Tuesday 30th January 2007. Kings Creek Station. Northern Territory.

Up this morning early to hike Kings Canyon famously the home of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert. The George Gill Range is actually the meeting place of three major landforms. The Northeast MacDonnell Ranges; the South and West Sandplains of Lake Amadeus and the Western Desert; and the Southeast low hills and mesas of the Simpson Desert.

Central Australia was once a windswept plain covered with sand dunes around 400 million years ago. A large amount of sand accumulated and the region gradually subsided under the weight compressing and compacting the bottom layers.

Ernest Giles arrived here at Kings Canyon in 1872 with the life saving waters of the George Gill Range providing a critical resting place during his attempt to reach the Western coast of Australia from Watarrka. He finally achieved his goal in 1876 on his third attempt.

Kings Canyon is Luritja country. Giles actually named the area after his friend Fielder King and not as popular myth would have it after the King of England. England had no king at this period in history.

We hike up to Cotterills lookout and enjoy our Priscilla moment before marching on. Today we get to enjoy both the Lost City and the Garden of Eden.

It is hard to imagine that this land was once under a gigantic sea, but any doubts are swept away by the marine fossils embedded in the rock.

It was here in 1987 at Kings Canyon that Doreen Buck (a British tourist) died after climbing the canyon in the middle of the day with her husband. Despite his attempts to go and get help the autopsy showed that Doreen was dead even before her husband got to the base of the canyon her brain had actually fried in her head.

However out of such tragedy comes advance and there are now emergency points located around the canyon.

It is very hot out here in the desert and so we completed our hike by 11.30am to avoid the midday sun.

And so the cultural vandalism continues. An observation I have made having taken a great deal of these adventure tours now is that most of the participants are professionals...yet they still want to etch their names into the rock and enjoy the very sorts of vandalism that they would critise 'chavs' for creating in suburbia.

Out here in the canyon there are only tourists, no Aussies climbing at the hottest time of the year in the height of summer!!

This afternoon we go quad biking in the red desert and it was awesome dude! Carly and I got our 'go faster stripes' and we were taken to the front to lead the pack. I managed to get the bike up on two wheels (they are not designed to do this) but thank goodness I have spent sometime driving motorbikes and so I managed to use my leg to hold the heavy beast on the track although my forearm now ranks amongst my list of injuries with a beautiful scratch along its length. That said I did manage to take out a tree before the day was over. This afternoon was not very environmentally friendly, but I can see why people want to participate in such sports.

Tonight we dine on a roast cooked over the camp fire before another night under the stars. In the depth of the night the sky was so beautiful it looked like someone had sprinkled talc across a black blanket.

Remember that the extra-ordinary land of the aboriginal is filled with the exploits of mythical creatures but...

White Fella he can look but he can't see

White Fella he can hear but he don't listen.