Uluru to Kings Canyon, Northern Territory
An uneventful day--we drive from Uluru to Kings Canyon, and relax in the campground.
I've had just enough of Uluru. Chris wanted a smidgen more, but I was real anxious to get away. So I pushed and pushed and we left at 9:30, stopping by the post office to mail off mandatory post cards.
I wanted to drive, too. Most days Chris does the driving, but I just wanted to drive this morning. And... yikes, Central Australia is boring. It was 120km to the Kings Canyon turnoff, not much more than an hour, but I was watching the odometer like mad. Then it was another 160km to Kings Canyon proper. Whew. The roads are all engineered to be boring at 110km/h, so you just point the car and pay a bit of attention here and there. It's probably not the safest way to drive--cattle and kangaroos do wander along the roads--but it works.
Perhaps the most entertaining thing today was playing a road game with the mileage signs on the roadside. Every 10 or 20 kilometers or so, a small triangular signpost on the side of the road will say something like "KC 140". This is just a quick way of telling you that Kings Canyon is 140 kilometers away. Well, Chris came up with the game "what else begins with KC?"--some of them were silly, like Kumquat Center, but others were better, like Kansas City, Kangaroo Court, and Karma Chameleon. It helped pass a good half hour of time, and I can see us playing that game more on these long drives!
We arrived at 1, got a campsite at the Kings Canyon Resort ($24, the most expensive campsite yet), and had lunch. And then did nothing in the afternoon but read books, wash clothes, and nap. Ahhhh!
Weird Wildlife Sighting
Weird Wildlife Sighting
Not so much weird wildlife today as weird wildlife behavior. I discovered that birds in Central Australia love Snickers bars. Open one up, and you'll attract dozens of birds known as yellow throated miners, which in turn attract the spinifex pigeons.
Like quite a bit of Australian wildlife, the yellow throated miners aren't intimidated by people. They'll come right up to your chair to see what you're eating, or try and snatch a piece of sandwich out of your hand! Annoying little buggers.