Suddenly, in the distance, this flock of camels caught my eye, crossing the highway, my heart raced as I sank the brake pedal. My fear was that, my steel bull bar would be no match for these big animals. They raced across the highway, and merged into the landscape as soon as they appear, but fortunately, not before we capture a glimpse of them on our camera.
Feral camels have became a serious pest, contaminating precious waterholes and damaging infrastructures throughout the Australia Outback. They were originally brought in the early 1900s with Afghan cameleers for transportation, but overtime with the decline of their use, many were set free. Without a natural predator in Australia, their number multiplied in the wild. There was a small international incident a few years ago, when a US news reader accused ( quite emotionally !) the then Prime Minister Kevin Rudd of engaging in genocide of camels, because, a culling program was being implemented to cut their numbers from nearly 1 million to a smaller manageable size. But she really did not understand the huge damages these feral camels are doing to the Australian outback, threatening many Aboriginal communities of their livelihood.
On reaching the Kings Canyon, it was a balmy 30 Deg day with only a few cars in the car park. Unlike in early August 2011, the car park was overflowed with travellers from Europe, taking advantage of their summer break. We did the walk up and down the Canyon in just over 2.5 hours.
We ran into quite a few people on the walk, surprisingly, a small group of casual tourists from Hong Kong, which is very unusual. There is a big billabong ( oasis ) nestled behind the steep faces of the Canyon, a pristine and quiet place to have a dip, unfortunately, we needed to get to the campsite before sunset.
Little did we know, the Taiwanese hitch hiker ( whom I gave a ride between Mt Olga and Uluru) also reached the campsite that night with the help of a caravan neighbouring us.... a small world indeed, ie after hundreds of kilometers. He was gradually trekking to Melbourne, where he hoped to hitch on a boat to NZ as part of his World journey....good on him, with such a great spirit. As a hitch hiker, he had little choice but to follow the next car that can give him a ride, unfortunately, we were heading north.
From Kings Canyon we needed to pay a small fee for a permit ( from the local Aboriginals ) to travel on the Mereenie Loop Rd towards Alice Springs. Between here and Alice Springs, the roads are all dirt, however they were of very good conditions, and I was able to reach many sites in a 2WD motorhome in 2001. As we rode up and down through the beautiful Gardiner Ranges, we notices that a bush fire has been raging through in the previous day or so. Nothing too alarming, just be alert. As we draw close to the Tnorala Gosse Bluff, a major meteorite crater 4Km in girth, we can see the smoke rising sky high, and then the dreaded sign that said "Road Closed". So this time, this place is beyond reach again, but not for lacking of 4x4 capability. Sigh,
After spending a splendid walk around Glen Helen Gorge, we got to Ormiston Gorge just before sunset. where camp was setup.
During the evening, a ranger gave a very enjoyable and informational talk on animals and the environment of the West McDonnell Ranges, in the cold. It is interesting that, while during daytime, we did not see many cars on the road, but come night time, they all seem to congregate at camp sites, it was nearly full with about 20 -30 sites. And there was hot water showers for all.
We set off quite early in the morning to continue our drive towards Alice Springs, veering into different interesting sites, whilst driving along the majestic West MacDonnell Ranges. It has always been a urge to climb these majestic mountains, may be next time!
Before arriving Alice Springs, we pay homage to the grave site of John Flynn, the founder of the Royal Flying Doctors Services ( http://www.flyingdoctor.org.
You are invited to view David's photo album: 2011 4x4 Outback Australia (Uluru - Alice Spring)
Message from David:
Day
21 - 23 Uluru - Kings Canyon - Alice Springs via Mereenie Loop Rd.
Visited Kathleen Springs, Kings Canyon, Red Bank Gorge, Glen Helen
Gorge, and overnighted at Ormiston Gorge, then Ochre Pit, Serpentine
Gorge, Standley's Chasm, Simpson Gap and J. Flynn's grave ( the founder
of the Royal Flying Doctors Services). All told, 750 Km travelled.
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We checked into our campsite just outside of Alice Spring town center before sunset. During the early, evening, a splinter in my finger, plus a raging sore neck which has been a bother for 2 weeks is starting to remind me to check them out at the nearest hospital, the first we are able to find for a long time. So I went into the Alice Spring Hospital. The wait was not long, which is a pleasant surprise. The eager intern who was attending to my conditions, could not throw much hope about the sore neck other than some pain killers, which confirmed my suspicions, only physio and time will help.
However, she was eager to operate on my finger for the splinter if not for an experienced doctor whom she sought a second opinions whilst preparing all the equipment. The doctor advised me to not operate and leave it, for the operation may cause a lot of inconvenience than its worth, especially when I am on such a long road trip into remote areas. For the operation will cause a bigger wound, which will need more medical attention until it heals. So its better to bear and grunt about the splinter, until it come out by itself eventually, in a couple of weeks, which it did. This goes to show how experience really count in this instance, rather than the new and eager.
By the way, splinters in fingers are almost a given in many remote trips...
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