every RV that goes by stops in there to have their photo taken under the ‘Big Blower’.

South of Coober Pedy we passed the turnoff to Prominent Hill Mine. Wonder what they mine there. Will have to look it up when we get some service.

Edit @ 02/08/2022: I looked up Prominent Hill Mine and it is a major copper, silver and gold mine. It began production in 2006 and is expected to run until 2030. It has an open pit and two underground mines accessible from the open pit. It cost $1.15 billion to develop and is projected to produce 100,000 tonnes of copper and 115,000 ounces of gold per year..

We stopped for the night at a fabulous spot we found on WikiCamps. It is simply called Salt Lake Rest Area and to find it you have to very carefully watch for the track leading of the road. It is very easy to miss. The narrow sandy track leads over a sand dune and there before you is the salt lake. The lake is not visible from the road. The track continues down the other side of the dune and onto the edge of the lake bed. It is a good solid sandy track but could be slippery if wet.

There are lots of spots to camp along the track and it looks like the track might go all the way around the roughly circular lake. We found a good spot, set up camp and got the fire going to cook our dinner.

We’d had a big driving day and achieved 480km. I think everyone was very glad to get out of the vehicles and wander around the lake. The kids took off exploring and I wondered how long it would be before one of them got stuck in the mud. The surface of the lake can be deceiving. It looks dry but when you step on it, it is mushy mud underneath. Sure enough Riley got stuck in the mud. We could hear squealing as the other two rescued him from the sucking mud. We thought it quite funny when he came back looking sad that his boots were all muddy. We explained that he shouldn’t worry about it. They would dry near the fire and the mud will be able to be brushed off in the morning. No problem.

Pa and Riley were our chief BBQ cooks and capably cooked our sausages and rissoles on the Biji-BBQ. Katie cooked a yummy potato a bake and mixed veggies to go with it and we enjoyed our dinner under the stars.

The stars were very bright in the night sky. Our friend Kathy, who has just returned from a fabulous trip on The Ghan, had recommended we download an app called Sky View Lite so we gave it a try and it is amazing. You hold your phone up to the sky and if you point it at an object it tells you what it is. Brilliant. Thanks Kathy.

After a great nights sleep and a delicious breakfast of scrambled eggs & bacon, the kids and I set off to walk around the salt lake. We discovered on the other side of the lake there was another salt lake on the other side of the dunes. We also discovered the track doesn’t go all the way around and we had to bush bash a couple of times. It took us about 45 minutes to complete the circumnavigation of the lake. It was a lovely walk in the bush. There are so many lovely plants in the desert country. Check them out.

Goodbye Kings Canyon Resort. We’d had a great visit but it was time to head towards home. We were all up bright and early and on the road before 8am. Katie needed milk from the General Store so we pulled up next to the pub to wait. The kids were very excited and called us on the UHF when they spied four wild dingos across the road. Riley and Ben got out to take photos with Maddie giving us a running commentary over the radio.

50km from Kings Canyon Resort we noticed piles of horse droppings on the road. We spotted 4 bay brumbies off to the side off the road. Not long after the kids spotted another mob of brumbies on the other side of the road.

As we drove past Kings Creek Station we saw camels in the paddock and a lovely bright blue helicopter parked out the front waiting to take passengers for joy flights.

The Giles Range runs along the northern side of the road and provides a stunning vista of craggy sandstone hills. The road from Kings Canyon Resort to the Lassiter Highway is a very good quality tar road. It is two lanes wide.

We both love this wild desert country in the Red Centre. It has a beauty all its own. Not sure I’d like it so much in the middle of summer when it gets so very hot.

Just after a short stop for a wee break we passed the turn off for the Ernest Giles Road. This 100km dirt road is the short cut to Alice Springs 234km away.

Not long after the turnoff we came to a Desert Oak forest. Acres and acres of these amazing trees. The young trees have hairy branches all the way to the ground. When Ben first saw them he thought they looked like the Lorax from Dr Suexx so we’ve been calling them Lorax Trees ever since. The more mature trees spread their top branches out and lose the ones on their trunk. The very mature trees have huge spreading top branches. I wonder how old they have to be before they start spreading their top branches.

We pulled up at the intersection of the Luritja Road and the Lassiter Highway. At the corner is one of the iconic Red Centre Way signs and we just had to get one of those. Some friendly bikers pulled up just after us and kindly offered to take our photos. They’d just come from Yulara and we’re heading to King Canyon. They wanted to know what the road was like and we were able to let them know its a good tar road all the way.

Stopped for fuel at Kulgera Roadhouse. Had a brief lunch break here also. We’d done 330km so far for the day but decided to push on. It’s flat desert country with lots of bushy scrub around there.

We eventually stopped at Mount John Rest Area. This great spot is on WikiCamps and is not an official Rest Area. There is a small track leading off the highway towards the west and you can drive for quite a way into the desert to get away from the highway. If you go too far though you come to the railway line. This is the line The Ghan uses but we’d missed it. The Ghan would have gone through that morning on its way to Alice Springs.

We found a good flat spot and ‘circled the wagons’ so they blocked the prevailing wind. Our camp was quickly set up. Everyone knows what to do to get camp set up now we’ve been on the road for over 30 days. We had a lovely campfire and ate our chicken & mushroom risotto sitting around the fire. I’d cooked the risotto in my little crockpot.

We’d traveled 511km for the day. That was a big day’s travel for us.
It was a beautiful sunset in the desert and the stars in the sky were so bright. The kids get excited when they spot a satellite going overhead. I think they spotted 5 or 6 that night. They can all easily identify the Southern Cross constellation now.

Maddie, aged 6, taught me how to play a card game called Spit. It is a fast game and you need your wits about you. It’s a lot of fun.

Those free camps in the bush are always my favourites. There’s no other distractions, just the family, awesome sunsets and a great little campfire.

We set off from Ayers Rock Campground before 8am. We were all a little sad to be leaving Yulara. We had enjoyed our stay there vey much. Seeing Uluru and Kata Tjuta had been the highlight of our trip. It was the reason we came this way in the first place.

We pulled up for a break at the Lookout to Mt Connor and I’d read that there was a salt lake on the other side of the road. I couldn’t recall any salt lake when we came that way so I was curious to find it. Mt Connor was shimmering pinkish in the morning sun when we pulled in at the lookout. Across the road I could see a huge red sand dune and there was a pathway leading over it that looked like many feet had passed that way. Worth a look.

Across the road we went, up and over the red sand dune and there it was. Wow! The salt lake is huge. To get it all in one photo I had to use the panorama setting. It even has an island in the middle!

We took the turn off northwards to Kings Canyon on the Luritja Road and found it to be a good tar road. Two lanes although not a particularly wide road.

We pulled up for a look at the information boards and to take a photo in front of the Watarrka National Park sign. We’d made it to Kings Canyon. Another tick off that bucket list.

We had an uneventful trip to arrive at Kings Canyon Resort around midday.

Kings Canyon Resort has been taken over by Discovery Parks and it looked like a fair bit of money had been spent recently. The reception building was either new or newly renovated. All the signage around the park was new. We checked in and were a bit disappointed that they couldn’t put us on sites next to each other. We’d booked them so many months ago. Oh well!

We were even more disappointed days later when the sites either side of us had people only staying for one night. It would not have been difficult to move them so we could be next to each other. I feel that the reception staff need better training on how to use their own booking system. We have not had any problems with the other Discovery Parks we’ve stayed in.

The resort has a Service Station and General Store that sells a good variety of basic food supplies. There is also a pub that looks like it would be a good spot for a cold beer or some pub grub. There is a swimming pool surrounded by lots of green grass (amazing out in the the desert).

There are multiple amenities blocks, camp kitchens and BBQ’s scattered through the park. It is a very large park and offers all types of camping as well as lodge accomodation.

We set up our tables under the motorhome awning and enjoyed a family dinner while we discussed our plans to visit the canyon and which walk we were going to do.

After dinner, while a few of us were inside the motorhome doing the washing up, two wild dingos wandered through the campground. The kids were very excited to see a wild dingo for the first time.

Dingos are commonly seen around the park and there are many signs up saying NOT to feed them and to report any aggressive behaviour to rangers.

Day 2 at Kings Canyon Resort saw us all up bright and early ready to tackle the canyon walk. We’d decided we’d do the Rim Walk. The Rim Walk is a 6km loop that is classed as a Grade 4 – Moderate to Difficult walk.

Everyone enjoyed the walk however it was a more difficult walk than any of us anticipated. The first part of the walk was on a flat tarred track that leads into the canyon. This lovely walking track is wheelchair friendly and follows the bottom of the canyon for 1km. The Rim Walk branches off and this is where the hard part starts. It is about 500 rocky steps to reach the top and some of the stones are set quite a height apart. Definitely a challenge for those with short legs!

After the exhausting climb up the 500 rocky steps you finally reach the top and the path flattens out. By this time you’ve climbed over 100m. The top of the hills have eroded over time into strange looking domes. They are truly stunning.

400 million years ago Watarrka was a windswept plain covered with sand dunes. That sand has become the Mereenie Sandstone of the cliff tops. It’s hard and brittle. The softer Carmichael Sandstone of the slopes is more crumbly.

The track does a detour out to Cotterill’s Lookout. We had to check that out! It was challenging climbing over rocks following the track until we came to a metal bridge, Once across that the track leads straight up to the top of one of the domes. Maddie scampered up the side of the dome however I found this bit quite scary. It was a very long way down and I’m not great with heights. We turned around at that point and made our way back to the main track.

Some of the stone has ripple marks. Evidence that there were once shallow lakes and rivers at Watarrka.

Eventually the track leads to a set of very steep series of stairs that go down into the canyon. Near the bottom is a bridge across the waterhole below. Another series of steep stairs goes up the other side. About half way up is the detour to the Garden of Eden. This 600m detour leads to the well known waterhole. Ben and I decided to go this way whilst the others went straight to the top and had a lunch break while they waited for us to come back.

About half way there I nearly said to Ben ‘forget it’. It was lots and lots of stairs going up and down. I’m really glad I stuck it out though. The Garden of Eden is a magic spot. It is sacred to local Aboriginal men and swimming in the waterhole is forbidden in their culture. They ask visitors to respect that and not to swim in that special place. It is certainly a great spot to just sit and take in the serenity. Even though there were quite a few walkers there everyone spoke in hushed voices and were careful not to spoil the ambiance for others. Ben and I just sat there for a bit, not talking, just taking it all in. Check out the photo below.

After reaching the top of the stairs on the other side of the canyon the track continues and comes to a bridge with a gate. Once through the gate you cannot come back through. This marks the end of the Southern Rim Walk. Some of the views from that side are spectacular. We were all very careful to stay away from the cliff edge as they are sheer cliffs and a fall would probably be fatal.

The Southern Rim Walk is a very rocky track with lots of up and down. Riley was great at helping his short Granny down some of the steep bits. I have to say how impressed I was with our three kids. What little troopers. They stayed in formation leaving about 2m between them and the person in front, they carried their own backpacks, and they all seemed to enjoy the walk.

It was 6 tired people that arrived back at the car park. What an epic walk.

At the end of our walk my Apple Watch said we’d walked 8.6km and had taken us four hours and three minutes, although we’d had a few rest stops and a lunch break along the way.

We decided to have a night off from cooking after our strenuous day’s walk and go to the Pub for dinner. The Thirsty Dog Pub looks like it’s had a Reno recently too. It’s quite a large space with a restaurant at one end, bar area in the middle and another large bar area behind a wall of glass doors. There’s a pool table there too. Outside the pub is surround by red gravel and gardens with long benches set up under the stars. There’s a boardwalk to a lookout where there is a little caravan set up as a bar. The lookout bar opens from 5pm – 7pm each night and live music is on offer. It’s a great spot to watch the sunset with a nice cold beer.

We found ourselves a table for six, ordered dinner and the three adults enjoyed a lovely cold beer. Rich and I were a little disappointed in our meals, they were overcooked, however the rest declared theirs to be good pub grub.

Our third day at Kings Canyon Resort was a down day. A day to just chill and relax. Katie and I got our cleaners hats on and cleaned our RV’s from top to bottom inside. Clean sheets on the beds, floors washed, multiple loads of washing done and hung out in the lovely sunshine. The outside would have to wait until we get back down south and can find a car wash we can fit in.

The rest of the day was spent reading, napping, relaxing. The kids played cards, read books and scootered around the park meeting up with other kids and swimming in the cold pool. Rich spent the day reading a book and starting a new one. He did do a run to the dump point though.

As we sat around our tables next to Katie’s van we discussed what has been the best thing so far. We were now 4 weeks into our 6 week trip. We all had so many highlights, Uluru, Kata Tjuta, Kings Canyon, the West MacDonnells, Alice Springs, the Desert Park in Alice, Territory Day Fireworks in Alice, the Day Dream Mine Tour in Silverton, the bus tour in Coober Pedy. So many amazing experiences. All of us have enjoyed seeing the desert and have found the landscape so incredibly beautiful.

I was really pleased to hear that all the children have enjoyed the walks we’ve done. They all declared the Kings Canyon Rim Walk to be the best and Redbank Gorge in the West MacDonnells the worst. The Rim Walk was long but they loved it. Redbank Gorge was just plain hard work climbing over rocks.

We retired early so we could be up and on the road early the next morning. We have three long driving days ahead. It’s 1,100km back to Port Augusta.

We found a mouse in our grey water hose!

When we arrived at Ayers Rock Campground we had a powered site with water so we plugged in our power cord, attached our water hose to the tap and the other end to the motorhome and attached our grey water hose to the outlet. The other end I placed near a big bush.

The first few days everything was fine.

We came back from our night at the Field of Light Dinner and Katie informed us that there was water leaking from under the motorhome. I’d put on a load of washing before we’d left and the grey water tank had filled to overflowing. It was too dark to do anything about it so I’d look at it the following morning.

The next morning, before we had our showers, I went out to investigate why the grey water tank wasn’t draining. I checked the end of the hose near the bush and there didn’t look like any water had come out, the sand was dry.

Next I unattached the fitting from our outlet. Ewwww what was that sticking out of the outlet? I got a tent peg and used that to lever it out and discovered the body of a drowned mouse. Gross! The mouse must have crawled up the length of the grey water hose until it arrived at the valve and couldn’t go any further. It must have drowned there and blocked the hose so no water could get through.

Once the mouse body was cleared the grey water tank outlet was working again so I reattached the hose, opened the valve and, hey presto, grey water came out the end and watered the big bush again.

I poured a big bucket of water with disinfectant down the shower to kill any germs the mouse had left behind then disposed of the body of the mouse on the sand dune behind us. Maybe a bird would eat it, or the ants!