Kings Canyon. A fuel and general update.
Submitted: Monday, Dec 15, 2008 at 10:50
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Member - Boo Boo (NSW)
The wife and I went to
Kings Canyon on the weekend.
We are currently residing at Ayres
Rock Resort and leave this coming Friday.
Anyway, we arrived at
Kings Canyon around midday on Saturday.
We stopped at
Kings Creek Station to fill up. Diesel was $1.97 a litre and ULP was $1.59.
Forty Kms later we pulled into
Kings Canyon where Diesel was $1.82 and ULP was $1.52.
There are a number of walks worth doing. We did the sunset walk (10 Min) from the resort on Saturday then went to The Pub/Cafe/Restaurant for dinner.
A steak/chips and salad was $35.
We settled for a bread entree and a $23 pizza between us.
Beer was around $6 a stubbie and the Cheapest wine was around $28 a bottle.
The Mobil garage has a little bit of every thing. A 10 litre carton of water is $13. At Ayres
rock resort it is 2, 10 litre catrons for $12.
We did the 6 km canyon rim walk the next morning. We started the climb at 5.25am and finished at 8.35am.
This is a must do. It was really good.
Went back to the resort for brekkie. Hot brekkie $26 Continental for $21.
On checkout you will be charged a 1% surcharge for using a credit card.
On the way
home we stopped at Kathleen spring and did the 2.5km return walk to the water. A nice and easy walk.
Finally mates rates are great. We are residents at ayres
rock resort for 2 weeks and got mates rates at the Canyon resort. instead of $248 it was only $124 for the night.
Overall a very nice weekend.
Regards BooBoo
Reply By: Member - Redfive - Monday, Dec 15, 2008 at 11:06
Monday, Dec 15, 2008 at 11:06
Hi BooBoo
Sounds like you had fun ive camped at
Kings Creek Station a few times i love it better than Ayers
Rock 1 oak was our
campsite under this bloody
big desert oak green grass just beautiful and your right about the Rim Walk at
Kings Canyon and the price of food and fuel but its a small price to pay for seeing our wonderful outback
p.s going back out there next July cant wait
Glenn...
AnswerID:
339816
Follow Up By: Member - Boo Boo (NSW) - Monday, Dec 15, 2008 at 11:20
Monday, Dec 15, 2008 at 11:20
Glenn
I agree the place is great, I only mentioned the prices so that people knew what to expect.
I did forget to mention that mobiles don't work in the area and you cannot buy a newspaper.
Regards BooBoo
FollowupID:
607351
Reply By: Hairy (NT) - Monday, Dec 15, 2008 at 11:44
Monday, Dec 15, 2008 at 11:44
Gday BooBoo,
The difference with the fuel prices comes down to Kings Creek is a privately owned Cattle Station and
Kings Canyon is part of Voyages Hotels and Resorts.
Also I think you will find the fuel at
Kings Canyon is also OPAL compared to ULP at Kings Creek.
How did you like the new stone paths and steps around the canyon?
An EO member built it earlier this year.........Imagine pushing wheel barrow up those steps every day!!!!
Cheers
AnswerID:
339827
Follow Up By: Member - Boo Boo (NSW) - Monday, Dec 15, 2008 at 13:47
Monday, Dec 15, 2008 at 13:47
Hairy
We couldn't help but comment a number of times along our walk at how much work has gone into the paths and stairs.
I imagine that much of the work higher up would involve a helicopter.
The only thing that took a bit of getting use to was that some of the arrows looked as though they pointed to a
cliff. It wasn't until you got right up to the sign that you could see the path on the other side. A great optical illusion.
I can just imagine the wheelbarrow going up and down those stairs at the beginning and near eden. LOL
The stone stairs going down to the
carpark were interesting. My wife is afraid of heights, it was amusing at times to watch her.
Well, I thought it was funny!
Regards BooBoo
FollowupID:
607369
Follow Up By: Hairy (NT) - Monday, Dec 15, 2008 at 14:12
Monday, Dec 15, 2008 at 14:12
Gday,
I think he said they choppered the cement from the
carpark to the top but then had to carry it down into
the Garden of Eden.
And there wasnt enough room in the chopper for passengers once they loaded it with concrete, so they had to walk up and back each day.
Post some Photos Dusty?
Cheers
FollowupID:
607374
Reply By: Member - Stephen L (SA) - Monday, Dec 15, 2008 at 13:46
Monday, Dec 15, 2008 at 13:46
Hi BooBoo
We were there in again in June this year. The fuel at that time was the same price at
Kings Creek Station as it was at the Mobil at
Kings Canyon Garage, Diesel was $2.34 per litre. Great spot. From there we went out and did the
Boggy Hole Track. I have recorded the rim walk and the creek walk for trek notes for here on EO, but time is not on my side and I have not had time to do the reports. It will get done in time though.
Cheers
Stephen
AnswerID:
339838
Follow Up By: Member - Boo Boo (NSW) - Monday, Dec 15, 2008 at 13:51
Monday, Dec 15, 2008 at 13:51
Fellas
I also forgot to mention that as a result of rain they have received up here you could be forgiven if you thought you were near the coast.
It is almost like the top end in the wet season. Every thing is lush and green. Plenty of water still hanging around as
well as a few waterfalls at the Canyon.
Regards BooBoo
FollowupID:
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Follow Up By: equinox - Monday, Dec 15, 2008 at 19:18
Monday, Dec 15, 2008 at 19:18
Boo Boo,
Here's a picture of me crossing Kings Creek on the main road a few years back. The locals reckon it takes a few days for all the water to come off the range.
Image Could Not Be Found
FollowupID:
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Follow Up By: Member - Boo Boo (NSW) - Tuesday, Dec 16, 2008 at 11:10
Tuesday, Dec 16, 2008 at 11:10
Jeez I' glad we didn't run into that with the nissan pulsar! LOL
FollowupID:
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Reply By: MAVERICK(WA) - Monday, Dec 15, 2008 at 14:57
Monday, Dec 15, 2008 at 14:57
looks like you had a good time. haven't been there for a number of years (many really) but am planning to do it in 2009. did you go to haasts
bluff? just wondering about camping out there. rgds
AnswerID:
339848
Follow Up By: Member - Boo Boo (NSW) - Monday, Dec 15, 2008 at 15:07
Monday, Dec 15, 2008 at 15:07
Maverick
We didn'go anywhere else unfortunately .
Time factor and we only had a small nissan 2 wd.
Regards
BooBoo
FollowupID:
607385
Reply By: Rangiephil - Monday, Dec 15, 2008 at 17:34
Monday, Dec 15, 2008 at 17:34
I found it hard to work out why fuel and food was much more expensive at the
Kings Canyon Resort to
Yulara, seeing that they are about equidistant from the Stuart Highway and run by the same operator.
Maybe they reckon that the tourists are richer in Kings.
While the backpackers in
Yulara was good value and fun, I really bridled a bit at the $23 pizza seeing it was only side plate size and fed one.
When we were there in August a
dingo was raiding the
bins but had apparently sinned by licking the hotplate after the restaurant had closed. Next night at about 1AM someone started blazing away next to our tent with an auto rifle.
With 5 shots in quick succession it was obvious he/she missed with the first.
All in all I left with a bad "ripped off" taste in the mouth.
Regards Philip A
AnswerID:
339865
Reply By: wendys - Monday, Dec 15, 2008 at 18:36
Monday, Dec 15, 2008 at 18:36
An excellent extension to the Canyon Rim walk (or a separate walk, which is how we did it), is to branch off from the "down" part of the rim walk, along the track that eventually goes to
kathleen Springs, for 4 or 5 km. This goes through superb dome country, like miniature Bungles - very photogenic. We went up the down path to the
track junction, then out and back the same way. Highly recommended and worth spending an extra night at Kings to do.
AnswerID:
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Reply By: kend88 - Monday, Dec 15, 2008 at 20:25
Monday, Dec 15, 2008 at 20:25
We had a few nights at
Kings Creek Station CP last year and really enjoyed it. Just a quick trip to the canyon and the resort, and from memory was a lot less expensive than the resort. Great area though whichever one you stay at.
Can't agree that it was better than Uluru/Olgas and Ayres
Rock resort though.
Kend
Brisbane
AnswerID:
339899
Reply By: jezza68 - Tuesday, Dec 16, 2008 at 00:32
Tuesday, Dec 16, 2008 at 00:32
We travelled through the Red Centre 2007 and it was a wonderful journey. I preferred
Kings canyon to Uluru. We had the best Ceasar salad ever one lunchtime at the
Kings Canyon Resort.
We did a circular trip via the West Macdonalds, Haast's
Bluff etc. I thought the caravan/
camping area at
Yulara was the worst setup I have ever seen!! The distance to power outlets and the sloping sites for caravans/campers were awful. The shade was setup in such a way that tents were always in the sun. The town generator bellowing all night was good also. I suspect it is a deliberate attempt by the Hoteliers to discourage those of us who travel self contained.
As for fuel we filled up in Alice using our Woolies discounts using our jerrycans we had the range to complete the full circuit to Uluru return. saved about 25c/lt
AnswerID:
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Follow Up By: kend88 - Tuesday, Dec 16, 2008 at 16:54
Tuesday, Dec 16, 2008 at 16:54
Would't like to see everyone discouraged from staying near Uluru.
I assume Jezza68 is referring to the Ayres
Rock Resort caravan park.
We stayed there last year and found it fine. Probably a bit expensive but there are not too many alternatives unless you want to travel in from
Curtin Springs each day.
We may have been lucky, but our powered site was fine, as were those all around us. From memory the camping/tent area was quite a distance from the caravan etc. area so we didn't see much of that side of it.
Not much else to see other than Uluru and the Olgas, but a must go/see destination. Four days there is probably plenty. Don't forget your fly net hat though.
KenD
Bris
FollowupID:
607539
Reply By: mintabiegeoff - Wednesday, Dec 17, 2008 at 09:31
Wednesday, Dec 17, 2008 at 09:31
Each time I have visited Ayers
Rock we have camped just outside the park.
As you drive into
Yulara there are a couple of tracks off to the left. These lead to old road construction campsites. They are good bush camps, sheltered by thick Mulga trees.
At one of them you can walk up a small
sand dune and get a very different view of
the Rock in the morning light.
Geoff
PS. I have just read that the
Mereenie Loop is supposed to re open today
Geoff from outbacksecrets
http://www.centralianadvocate.com.au/article/2008/12/16/3377_news.html
AnswerID:
340073