Ochre Pits, Serpentine and Ellery Gorge.

Another freezing night without power and we are all still in great spirits. We eventually crawled out of the van and I cooked another storm on the bbq of bacon, eggs, toast and muffins.

We were on a mission to explore 3 different places today. However 1st stop was to see if there was any diesel at Glen Helen ( they had run out on Sunday). They did but at $1:90/ litre I only got just enough to get us back to Alice. 

This is supposed to be the most popular place to stay, but I suspect it is only beacause they have power, water and clean flushing toilets. They see the same dusty ground as us and we still much prefer our quiet sites. There was an old traditional hut out front that needed a bit of repair but was interesting to see how the ancestors may have lived. 

1st stop was at the Ochre Pits. A river bed surrounded by an array of different layers of soil, including limestone and red ochre. The cliffs looked extremely fragile yet up close were anything but. This is a sacred area and it is prohibited to dig or take any of the ochre. 

A few hundred metres up the road I made a hard right turn to the Neil Hargrave lookout. Apart from the litter strewn all around, there was a spot where a reflector plate was angled into a non powered dish and a spot where you could rest your phone to get a tiny cellular signal. Remembering this is 200km away from the nearest tower in Alice Springs, it is pretty amazing (and it actually worked to make a phone call too!)

Serpentine Gorge was next on the list. This was an easy 1.1km walk along a flat track to a Gorge that is symbolic to the Indigenous with a deep body of water to prevent both man and animal from entering. Apparently that means that Dylsn is neither of those. He had run off ahead as he always does in an attempt to expel his excess energy, and had started climbing the cliff face. But this time the cliff won and he had fallen in. As we reached the Gorge, there he was huddled between rocks on the other side, cowering low in the hope that we wouldn’t notice.... forgetting that all the other tourists we met were having a giggle and telling us exactly what happened. 

We noticed as we were leaving that there was a trail to the left indicating a lookout. For some reason it didn’t compute that the word lookout meant climb up a ginormous hill until your lungs were bursting out of your rib cage to see the same Gorge from a different angle. Nonetheless up we went. With a few stops to admire the different views (and maybe suck in some much needed oxygen whilst convincing my legs that we were nearly there), we got there and were greeted with a view that only a lookout could offer, and that pictures could never replicate. 

Thankfully the descent was much easier and we got to the car with an eagerness to see the next view. 

Ellery Gorge was our last planned stop for the day. Once again this was a beautiful area, only this time it was a public swimming place as well. However..... the water was at a temperature somewhere around -5 degrees yet not frozen. I have never felt water so cold  - not even an ice bucket. This was literally burning my legs and despite 3 attempts, I couldn’t stay in there for longer than one minute. 

The kids didn’t agree with me though, and showed how tough they were by actually diving in, but getting out again immediately to try and ward off the hypothermia in the19 degree sun. Dylan actually had us worried for a bit as he started feeling unwell, but soon picked up as he warmed up. 

This was our last day out here, and will be heading back to the big 4 in Alice Springs tomorrow. 

We will stop and have a look at Stanley Chasm on the way, but mostly it will be about having showers, doing the washing and getting prepared for the trip to Katherine. 

The Gorgeous Gorges

It was difficult to get out from under the quilts and sleeping bags this morning. It was at least the forecast-1, if not colder.

When we finally ventured out, I cooked up some bacon and eggs and toast for everyone and was soon warm. 

We all headed out to Glen Helen gorge and were greeted with another amazing backdrop with some beautiful water flowing through the bottom. This was only a 5 minute walk from where we parked the car and was the backyard for the caravan park here. We are so glad we are staying up the road, even without power or running water. Way too cramped here. 

We then drove further east to Ormiston Gorge. This had a 20 minute walk to the water hole, or a 3-4 hour loop walk through the mountains and gorge, returning via the water hole. Despite my body signalling in every possible way to take the short walk, we all “agreed” to take the loop. 

This meandered up the side of the mountains and just went on forever. The views were spectacular, but I am not sure any of the photos I took will ever highlight the enormous size of this vertical cliff faces. 

The terrain was forever changing. One minute we were in arid land dodging spikey grasses and red dust all over our shoes, next we were walking through sand and pebbles along the river beds, followed by great big boulders, all of which were changing colours every time we reached a new part of the river bed. 

We had reached what we thought was about halfway (according to my Apple Watch) when my knee started hurting and progressively got worse. Turns out that either the  description of the walk being only 7km is really wrong, or my watch doesn’t know how to calculate the hills and winding tracks, because my watch says we walked 11km. The last 2 km was extraordinarily difficult thanks to my inability to bend my right knee anymore... not very helpful clambering over boulders for 2 hours. 

Finally we reached the car again and popped some pain killers ready for the night ahead and more walks tomorrow. 

A bottle of red wine, a few bourbons and some schnitzels cooked over the fire finished off a great (but tiring day). 

Redbank Gorge.

Destination -Woodlands campground. About 180Km from Alice Springs.

The road out west is perfectly smooth, good quality and meandering through the West MacDonnell Ranges and the many floodways that cross its route. We passed by all the big name gorges such as Ellery, Stanley and Ormiston to a our destination 20Km west of Glen Helen. The grounds are part of the National Parks and cost $12.50 a night. They are equipped with an extremely clean drop toilet, free gas barbecues at each site, and an iron fire pit with a removable cooking grate. In short, they are fantastic for the location. 

About 5 minutes further up, there is a short walk into Redbank Gorge which is just stunning. 

It was less than hour return trip and a relatively easy walk and if it was an example of what we will see elsewhere , we are going to have some great days ahead. 

Back at the van, we started the fire and Tyler decided to cook the sausages over the fire rather than on the BBQ. 

The night slowly disappeared around the fire with a few glasses of red wine, and roasting Marshmallows. 

As the fire burnt out, the cold became more apparent (-1 forecast), so we all cleaned up as best as we could with the buckets of water and got into bed to keep warm.