We woke up at 5am to do a 6km hike around King's Canyon and watch the sunrise from the top. It was a beautiful hike with nice views of the completely flat sides of the canyon. Since the sun was just coming up it was nice and cool and there was a slight breeze. We got back to the car at 9am and headed out along Mereenie Loop Road to take the long scenic 4WD track to Alice Springs. After 30 mins, we'd splattered a huge insect all across my window (good thing the windows were up or it would have been all over my face!) and a bird on the top of the windscreen. The 4WD track was dirt and really bumpy so we were averaging 50 km/h. As Alice Springs was another 300km we decided to turn around and take the (mostly) sealed route instead.
After 100km of sealed road we had 100km of unsealed 4WD road. The unsealed road was mostly gravel and dirt and was quite wide (equivalent to 3-4 lanes in many spots). The speed limit was 110km/h (the main north-south highway is 130km/h - Australians can drive fast legally!). For the most part it wasn't too bad but some places were really bumpy - our cutlery and dishes were all making a huge racket.
We stopped for lunch at the Henbury Meteorite Reserve, where there are 12 meteorite craters, the largest being 180 metres wide. Apparently US astronauts visited the reserve in preparation for moon walks.
On the way to Alice Springs it started to pour and some of the floodways on the main highway were actually flooded. How exciting! It continued to rain as we set up camp and the roof of our camper was leaking a bit. Wet season! It finally let up so we could cook dinner.
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