The town of Alice...

We are leaving Alice on Thursday 4 July so I’m going and try and do a catch up!

We left Hermannsburg and drove to Palm Valley, we had a 30 min drive in/on/through the rough and rugged Finke River (it is dry riverbed of course)

the water does come through here sometimes by the look of the debris on this tree
 

the Finke River

 and got to the Finke Gorge National Park and another 10mins we arrived at the camp ground and it was great – flushing toilets (always a bonus), gas bbq and hotplates, and solar hot showers ($6.60ea per night)

our camp spot seen from the lookout

 

Here we stayed for 2 nights the first night we had a fantastic view of the super moon, absolutely beautiful sunset in the arvo and a clear sky for the full moon.

first the sunset

 

then the super moon

 

Next day we had a walk into palm valley and another  walk to the lookout in the afternoon. 

this is why it is called Palm Valley

lookout

 The 2^nd night was quite busy, being school holidays a lot of campers arrived but we had a quite spot to ourself.  We have worked out most people want a spot close to the amenities or the cooking facilities so we go to the furtherest spot and we have plenty of quiet space.  Tomorrow it’s off  to the West MacDonnell Ranges approaching from the west.

Stops along the way:

Gosse Bluff – meteor crater that happened millions of years ago, no picture because the crater is about 25metres wide

Then the gorges along Namajira Drive into Alice Springs:

Redbank Gorge – camped here at Woodlands Campground

 

Glen Helen Gorge

 

Ormiston Gorge – hot showers here and we were going to camp here but too full now we are in school holidays. NT kids have 4 weeks off. Did a walk here up in the hills and back through the gorge climbing over big rocks was about 1 ½ hours.

 

Ochre Pits – where the aborigine men get their colours from.

 

Ellery Creek Big Hole – camped here for the night (2^nd state of Origin) started to rain, showers all night.  Walked to the Big water hole about 5 mins away and it was beautiful.  Then went on the ‘Dolomite Walk’ and got a bit confused with the sign posting and ended back at camp so that was a very short walk.

 

The weather hasn’t been that great for the last few days now, mostly overcast so we decided to skip the rest of the sightseeing and head straight into Alice Springs.

Friday 28 June

Drove around Alice did shopping, went to Bunnings (Bunnings , oh how we have missed you…hahaha) and we ran into Bob and Cheryl from Ballarat who we met in Port Douglas last year.  So nice to see you guys again and hopefully the Simpson is kind to you and your friends.

Saturday we visited the School of Air, so amazing and very interesting to see how  the outback kids get their education.

 

Old Telegraph Station – some men there from Sydney that are the last of their kind to be able to send morse code and we got to send Andrew a message via morse code to Adelaide and it will get mailed to him in Brisbane (hopefully it will be in words and not dots and dashes haha) and the views of Alice from Anzac Hill.

 

Sunday the sun was finally out but we had cool gusty winds but another day of sightseeing.  First, Standley Chasm (with cold winds blowing through the chasm),

the walk is 1.2km to the Chasm but it's beautiful all the way in

 

Simpsons Gorge, another short walk and saw a couple of black footed rock wallabies.

 

John Flynn’s historical grave site –The guy who started the Royal Flying Doctor Service.

 

We went to the RFDS display in town and then walked around Alice and looked at the historical buildings.

Adelaide House-first hospital

 

Monday we had a full day walking around the Desert Park – such a good day, finding out about the dessert and the plants and animals.  There is a free flying bird show, a nocturnal house, kangaroos, self guided audio tour as we walked around.

 

Today is July 1, Territory Day in NT and fireworks are for sale everywhere.  The bangs started going off about 5pm and as it got darker the fireworks got louder and bigger.  I have never seen or heard so many fireworks going off all at once all around us, we stuck earphones in our ears and watched a movie on the laptop and the fireworks kept on going.  By 11pm they all sort of stopped and then a couple of hours later they started again and were  going all through the night and there were a few left overs on Tuesday morning. It was a pretty good show but everyone in the caravan park got over it after a while, we even got used to the big bangs close by in the end.

Tuesday was a full driving day to Chambers Pillar, it is over  150km from Alice Springs one way of very rough roads to a quiet and serene part of the country, well almost serene if it wasn’t for…these bloody flies!!! 

We have found a cream here, rosemary and cederwood  with an olive oil base and it keeps them off and smells nice. Had a bit of camel company on the way.

Carved names in the sandstone at Chambers Pillar of the Central Australian explorers in the 1880s who were looking to lay the first telegraph line in the area, can still be seen as plan as day.

the views are spectacular

 

Great camping spot, we should have bought the Tvan, gas BBQ and hot plates, toilets of the pit kind all for $3.30ea per night.  We stopped here and had lunch and then drove back but we worked out we would have enough fuel if we took a little detour, 70km along the Hugh River Stock Route.  We had to stop and open and close a few gates and we had to cross the new Ghan railway line half way along and we came out on the Stuart Hwy 25km north and a right turn 22km on another gravel road into the Rainbow Valley.

...and the sky is so blue

 

Then it was back to Alice Springs, got back by 6pm…huge day.

Wednesday is a pack up, stock up day and onto the East MacDonnell Ranges onThursday and heading north to Darwin in a round about way.

PS.  We are staying in Alice Springs for another day...one of the engel fridges did not like the drive we did out to Chambers Piller so a guy is looking at it on Thursday, so at this stage now leaving Friday.  Mmmmm....public holiday here Friday and the Alice Spring Show is on....youhoo!!!

Blog you when we get to Darwin. 
Cheers