another magical walk; this one, Kings Canyon in Watarrka National Park, N.T.

This post is about the gentler option, the Kings Creek Walk....and, no it wasn't my hat; way oversized for my head, and I'm pretty sure it was a permanent fixture...

information gleaned from this signage is quoted below

Kings Creek is a very special place for the Luritja Aboriginal Traditional Custodians of Watarrka. They know it as Watarrka Karru (karru means creek), a ceremony place on a native cat (quoll) dreaming track.  In the Dreaming, native cat men, kuningka, travelled from the southwest along this creek and had important ceremonies at the foot of the waterfall.

 the trees here regularly have to surive both floods and years of drought with little or no rains.  After big rains, you can find water under the sandy creekbed for many months.

Holly Grevillea

Young saplings sprout and shoot up using this underground reservoir.  The taller they get, the deeper their roots penetrate into the sand and the greater the chance they have of finding water during dry times.  Being tall with deep roots also means they don't get washed away by floodwater.

Living in a river bed isn't protection against severe droughts.  During dry times, River Red Gums can drop limbs and most of their leaves to be able to survive.  Hollows left by falling limbs provide dwellings for many animals.

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