Northern Adventure Day 6 Uluru-Kata Tjuta to Kings Canyon

Today we drove around to Kings Canyon, stopping at Kathleen Springs. The walk at Kathleen Springs is very easy, and has had the best assortment of birds for me yet on this trip!

I ticked off pallid cuckoo and black-faced woodswallow there, and also got better views and photos than I have previously of southern whiteface, budgerigar and zebra finch. Also saw a horsfield’s bronze-cuckoo, a mulga parrot, and a group of very vocal black-faced cuckooshrikes.

Pallid Cuckoo, Kathleen Springs, NT

Black-faced Woodswallow, Kathleen Springs, NT

Southern Whiteface, Kathleen Springs, NT

Budgerigars, Kathleen Springs, NT

Zebra Finches, Kathleen Springs, NT

Also worth a mention before getting to Kathleen Springs we stopped off on the Lasseter Highway to get a snap of Mount Conner, another very impressive rock. It seems comparable in size to Uluru, but less visited because it is on private land, although they do operate helicopter tours that fly around it, and even land on top.

Mount Conner, Lasseter Highway, NT

After Kathleen Springs we headed to our accommodation at Kings Canyon. Originally when planning this trip, we planned to camp for a lot of nights, and stay in cabins for some others, however we ended up deciding to stay in cabins and rooms every night because of the cold overnight temperatures and possible rain. 

After checking in we went out to the canyon and did the creek walk. Neither of us were keen to do the rim walk, but we did see some other people doing the steep climb. Not many birds around, too many tourists making noise, but we did get to enjoy the spectacular scenery. There are some really interesting shapes in the rocks, and the colour is stunning. At one point we came across a group of people staring up at the rocks and taking photos. Of course my mind jumped straight to bird! But instead we saw a rock wallaby! On the return walk a lizard was sunning itself with no concern for all of the people walking past.

Kings Canyon, NT

Kings Canyon, NT

Kings Canyon, NT

Rock Wallaby, Kings Canyon, NT

ID required, Kings Canyon, NT

We had dinner at the resort BBQ restaurant, and stayed for nearly 3 hours as we were enjoying the live music entertainment – a singer song writer named Rod Dowsett. He played a lot of songs with themes from Australian history, and others based on his own life events or people he knows. We bought his CDs and chatted to him a bit during a break.