Day 168 – 3rd August 2011
Kings Canyon Resort, Watarrka National Park, NT
This morning Andrew was still not feeling great so we had to make a decision to either continue on to Kings Canyon or turn back to Alice Springs. In the hope he would get over this bug soon with some more rest today, we decided to continue. So Nele drove along the Mereenie Loop Rd (153km gravel road over Aboriginal land for which a permit is required – only $3) to Kings Canyon with a short stop at Tylers Pass lookout to view Tnorala (Gosses Bluff), but unfortunately the crater was barely visible due to all the smoke in the air of the burning. The Mereenie Loop Rd (4WD recommended but the visitor information centre said it was fine for a 2WD vehicle as long as it’s not a rental car and you take it slowly) started off terribly corrugated, improved in the middle part to a smooth road but turned bad towards the end again where we could drive at maximum 20km/h. Unfortunately Andrew did not improve throughout the day so when we got to Kings Canyon we were glad to see there was a clinic so we could go to the doctor. The local nurse (no doctors around) gave Andrew a check over and recommended resting. If he didn’t improve by tomorrow morning she advised to come back, so we checked in at the resort and relaxed for the rest of the day.
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| Tylers Pass Lookout - very faded in the distance you can see Tnorala crater |
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| Tyler Pass Lookout |
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| Tnorala (Gosses Bluff) crater |
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| Gravel road |
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| View along Mereenie Loop Rd |
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| Original road signs to slow down: Lift um foot ... puttum back down |
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| Kings Canyon is in sight |
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