After a coffee and a quick bite to eat we returned to the aircraft for the short leg to Kings Creek Station. We decided to extend the flight if the conditions were OK, and fly further north to have a look at the MacDonnell Ranges. It was old ground for Bill, who had climbed Mt Sonder, the mountain made famous by the water colourist Albert Namitjerra, in his youth. Mt Zeil, at 5023 feet the highest peak west of the Great Dividing Range, also lives here and so we thought it was worth a jaunt. To get there though we had to get off the ground again. We were lined up on the runway ready to go but had to wait and play chicken with a Qantas airliner. Dusty and I were pretty confident we could get over the top of him but he soon decided he couldn’t possibly mess with a Cessna 182 RG and cleared the runway. We were good to go. Take-off provided a fleeting glimpse of the many colours on show at ground level. It was a brief but welcome sight made a touch grander with all those pink bits in the background.
From Yulara we tracked north over-flying Lake Amadeus, which at 180 km long and 10 wide forms the largest salt lake in the Territory. The fragile salt crust stopped Ernest Giles from reaching Uluru and Kata Tjuta from the north in 1872. Apparently his horses kept falling through the surface and getting bogged – the experience quite ruined the poor beasts for the task. In the end William Gosse, who turned up the following year, beat him to it and managed to scarper up both of them. Both climbs must have been open the days he was there. So he was a lucky guy. Anyways the Lake named after the Spanish King was very pretty with a few small pools of blue water at irregular intervals. To the east in the direction of Mt Conner -- still a visible silhouette on the horizon -- was a beautiful little collection of connected pools and islands. Looked like the real estate fantasy of a crazy Dubaian billionaire.
Soon after the geological reefs of the MacDonnell Ranges slipped into view. They ran in sweeping curves for as far as the eye could see. Their incandescent strata turned up from the horizontal to face the sky because of some massive, ancient tumult. Not far beyond the first escarpments we sighted Kings Creek airstrip and very pleasing it looked: long, wide and all day-glow orange. We overflew and got on the radio to let the tourist helicopters know we were staying well clear of their operating height. Then we turned west to track along the range to Kings Canyon where we would break right and to the north at Carmichael Crag. We got a great look at the Canyon which we planned to tour the following day but the afternoon thermals from all that exposed rock were starting to corrugate our road. Andrew asked if we should leave it for now and it was a good idea but Anthony was happy to persevere and Dustin wasn’t about to cut short his flying time. So we raised our noses, powered up and went on climbing in search of smoother air.
The MacDonnell Ranges are famous and we soon discovered why. They represent a massive set of tormented forms epic in their extent, captivating in their beauty and sublime in their affect. It made the Rocks seem small and rather domestic by comparison – pink bits and all.
On this sunny winter's afternoon, however, it was also hOt, and haZy, and vErY bUmPy. The photographers could not get good pictures and one of the crew was reintroducing everyone to his last meal and possibly the one before that as well. It was time to cut the corner and head south for Kings Creek. We were a bit further out in front because of our legless bird and so we persisted a little longer. We took a good look at Mt Zeil, hung a hard right at Mt Razorback (4180 ft), popped a quick squiz at Sonder (4528 ft) and then clipped Gosse’s Bluff (3019 ft) - this last with its mountains collected in a circle, like an American wagon-train warding off the natives. We thought it was sweet in spite of the thermals and we were determined to wander back at low level on our way to Alice in a few days time.
RCN was on the ground and ISB turning base when we got to the Station's strip and I took some nice photos of Anthony manoeuvring for finals from high above. The zoom collapses the depth of field and makes it look like he is in the very tops of the trees. The runway proved another excellent surface and Dustin put us down on butterfly feet as the indomitable Nat raced out to the edge of the strip to snap our photo. 
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