Thu 5th June – Day 28: Kings Canyon (Watarrka National Park) – Toby’s 9th Birthday!

Chloe climbed up and woke us early, excited at the prospect of Toby’s birthday. We all waited another 20mins before he finally surfaced and raced to our bed missing both the presents and his decorations! When he did finally see a small pile on the table and the big ‘Happy Birthday’ sign he was a bit overcome as we had convinced him we didn’t bring any presents with us.
Over birthday pancakes he unwrapped a Nintendo DS ‘Lego starwars’ game, a book on Australian reptiles, an Uluru T-shirt, a starwars sticker book from Thomas and Caitlin (thanks guys) and $50 from the grandparents.
It was a beautiful day and we headed with packed lunches out on the 2km ranger guided ‘Kings Creek Walk’. Fire sensitive plants and Red River gums dominate here, providing a plethora of habitats for native species from bees, birds, possums and snakes, let alone an important food source for the indigenous people.
That completed we tackled the 6km Kings Canyon Rim Walk which rises 270m above the Canyon floor. A climb down into the ‘garden of Eden’ was well worth the effort and the water filled gorge at the end was a spectacular place for a break. Toby celebrated his official birth time 2:06pm on a large rock overhanging this hidden valley. Chloe was a trooper and managed the whole trip without complaint.
Showered and changed into our best jeans and T-shirts we took Toby to the Outback BBQ up the road for his birthday dinner. Ham & Cheese pizzas for the kids and ½ a cow and salad (a delicacy out here!) saw us satiated. ‘The Roadies’ (a pair of family entertainers - Reuben & Petrea) held our attention and then asked Toby up on stage to play his didgeridoo, how excited was he! Then all the kids were invited up, given an instrument to play and we sang our way through the national anthem and a bunch of country songs (i.e. Country Road, etc). Dad was next up with a funny hat as he accompanied the Galumph Galumph song, an embarrassed mum was next complete with sparkly blue wig belting out some song from the 60’s that we cant remember the name of. On the way home we passed a group of lads heading in the opposite direction, one was playing is digerdoo. Toby raised his to his lips and belted out a bird call, instinctly the other musician thought it was Pete, and was amazed to find out it was indeed Toby. They exchanged some muso banter, and Toby left feeling like a king. Later that night Toby said it was the best birthday ever – you can’t ask for much more can you.
Voyages Kings Canyon Resort (Powered $2nd night free!)