Day 8 Kings Creek Station to Uluru Wednesday 6th September 2017:

This morning after an amazing night sleep under the stars in Kings Creek Station, We woke up bright and early at 4:30 am and packed our hiking bags before checking we had enough water and fluids for our 6 kilometre hike through Kings Canyon Rim Walk in Watarrka National Park

We boarded the coach at 4:45 am and made our way into to Watarrka National Park.

We had a short 30 minute drive and arrived at the Kings Canyon Rim Walk at 5:15 am.

After making our way off the coach our Trip Manager Mark double checked everyone had the minimum of 6 litres of water and electrolytes.

Before we started our hike of Kings Canyon, Mark gave us a safety briefing of hiking which included following him at all times ,always staying on the walking trail and staying at least 2 metres back from the edge of the trail.

After our safety briefing we started hiking Kings Canyon at 5:30 am to make sure we were back at camp before the hot temperatures got too unbearable.

The first part of the climb is the hardest part of the hike with 6 lots of rock stairs which have a steep gradient before reaching the top of Heart Attack Hill named due to the steepness of the hill.

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After reaching the top of Heart Attack Hill the walking track flattens right out as you walk around Kings Canyon.

The best part of this hike is the amazing views of the canyon in the sunrise with the breathtaking panoramic views creating amazing photo opportunities.

As we hiked our way through Kings Canyon,you can understand why lots of people visit this area of Australia as Kings Canyon looks beautiful with the sunshine bathing the Canyon in sunlight as you walk through!

We decided to have a group photo with Kings Canyon in the background to have a keepsake of this amazing new experience together!

We then made our way to the end of the rim walk at 9:30 am.

This was such a amazing hike through Kings Canyon its hard work but the views are definitely worth it!

After completing our hike, we made our way back on the coach and arrived back at Kings Creek Station at 10 am for a hot breakfast of bacon and eggs at the campsite restaurant.

After breakfast we made our way back to the campsite and packed up our swags before boarding the coach at 10:30 am and making our way towards Uluru.

As we made our way towards our first stop of the day, our Trip Manager Mark explained our itinerary for the day which included:  Visiting Mount Conner for some photo opportunities, Having a lunch stop at Yulara, Visiting Uluru Kata Tjuta National Park, Hiking the Valley of The Winds to the Karingana Lookout before making our way to our accommodation in Uluru for the next 2 nights.

Our first stop this morning was the Mount Conner Lookout,also known as Mount Fooleroo because it has a quite similar colour and shape to Uluru, also at this stop is a great view of a Salt Lake which has a great view with the red sand and blue sky in the distance.

After some great photos of the Salt Lake and Mount Conner we hopped back on the coach and headed towards our next stop of the day.

We arrived at our next stop of the day the small town of Yulara at 12:30 pm.

Our next stop of the day was at Yulara the small town where accommodation for all the people visiting Uluru is located.

Yulara is located just 23km from Uluru and 53km from Kata Tjuta this town is the closest base for exploring Uluru National Park.

We stopped at the Resort Town Square for lunch and for an opportunity to mail postcards as this was the last post office before the end of the tour.

After lunch we boarded the coach at 1:30 and made our way towards our next stop of the day.

We arrived at our next stop of the day at Uluru Kata Tjuta National Park at 2:30 pm.

Our next stop of the day was Uluru Kata Tjuta National Park for some photos of Kata Tjuta (The Olgas).

The interesting thing about Kata Tjuta is that it’s made up of 36 rock formations compared to Uluru which is only one rock formation.

After taking many photos of Kata Tjuta we walked a short distance towards The Valley Of The Winds Walking Trail where you can hike up to Kata Tjuta Karingana Lookout.

The walk to the lookout has some great photo opportunities with the stunning rock formations in the distance.

The hike to the lookout is flat to start out but does get steeper the closer you get to the lookout but with footbridges of the steeper sections its quite an easy walk. It takes about 60 minutes to hike from the bottom of the walking trail to the top of Kata Tjuta Karingana Lookout.

After completing our hike through Kata Tjuta we boarded the coach at 4:30 pm and had a short drive before we arrived at our accommodation for the 2 nights at Voyages Outback Pioneer Hotel And Lodge.

This was quite a unique accommodation featuring cooking facilities, restaurants, and bars which made it a cheaper option compared to walking into the local shopping complex only about a 10-minute walk from our accommodation.

After checking into our rooms everyone made plans for dinner tonight.

Everyone did their own thing some went into Yulara and had dinner at the shopping complex before seeing the Field of Light where 50,000 lights illuminate the desert after sunrise with Uluru in the background.

A group of us purchased dinner from the restaurants and mingled at the bar.

 Most of the people who stayed at the accommodation had an early night after dinner to relax before a big day of exploring Uluru tomorrow.

Safe Travels!

Campbell 🙂