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The walls of Kings Canyon redefine the concept of sheer. The planes of its vertical rock faces have a smooth severity with the angular sharpness of a shard of broken glass.
As the early morning sun saunters up the sky, blue shadows retreat across the cliff faces, the rock reddens and glows like coke in a furnace and I squint in the dazzling clarity of Central Australian sunlight.
The horizon sits at the far side of a vast, featureless plain. Gazing into the distance from the canyon rim, I have a sense of the immense age of this landscape: the plain stretched below was the bed of an ancient sea.
The Watarrka rocks date back 440 million years to when sea creatures were taking their first tentative evolutionary steps to becoming land-lubbers.
Kings Canyon is the star attraction of Watarrka National Park, roughly equidistant from Uluru and Alice Springs, three to four hours' drive west of Alice or north of Uluru.
While the Luritja Aboriginal people have inhabited the area for around 20,000 years, the first European, Ernest Giles, didn't set eyes on the canyon until 1872.
The best and really the only way to see the canyon is on foot. There are several walking trails, including the 2km Kings Creek trail along the canyon floor that's suitable for families and the less fit, and the challenging Rim Walk.
It's a good idea to start the Rim Walk as close to dawn as possible to avoid poaching your brain: by mid-morning the sun can be fierce. The 6km, four-hour walk begins with a steep climb from the carpark at the base of the canyon straight to its dizzying heights. There's more evidence of the age of the place at every step: fossilised sea creatures and sand ripples are rough to the touch and the feathery fronds of cycads - plant dinosaurs - poke from sheltering crevices.
The walk meanders through the architecture of the Lost City, a cluster of ruddy rock domes and outcrops eroded over eons, which are vaguely reminiscent of the Bungle Bungle range.
It's strangely surreal to consider the tectonic force that uplifted the city from the ancient ocean floor to its current 270m elevation above the surrounding plain.
Creeping to the edge of the abyss (there are no fences), I see a line of orange-spotted ants: a Japanese tour group wearing matching backpacks.
From another cliff top, I look down on a thick, green pelt of trees, ferns and cycads, the Garden of Eden.
A wooden staircase leads down into the shady glade, where still waterholes sustain the lush plant life, and an extraordinary diversity of animals, including wallabies and alarmingly large lizards.
Perenties, Australia's largest lizard, inhabit the area and grow to 2m long.
Watarrka is set at the western end of the George Gill Range, at the crossroads of three different ecosystems: the Western and Simpson deserts and the MacDonnell Ranges, which account for its biological diversity, myriad animal species and 600 endemic plants.
The coolness and filtered, greenish light of the Garden of Eden are a delicious respite from the glaring heat of the bare rock.
It's tempting to laze away an hour or two, but that would mean tackling the remaining exposed leg of the walk in the noon-day sun - to be avoided even by mad dogs and Englishmen.
Climbing back up from the Garden of Eden, the walk loops around the horse-shoe-shaped rim of the canyon, with jaw-dropping views and heart-stopping drop-offs, finally leading back to the carpark.
The Luritja people have used Watarrka as a ceremonial site for millennia. For me, Watarrka has a similar spiritual impact to that of Uluru.
It's the bare, ancient bones of my country laid bare. I'm awestruck by its beauty and feel a strong sense of connection to the landscape, a feeling perhaps akin to the sense of country felt by the Luritja.
Checklist
Getting there
Watarrka National Park lies 450km southwest of Alice Springs. It can be reached by 4WD on a sealed road from Uluru, or through the West MacDonnell National Park along the unsealed Mereenie Loop Road (4WD preferred).
What to do
The Rim Walk is best during the cool of the morning or evening (at its most spectacular). Take a hat, sunscreen and plenty of water; there are no facilities.
Where to stay
The nearest accommodation is at Voyages Kings Canyon resort, 7km from the canyon. Accommodation ranges from camping to luxury spa rooms. There is a mini-supermarket and two swimming pools. Kings Creek Station is a working cattle station, 36km from the canyon that offers camping, accommodation and a range of adventure activities.
