Thursday 3/10
There is plenty to see down the Stuart Hwy, we could have taken three days instead of two though places to stay on a two stop strategy is more challenging. The Daley Waters Pub is an iconic eccentric Australian landmark. There are numerous WWII sites beside the highway. Most have nothing there any longer, some still have a runway. There are signs to a hospital and barracks all the way down the road.
There is also no shortage of memorials on the side of the road. There are ones for explorers, telegraph workers, drovers but the saddest was to an eight yo boy from Dunmarra roadhouse. The boy went missing in October 1993 while looking for his horse. 1200 people stopped their own lives and joined the search for the boy. A temporary hospital was set up that treated over 200 people. The boy's body was found 9 days after he was reported missing.
We spent the night at a sacred place called the Pebbles. Not quite the Devils Marbles, more a pile of round rocks. Great place to camp, only 20km from Tennant Creek and about 6km off the highway. It was lovely and quiet until the feral cats came out looking for any morsel of food left. The arrival of the cats sent Chelsea and Chantelle into screams of sheer terror. Nicholas took the shovel down to play whack-a-cat if possible. The scrawny things kept their distance though.
Friday 4/10
After a packup we ventured into Tennant Creek for breakfast provisions. There was a lake just out of town that was quite picturesque with bbqs to cook up a breakfast. The lake was pretty empty this late in the dry season but the BBQ breakfast was a hit; there was bacon, eggs, tomato, hash browns, mushrooms and toast. What a feast.
After breakfast we continued the drive to Alice Springs.
We stopped at Devils Marbles less than an hour out of Tennant Creek. These rock formations are spectacular! Massive ovals of granite piled up on one another looking as if they could be just rolled away. Some of the ovals of rock have been seemingly sliced in two as if by a gigantic knife. The splits are a testament to the extreme conditions in this part of our country. Water seeps into a tiny crack then overnight temperatures plummet turning the water to ice that expands and pushes the rock further apart allowing more water in and repeating the process. Like putting a steel drink bottle in the freezer and the metal splitting. After a couple of walks and car stops around the marbles we kept going.
We stopped at a non descript rest stop for lunch and refuelled at Barrow Creek. We were blissfully unaware the macabre history of Barrow Creek when we stopped. It was near there where Peter Falconio was murdered, and the hilltop that Joanne Lees hid from the murderer in the dark of night. All the males around Barrow Creek volunteered DNA samples to assist in the investigation.
Late in the afternoon we pulled into Alice Springs that was to become a quasi base to explore the region. We would return several times to the G'day Mate Caravan Park, which we highly recommend, one of the cleanest parks we have stayed in.
Saturday 5/10
After just a night at Alice Springs we again pack up to drive West MacDonnell ranges. Ample enough, the west MacDonnell range is a long series of pushed up hills that all run parallel to the west of Alice Springs. None of us had been to Alice Springs previously but were all surprised just how hilly the town is. Angela and Nicholas had both imagined the town on very flat ground with no hills. It has several large rocky hills which adds character to the town.
Heading out of town we first stopped at Simpson's Gap. Just a very short walk to the gap from the car park. It really is just a gap not much else this time of year; it goes from a raging river to a sandy empty creek bed in the same year. There is a true gap through the hill range at that point. History is unsure as to why it is called Simpson's Gap, possibly after someone working on the overland telegraph line in the early 1870s.
Lunch was taken at Standley Chasm, which is run by the Aboriginal community not NT Parks. The facilities are very basic and to walk to the Chasm will cost $25 per family. There are three separate walks that can be attempted and knowing how much the family is loving walking we decided to leave the walk out of the itinerary. The next couple of stops would have more appeal to the girls anyway.
Ellery Creek Big Hole is about 50km further down the road and was a stop for a refreshing swim and the bathe for the night. Compared to where we were swimming only days before the water here was cold enough to take your breath away as you enter the water. The hole is certainly what you would call big for a pool of water in such an arid area.
The last stop befoer camp was the Ochre pits of the West MacDonnell. The Aboriginal people of the area request that you don't harvest ochre from the pits, something that is not observed by all visitors as evidenced by the scrawl on seats, walls and hand rails. The Ochre Pits are not pits as we would envision a pit, they really are the bank of a river. The colours are amazing ranging from pure white through to deep red. The ochre could only be harvested and used by men and was traded with other tribes in other areas that had no access to ochre. According to the diagram at the pits there were only a few ochre sites in Australia utilised by aboriginal people.
Only another 50km on was our planned camping site at Redbank Gorge, five star bush camping. The site we chose had gas hot plate and two stove burners, a large fire place, picnic table and sitting platforms. There were no showers and the pit toilets seats were too low, but it was a fine camping site. The ladies were so excited at the prospect of a campfire that they each planned what they were going to cook in the camp ovens. Chelsea chose lemonade scones, Chantelle made a Dump Cake and Bianca made chocolate brownie. Chantelle also set and lit the fire and did a sterling job at it. The fire unfortunately proved to be too hot for cooking but the food was very yummy. We left the scones on for 'just a little longer' then Chantelle picked up two feet full of burrs and required tweezers to get each burr out in the fading light. We had quite hard scones, jam and cream for dessert but delicious none the less! Before we were all tucked away in our cots the dingos came around to sniff out any discarded scraps. They came right in close to our camper but they were terribly dissatisfied as all that was on offer was some spilt flour everything else was safely away.
Before driving on to Palm Valley we drove the short distance back to Orminston Gorge for a walk and swim. We had had a good swim and been there for quite a while when 88 school kids from Rosebud turned up for a swim. Until they arrived Orminston Gorge supported quite a lot of bird life, fish and aquatic life. For legal reasons only 12 students were allowed to swim at any one time leaving 68 to sit and vegetate on the sandy bank in the shade.
Nicholas turned into Gosse Bluff on the way to Palm Valley. Gosse Bluff has a view over a valley with what is thought to be an eroded meteor crater. Mention of a walk up to a bluff from Nicholas was met with mutinous revolt so we kept on driving. The meteor that made the crater was large enough to make a shock wave that would have been felt on the other side of the world and was probably mostly frozen gasses meaning little cosmic evidence is left.
We finally arrived at Palm Valley to camp the night. Some lovely camper had left enough chopped and split firewood for us to enjoy our dinner around the camp fire. Palm Valley was our fourth single night stop in succession. On a one night stop the children's room doesn't get put up and the girls sleep on the big bed and Nicholas and Angela sleep on stretcher beds on the floor. It is tight and a bit squishy but is quite ok for one night. Most of the bags are left in the back of the car. After four of these setups there are bits and pieces all over the place. It will be good to get back to Alice to empty the car and start again.
Sunset on the gorge walls at Palm Valley.
The palms and cycads of palm valley.
In the morning we drove on to the Palm Valley walking tracks. This drive has been one of the more challenging drives we have done so far on this trip. The track is over rocks and up and down rock ledges. There is lots of evidence of vehicles scraping their undercarriage on rock ledges. The only way to drive is very slowly in low range so that speed can be easily regulated up over ledges. At the car park there were two places where evidence suggested vehicles had succumbed to the to the rock ledges and dropped very significant amount of oil in large pools. We expected to see cars with cooked engines on the side of the road on the way back to Alice. We did see a dingo near the track that had come down for a drink at the river. It didn't seem to be the least bit bothered by our presence.
The Palm Valley walk was a good walk to do early in the morning. We walked up over the valley wall before climbing down and walking back in the cool of the valley. The valley is remnant of what the area looked like when dinosaurs walked through here all those years ago. Some of these plants do not exist within 600-800km of this place, too far for a bird to have brought a single seed and impossible for a river to wash down a plant or seed. It is incredible that these plants have survived all those years to become so isolated from near relatives. The Red Cabbage palms of Palm Valley are related to the cabbage palms found in Queensland and far eastern Victoria. In 1996 a survey was conducted and in 60km2 12000 Red Cabbage palms were counted but only 1200 were mature specimens capable of producing viable seed. Some of the palms are estimated at over 300 years old, predating European settlement by 80 years at least.
We drove back to Alice Springs looking forward to setting up and staying put for a few days and sorting out food and car and stuff.
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