Outback Adventure, October 12-18th

I'll be honest with you: this was an AWFUL night's sleep for me. Again, the swag was perfectly comfortable. The stillness and starry sky (with shooting stars!) were awe-inspiring. I just couldn't sleep. I tossed and turned all night. I felt a bit like a zombie as we had breakfast and packed up the camp.

Snookums having his breakfast. This campsite had a dining area under cover. (For our dinner on the 2nd night, we had chicken stir fry and damper cooked on the fire. It was great. Most of the cooking was done by Eileen and the Melbourne lady, Marie-Cris, since they seemed the most organised and capable.)

Our third day featured another three hour walk, this one through Kings Canyon. Here's our guide Mike giving us a lecture on staying hydrated. You can see on the sign behind him that the temperature thankfully wasn't too bad.

This walk was billed as being as challenging as the one at the Olgas, but for the most part I felt it was easier. The path was well marked and we didn't have all the dangerous loose gravel to contend with. The worst bit was right at the beginning, when we had to climb basically an enormous stone staircase straight up a cliff face.

Snookums posing manfully at the halfway point in the climb. Thankfully there were a couple platforms where you could stop and catch your breath. We were actually pretty high above the ground at this point.

Eileen in Kings Canyon. The hike was mostly up high on the cliffs and walls surrounding the canyon.

Yet another self-portrait.

A shot of some of our group at one of the rest stops.

Snookums and guide Mike talk under a tree.

Me on a really high cliff. Mike warned us not to get too close to the edge. (But still no guard rails!)

Snookums and I together, squinting in the bright sun.