We were glad to be leaving Alice Springs today as everyone was rolling in for the Finke Desert Race this coming weekend…the caravan park was packed with big race rigs….huge buses towing race bikes/ vehicles etc…

We had a quick stop to pick up a new battery for the Prado and then were on our way. We had debated which way to go to Kings Canyon….the Mereenie Loop had been our planned option but we had been advised that the 198k section of unsealed road was really bad….we could also have gone the Edward Giles unsealed road that was about 1 hr shorter but again apparently after the wet it was in poor condition so we opted for the longer distance but all sealed road just to spare our vehicles and vans…..

Bad call!! A speeding 4WD overtook us 800m from Ebenezer Roadhouse and kicked up a rock which cracked the Prado’s windscreen …and the guy stopped at the Ebenezer Roadhouse (as did we) ….such an unnecessary overtake!!! Branch insepcted the damage very sympathetically…..such a disappointment after so many unsealed roads etc for us to get a cracked windscreen on a sealed main road!

The irony was it happened at Ebenezer…the definition of which is “the rock of remembrance”!! Definitely a rock to remember…and the crack has now enlarged to about 40cm long…..

The landscape out to Kings Canyon was very green (surprisingly) with trees that looked like she-oaks. An amazing cloud bank near the mountains looked like snow capped peaks!

We settled in to Kings Canyon Resort…..not a recommended place to stay…expensive, cold showers, no toilet paper, broken soap dispensers, small awkward sites…..but who is complaining!