Kings Canyon, Australia
March 02, 2023
Photographer: Rick Stankiewicz
Summary Author: Rick Stankiewicz
While touring Australia for three months with my wife in 2014, we had the good fortune to tour “The Red Centre” (Northern Territory), which is near the geographic center of the Australian Continent. This tour included a bus trip from Yulara to Alice Springs as well as a side trip to Watarrka National Park. The jewel of this park is Kings Canyon, just 35 km (22 mi) from Kings Creek Station.
If you’re reasonably healthy, you’ll want to plan on the 6 km (3.6 mi) Rim Walk but wear sturdy footwear and start early in the morning for this trek in order to beat the heat and catch a stunning sunrise. Once up on the rim trail, you’ll eventually enter the “Lost City,” a maze of weathered sandstone domes (above at top). The canyon is a combination of Mereenie and Carmichael Sandstones, divided by shale and mudstone, deposited between 400 and 440 million years ago.
About halfway around the walk you find yourself descending a series of wooden stairs into a palm-filled chasm called the “Garden of Eden.” It offers a shaded, cool respite, next to inviting pools of water that reflect the south rim wall and the sky above (middle photo). The canyon can reach depths of over 100 m (325 ft), so you need to stay on the trails and watch your footing. Australia is a magical place, but nowhere more so than the Red Centre. Photos taken on May 21, 2014.
Photo details: Canon XTi camera; Canon 28 to 70mm lens; ISO 200; f/4 to 10; 1/40 to 1/250 second exposures.
Kings Canyon, Australia Coordinates: -24.252966, 131.5757208
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