Macdonnell Ranges

A bit delayed but here it is...

This last week has been icy, but oh so spectacular.  Every time I have decided which I is my favourite place I go to a new favourite place.  The Macdonnell ranges will now have a special place in all our hearts.  From Trephina Gorge in the East Macdonnell ranges to all the gaps and gorges in the West we just wished we had more time to visit them all.

Trephina Gorge

Even Alice Springs was a surprise.  The first surprise came when we turned up to the first caravan park at about 4 pm and for the first time on this trip were told that they didn’t have a site for us.  Fortunately the next one was more accommodating but it turned out that they didn’t knock anyone back.  There were caravans parked in every available space even including  the roadways.   We had expected a town much like Katherine but were very moderately impressed with both design and cleanliness.  Our first full day we had a wander through town – Ben was on a mission to spend his Dymocks voucher he received for his birthday (this was the first town to have a Dymocks store).   We found it in a shopping centre, he bought his 3 books and has finished one and a half already.  After grabbing some lunch we drove to Trephina Gorge in the West Macdonnell ranges.  A one and a half hour walk took us to a lookout and then back through the gorge.  There wasn’t a lot of water but it was absolutely stunning.  The ghost gums against the red rocks, the yellow spinifex and the greeny brown colour of the water was a feast for the eyes.  On the way back to Alice we stopped in at both Emily and Jesse Gap and admired some more rock art.

Friday we got on our bikes and rode from the grave of John Flynne just outside Alice to the Simpson’s Gap.  This was a 17 km bike trail, really well laid out and relatively flat that took us alongside the West Macdonnell ranges with numerous birds and changing scenery to keep us entertained.  Since it was a one way track, Paul and Ben rode to the 10 km mark and then back to the car while Emma and I rode to the Gap.  Ben was very keen to do the full 34 km but Emma and I didn’t think we could wait that long for lunch.  This was probably our coldest day of the trip, 16 degrees and rather windy.  We had expected cold nights (and we have definitely had those) but I had thought the days would be warmer; the plus is that it is always a blue sky and when the wind drops you warm up again.

Emma approaching Simpsons Gap

Ormiston  waterhole

Saturday we packed up again and drove to Ormiston Gorge – an absolute stunner.  It was a National Park campground and again we were really impressed with set-up and couldn’t have been more impressed with the view from our campsite.  After setting up we took a walk to the lookout (freezing up there so didn’t spend too long there) and down through the gorge.  It makes me laugh now that in the beginning a day that we had packed up and set up we would be a little weary but now an hour and a half walk was nothing after getting our new home organised.  That night we got another surprise when the lantern we have been using for 11 weeks (our main source of light) decided not to work so in this place with very little lighting, we had to rely on our torches , headlamp etc.  All the more fun and it was sooo cold anyway that we went to bed (complete with thermals, beanies etc) just after the kids.  I have no idea how we are going to revert back to normal sleeping habits when we get home.

Dinnertime at the Gorge

The next day we headed off to do the Pound Walk – a 8 km loop walk which involved a swim at the end! We weren’t looking forward to that part since it was only about 10 degrees now and the water was absolutely freezing.  We walked for about an hour and reached the lookout to the Pound, it reminded us a lot of the Ngorongoro Crater in Africa (minus the animals of course) and was incredibly impressive.  We discussed our options with another group up there and we all came to the conclusion that it was far too cold to go through waist deep water and instead we all returned to camp the way we had come instead of completing the loop.  That afternoon we checked out Glen Helen Gorge and the ‘Resort’ there.  We were really pleased we had opted for Ormiston as a place to stay but this was nice to have a look at – the Resort was pretty derelict though.

Picking skimming stones at Glen Helen Gorge

Monday we took a little drive East and visited the Ochre Pits, an area where the colours in the rock were amazing and the aboriginals still collect their ochre from here for their paintings.  We then went walking to the Inarlanga Pass, a 3 hour hike partly along the top of the range, the views on these walks are beyond description.  We then took a look at Serpentine Gorge and finally back to camp for a 3 pm lunch. Ben was getting a little desperate by then (we had taken all our goodies with us to cook up lunch straight after our walk just forgot the matches..).  Some more time down at the Ormiston waterhole that afternoon and it was time to start planning for the next thing…

Ben and Emma on the way back from the Pass

Emma and I at Serpentine Gorge

On the way back to Alice tonight to get some supplies (and do lots of washing), we saw a camel wandering beside the road.  There has certainly been no shortage of wildlife wherever we have been.