Half-lap Day 26: West MacDonnell Ranges

A strongish wind came up during the night so Tony and I were up for a while making sure everything was secure. In the morning the sky was cloudy and the air a bit cool – very different from the day before. Originally we had planned to stay in Alice Springs only 1 more night, then head out for a couple of nights along the West MacDonnell Ranges. Then we’d discovered that there is an AFL game here in Alice Springs on Saturday, and Tony was keen to see it, so we decided to stay an extra night in Alice, and just do a day trip to the ranges today. We were worried that the cloudy weather might make that not as good, as Standley Chasm is particularly beautiful around midday on a sunny day. We decided to go anyway, since waiting for the weather can sometimes mean missing out altogether, and we often have quite different, and very fun, experiences when the weather is not what we’d hoped for. Also, we were going to be driving 50-130km out of Alice Springs, so the weather could be quite different out there.

We left a bit after 10.30. The MacDonnell Ranges are an impressive range to drive along – they extend for so far (a couple of hundred kilometres) and are constantly changing. Sometimes they are craggy escarpments with red rock, other times covered in low spinifex and Mallee bush, sometimes they are more like mountains with hundreds of water eroded creases in them. I enjoyed the drive out to Standley Chasm immensely. We arrived close to 11.30 and I was a little eager to get going because I really wanted to be at the Chasm by 12. We got shoes and sunscreen and hats on and threw a bag of supplies together, Tony bought our ticket (you have to pay to enter this area) and we set off along the path. It was a fairly easy, recently surfaced path, along a mainly dry creek bed, with craggy hills rising on either side, lots of ghost gums and other trees. I went pretty fast and the others came along at their own pace. I rounded a corner at the end and could see a brilliant red almost sheer wall – one side of Standley Chasm, with the middle of the day sun shining on it. It was so bright, very cool to see. The Chasm is only a couple of metres wide, with very tall sheer rock faces on either side. The clouds had cleared by now and there was a brilliant blue sky above the shining red cliffs. We walked through to the end of the chasm, there were some (very slippery) rocks we could climb up on to look beyond the cliff walls – it was fenced off for walking beyond that point. There was a small waterhole at the base of the rocks, the kids paddled their feet and played with the many small rocks on the chasm floor, making little cairns. We stayed long enough for the sun to come to centre of the chasm, shining on both walls. The slippery boulders strewn throughout the base of the chasm reflected shinily onto the walls when the sun hit them. It was a pretty special place.

Standley Chasm in midday sun

Kids exploring the rocks at Standley Chasm (LiAM is on the left, blending in to the rocks)

The kids climbed up some rocks at the start of the chasm and watched the sun changing the colours from there, and then we headed at a more leisurely place back along the path. Back at the car we had some ham, cheese and avocado sandwiches, and admired the biggest caravan we’ve seen yet – it was being pulled by a little truck and attached to it’s trailer bed rather than being towed. Again it was funny to watch everyone admiring it (like we were) as they walked past.

We continued west along the ranges, which continued to change as we drove. At one point there were thin walls of rock sticking up at intervals, which had a curved top. They looked exactly like stegosaurus fins, and I was fascinated. We arrived at Ormiston Gorge a bit after 2pm. We could see a lookout on the hill nearby, and the platform seemed to come out over the edge of the cliff. Caitlin had been asleep in the car, and got out and said she was NOT going up to that lookout. We’d thought we’d walk to the lookout and back and then have a swim in the waterhole to cool off – LiAM and Millie said they weren’t doing another walk. So I took the kids straight to the waterhole and Tony went up to the lookout. It was only 5 minutes to get to the waterhole – I had been worried that by just walking that far we wouldn’t see any of the cool bits of the gorge – I didn’t need to worry. The waterhole was long and started at the base of cliff where the lookout was, and wound it’s way around to the base of the extremely large cliff that was the northern wall of the gorge, and it was easily visible from where we were. It was an incredible spot. Deep green water, with towering red and black cliffs, a sandy beach, ghost gums, quartzite boulders with amazing patterns in them all over the ground… I loved it.

We arrived at the beach not long before Tony arrived at the lookout and we could wave to him and even have a bit of a conversation. We changed into our swimmers behind a tree, LiAM and Caitlin were straight in the water and made their way to the middle where Caitlin could only just stand up, then over to the beach on the other side. I took a little longer to get in, and Millie wasn’t keen on going very deep so I stayed close to the edge with her until Tony arrived. The water was very cold when we got in, but it soon felt comfortable, way warmer than the pool back at the caravan park. It would have been warmer still except by this stage the sun had moved behind the cliff so the waterhole was in complete shade. I went in further – the depth changed constantly, there were bits where I couldn’t stand up then suddenly I’d be standing on rocks and only be knee deep. I think the water level was on the high side following the fairly recent rains. We could see watermarks on the rocks and obviously it is sometimes higher. It’s a semi-permanent waterhole so there is usually some water, but it would vary with the seasons. I swam a bit with the kids, and we admired a heron who was hanging around on the nearby trees and rocks and occasionally swooping over the water. I made my way across to the cliff side shore and slowly edged my way towards a kind of cave – I really wanted to swim in there – it wasn’t really a cave, more a depression in the rock, but it was a bit scary. I moved a bit at a time until I was at least under the edge of the overhang, then decided that was far enough, and swam back across (the widest part of) the waterhole to the beach. It was great to be able to swim a bit of distance – and it was such an amazing place to swim. Lying on our backs looking up at the cliffs, so so cool.

Tony at the Lookout and Caitlin on the beach

The overhand I swam a little way under

Once I got out Millie and I got dressed and Tony walked along the beach to have a look around the corner, further into the gorge. I was going to go up to the lookout while everyone finished swimming and got changed, by the time Tony came back all the kids wanted to go up to the lookout as well, so I waited and we went together. It worked quite well, the walk up the hill warmed us up after our refreshing swim.

The views from the lookout were pretty amazing. We could see a fair way in to the gorge, and see the river following the base of the cliff all the way, with varying amounts of water in it. There was a beautiful ghost gum just near the lookout, and it was also cool to see all the little trees with a hold in the cliff faces. Tony and LiAM were making jokes about climbing over the fence of the lookout, or dropping cameras off, which freaked me out a little, but once I got up there and right to the edge I was fine, even Caitlin was ok. The lookout did extend a bit over the edge of the cliff, and it was made of a metal grid so we could look right down, but it wasn’t too scary. So glad we all got up there and saw the view. We all were impressed by the size of the cliff and the peacefulness and the combination of water and rocks, so so glad we made it out there.

Back to the car and we had a bit of a snack, then drove a little further west to Glen Helen. We didn’t walk in to the gorge, just down to the river (the Finke, the same one we swam in 2 days ago!) and watched the sunset on the cliff face – even redder than anything we’ve seen so far I think, and very cool with the water flowing past the base. We explored the kiosk and gift shop a bit, and the kids wanted ice blocks and sticky date puddings, I said we could get some from Coles on our way back through Alice Springs and they were happy with that.

Glen Helen and the Finke River

We drove back to Alice mainly in the dark, listening to The Enchanted Castle (by Edith Nesbitt) on the way. We stopped at Coles to get our promised treats and a few more supplies, then back to the tent and had leftover sausages with egg and cheese on bread, and then sticky date puddings for dessert. Everyone was pretty tired so it wasn’t long before we all headed for bed and read a couple of chapters of Brisingr.

Half-lap Day 25: Alice Springs

Millie was the first one awake and she got up and went out of the tent and got herself some breakfast (dry cereal, as she couldn’t get into the car to get the milk out of the fridge). I had a little bit of a sleep in – I was still up before 8 but it was the latest I’ve stayed in bed so far on the trip. I felt much better than I had the night before, and happier about staying here for a few days.

We had a very relaxed morning, catching up on some computer and internet stuff, playing with Millie’s animals, eating breakfast, reading about Alice Springs and surrounding areas, sorting out our stuff a little (there’s still more to be sorted, the car has been having stuff thrown into it lately and it all needs to come out and be repacked).

Late in the morning we all went to the pool for a swim. It was hot and sunny and even though the water was still cold it refreshing and felt great to be in there. A group of younger people who were camped near us were also swimming so we stayed more in the shallow end and tried to make a whirlpool, and LiAM and I had a water karate sparring session – it’s easier to kick in the water but harder to block as all our movements were so much slower.

We came back to the tent for chicken sandwiches then headed in to town. We parked near the library, Tony, LiAM and Millie went to check it out and Caitlin and I walked through town to do some shopping. We wandered along the Todd Mall and looked at some art shops and admired an old low stone building, which was the first hospital in Central Australia. We were approached by a man with a painting, which I loved, and chatted to him about his country (around Broome) and he offered us the painting for $20 – I wasn’t sure about the protocol or the ethics of buying from him and so I declined – I’ve talked to a couple of people since and I think if I see him again I might buy it.

We found one op shop which had closed at 1pm, so we walked to the far end of the town centre to the Salvation Army op shop, and found a couple of things that were on our list (replacing clothing that has fallen apart or we’ve found we need more of, and a hot water bottle as mine is perishing inside – hopefully this one is sound). We also bought some neck coolers that Caitlin has been eyeing off for a while, and the guy gave us a discount on them too. From there we walked back into town, explored a new and 2^nd hand clothing and toy store, then checked Vinnies out and found a couple more things. Then to Kmart and then Target to complete our list. We also popped in to a couple of sports stores to try to find new swimming shorts for LiAM. I love walking around towns that I don’t know, starting to get a feel for them and become more familiar. I’m still not sure whether I like Alice Springs or not, I remember feeling the same the last time I was here.

Tony and the others had spent some time at the library and found that the wifi wasn’t a strong enough signal to watch videos, so LiAM played games and Millie and Tony played with blocks for a while, then they went and found a cool playground before coming to pick us up. We grabbed food for dinner and headed back to the caravan park. The kids went for another swim and I watched them while Tony cooked burgers on the BBQ. I sat with my feet in the water which was lovely and refreshing – it was still quite warm even though the sun had gone down.

We ate our burgers at the BBQ shelter and the kids had showers and we tidied up for the night then headed into bed for Brisingr and sleep.

Half-lap Day 24: Finke River -> Alice Springs

We were camped quite near the highway and we throughout the night we could hear road trains coming for a minute or two before they actually came past. The noise would gradually get louder and then it would be like an aeroplane going past, and then it would recede over the next couple of minutes. It wasn’t too disturbing though, there weren’t a lot of them and in between it would be completely quiet.

I was up in time to see the sunrise, I went down to the river and watched it slowly come to light and enjoyed the reflections in the water and the incredible peacefulness. I saw a few tour buses pass over the bridge on their way to Uluru – would have been an early start from Alice Springs! As the morning went on we saw many army trucks going south, big trucks carrying lots of supplies – and 2 of them were carrying tanks! That was pretty exciting to see.

Early morning on the Finke River

As we were packing up the tent we found a tiny scorpion inside it, running along the floor near the wall. We all watched him for a while, then I scooped him up in a cup (I did squish one of his pincers as I tried to catch him) and threw him outside (away from the tent). We chatted to our friends about the Ernest Giles track (I was thinking we might leave the trailer and just drive back in the 16km to see the meteorite crater) and they said it was the worst road they’d ever driven on, corrugated all the way with no respite. We decided to give it a miss, if they struggled in their huge 4WD. The other couple had broken several things on their van and both of them said everything they had was covered in red dust.

An extra camper in our tent

The kids wandered off to explore while we finished packing, then I went to take them down to the river while Tony put the last things on the top of the trailer. I found them talking to another family, a mum with 2 boys. We chatted for ages, and Tony joined us after a while with everything packed up and trailer attached and ready to go. Eventually I took all 5 kids down to the river, the water was beautiful and they were soon all completely wet (in their clothes, but since it was a hot sunny day, and fresh, flowing water, I wasn’t worried). They played in the water and in the sand, which was a bit like quicksand in parts, it was easy to sink in up to the knee. I waded around a bit then found a shady place to sit and watch them and enjoy the location. Tony joined me after a while and then the other mum and we chatted and the kids played for a couple of hours. It was a pretty magical way to spend the morning.

Swimming and exploring the sand in the Finke River

We got everyone out of the river and headed off around 1pm. We’d planned to stop at Stuarts Well for fuel and lunch, but the kids had had a sandwich before we left and Tony and I were happy eating in the car, and we had enough fuel to get to Alice Springs, so decided not to stop. There was a camel farm though that the kids wanted to see, so we pulled in to check out the camels, and an emu who was being amorous with the fence, a dingo on a chain and some birds. Not the greatest animal place we’ve seen so far.

There were several ranges of hills that we drove past before reaching the McDonnell Ranges and then Alice Springs – a bit different seeing many hills after so much flat land. We drove in to Alice Springs through a gap in the ranges and it was exciting to be here. We checked out a campground which was only $11 a night, but none of us felt comfortable there and the reviews we read were very mixed so we decided against it. We were stopped by the police on the way in, who asked if we were going to the bottle shop or the campground – later when I saw police checking ID outside liquorland at Coles we realised that the police check ID before anyone goes into a bottle shop. I hadn’t seen that anywhere before.

We drove up Anzac Hill – a lookout over the city – to rest for a bit and figure out where we would stay. It was a cool place to get a bit of an idea of the layout of the town, and the kids thought we were going to physically look for caravan parks from up there – we did it the digital way however. There was a place out of town where we wanted to stay, we rang them but they were full, so we found a place in town that seemed all right and not too expensive. It seemed nice when we arrived, nothing special – it’s a fairly basic caravan park with everyone laid out in a neat grid, not much atmosphere but clean and quiet and a good place to rest for a few days.

I crashed when we arrived. Last time I arrived in Alice Springs I was overwhelmed and a bit teary and wasn’t sure what I wanted to do – I thought that was because I’d just been on a 20 hour bus ride from Darwin. But this time I felt exactly the same. It’s an odd place – part city, part country town, part regional centre, part cultural and arts centre, part violent and unsafe, part touristy, part multicultural, it’s hot and dry and sometimes stifling, it’s a remote town but so full of tourists that it doesn’t feel remote – I am reading Tracks by Robyn Davidson (a lady who came to Alice Springs, learned about camels and rode a camel train from here to the Indian Ocean) and she says that having the ranges so close to town drives everyone a bit crazy and I see what she means.

Tony recognized that I was not coping well so he sat me down and made me a cup of tea before we set the tent up. The kids explored the park a bit and eventually I was up to helping set up. We used the free wifi for a bit, I sorted out my washing, and then we went for a swim in the pool. The water was freezing and I just had a quick dip before I got out, Tony stayed to supervise the kids and I went to Coles to stock up on much needed supplies, and got a hot chicken for dinner. I enjoyed driving around the town and discovering where things were, I even went over the river to get some hot chips to have with our chicken (there are Indian food places everywhere here, but only 1 fish and chip shop. Shopping in Coles felt like shopping in Griffith, very multicultural and the food options available reflect that.)

We were in bed pretty early, read for a while then off to sleep, keen for a quiet relaxing day tomorrow.

Half-lap Day 23: Kings Canyon -> Finke River

I was up early enough to watch the sunrise from the viewing platform, very cool watching the sun pop up over the ranges. I had a bit of a wander through the scrub near our tent afterwards, looking for LiAM’s swimmers – I saw lots of shoes and socks and bags and other things, but not what I was looking for.

We did a fairly relaxed pack up, and were ready to go by 11. We stopped not far down the road to do the Kathleen Springs walk which we’d heard was quite beautiful. It was sunny and hot today, and there were a lot of flies – our fly nets and/or the fly repellant we’d bought came in handy for everyone. I really enjoyed the walk, it was a paved, easy path down into Kathleen Gorge, between red gorge walls – not very tall but really that image that I have in my head of the Northern Territory. This gorge used to be used as a cattle pen and there were still signs of cattle yards and watering troughs which were interesting to see. There were also lots of signs explaining the indigenous stories from around this land which were great. We could see a bit of water flowing over rocks towards the end of the gorge, and there was a lovely shady waterhole right at the end. We sat and rested and looked at it for a while, then headed back out. LiAM found a big stick insect, we saw lots of butterflies, and one lizard – I’m so glad we saw him because I’d told LiAM I was sure we’d see lizards at Kings Canyon and there had been none.  Tony didn’t enjoy the walk so much, with the heat and flies and he also ended up carrying Millie most of the way so it was a much harder walk for him.

The Waterhole at Kathleen Springs

We had some sandwiches at the car then drove a bit further to Kings Creek Station to get petrol, a lot cheaper than at Kings Canyon Resort (thanks to wiki camps for that information 192c/l as opposed to 176 I think). It was still expensive though so we just put 20L or so in. We had a bit of a look around the station, and the kids found zooper doopers for sale for $1 each so we grabbed some of those.

It was a long drive back out from Kings Canyon to the highway and then east again to the Stuart Highway. We finished listening to Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, then listened to music for a while. Eventually we arrived at Erldunda where we’d planned to get some supplies – there was no bread and milk was $4 for a litre of UHT milk so we decided to do without for now. There was mobile signal though so we caught up with the messages we’d received over the past few days, and there was an emu farm and we were able to feed the emus – these pellets were bigger than the ones at Uluru so it was slightly less scary when the emus pecked them out of our hands. We also saw a couple of emus fighting – they fluffed up their neck feathers until they were huge and ran at each other – one emu didn’t want anyone else eating the pellets so chased a few of them away. We also sent some postcards while we were there.

We drove north for another 70km or so and stopped at a free camp by the side of the Finke River. This is one of the oldest rivers in the world - it's been there for between 100 million and 350 million years! We arrived just before sunset and Caitlin and I wandered down to check out the river bed – there was water flowing and it was so beautiful standing in the dry part of the river with the bridge to our west and the sun setting behind it.

Sunset over the Stuart Highway and Finke River

As we were setting up 2 of our neighbours from Kings Canyon arrived, they had driven across the Ernest Giles track instead of coming around the sealed road (and they’d left an hour before us) so we were keen to talk to them in the morning about what the road was like.

We had ready made pasta packets for tea, and sat outside marveling at the brightness of the stars – they haven’t been so bright for a while because the moon has been so full – but at first the moon wasn’t up yet and the stars were mesmerizing. The moon rose before we went to bed, a big orange almost full disk, very very cool.