Kings Canyon – Curtin Springs (220kms plus some)

We were glad to leave King’s Canyon Resort which was poorly maintained, and rather expensive .. I have written about this in a Google Maps review.

On our way down the road, we were flagged down by three Indigenous people (a man and two women) who had run out of fuel, and whose car was refusing to start.  They had been donated a small amount of unleaded petrol by a passing motorist. It turns out this was “Pete from Geelong”, who had extracted the fuel from his chainsaw tank.  They asked if we could help them start of the car by pushing/towing. The pushing resulted in a bent number plate (mine) so we opted for the tow, and got them started again. We bunged them a few dollars for some more fuel, and they were on their way, after a group photo.  This is one of the few interactions we have had with the Indigenous people.

We camped at Curtin Springs, which provided basic facilities and free camping. On the way into Curtin Springs, we had noticed runners (yes, you read correctly, runners) running in the same direction.  It turns out they were running from Alice Springs to Uluru, and running – making this up – was it really 50+kms a day! We also saw them the next day – very early – on the way to Uluru and they were already 30kms down the road.  They were trying to break some record – perhaps for mass batshit crazy! But hey, crazy is good, right?

In the late afternoon, we drove south down to Mulga Downs (about 60kms), to a road which apparently is the continuance of the Gunbarrel Highway. We had great views of the impressive Mount Connor in the later afternoon sun, and glimpse of Mount Robert.