Alice Springs

We have been in the Alice Springs area for a week  - five nights in Alice and then two nights at Trephena Gorge, 80 km east -  and today back in Alice to do heaps of domestic stuff - washing, showering, emailing, blogging, mammoth shopping - before we head north tomorrow. For the past week the weather has been fine and mainly sunny but with a cool, sometimes cold, sometimes freezing wind. Jumper and long pants weather. All of the locals have been moaning - they wear coats and beanies. When off power it has been early to bed and snuggle up under the doona, with socks on!

Highlights of the week have been

• Bike Ride to Simpsons Gap A round trip of 40km starting from the Desert Park carpark with lunch at Simpsons Gap. All on a bitumen track through the bush with information stops and picnic spots along the way. Lots of birds, outstanding views, good weather. We took over 2 hours each way (we don't travel fast), and at the end we were tired and well satisfied with ourselves.   

 The Desert Park  Went for 2 hours, stayed for 4. A world class facility. 
Particularly enjoyed the large screen film, birds of prey presentation, a talk on aboriginal use of plants for medicines, walking through bird avaries for three different environments - desert, river, grassland, and an excellent nocturnal animals house. It was good to see many aboriginal people involved with the running of the place. Thoroughly recommend it as a place to visit. Because we are old (Seniors) and had a promotion ad we cut out of a brochure we got in for almost half price! 

•  The Arleun Cultural Centre has the Alice Springs Art Gallery, a craft centre, the Natural Museum, the Stredlow Collection and an historical aircraft collection in the Connellan Air hangers at the original Alice Springs Airport. The gallery was exhibiting the entrants in the Alice Art Prize, which is apparently quite well recognized. There were artists from every State represented. Some of the art was wonderful, particularly the huge aboriginal dot paintings, one of which won first prize. Some was interesting and some was hard for me to recognize as 'art' - how about a 3 minute video of a cabbage being peeled!! The Stredlow Collection of aboriginal artifacts is housed in a building with the Natural Museum. The story, and the man behind it, Professor Stredlow, who grew up amongst aboriginal children at Hermansburg where his father was a strict Lutheran missionary is quite fascinating and will require further reading about when I find a library holding his book.

We also went to the John Flynn Memorial church for a lovely service, walked the Todd Mall Market (freezing cold wind), looked at aboriginal art in many shops and a museum, had coffee at and strolled around the Olive Pink Botanical Gardens. Excitingly, thanks to Christopher, we signed the contract to our house which should start next week and we watched Episode 4, series 2 of Downton Abbey - thanks to Tricia - so sad.

On Monday we took the van to wonderful Trephena Gorge in the East Macdonnells. Another place we can highly recommend. They are upgrading the camping area so only about 8 sites are available but we managed to get one. We had a lazy afternoon - Merilyn's doona day, and later in the afternoon we went for a 2km walk which took us along the ridge above the Gorge and then back along the creekbed.

 

Tuesday saw us up for an early start and off to Arltunga on a very rough road - 21 creek crossings (dry) in the first section. Arltunga was a gold mining town which the S.A. government hoped would become the 'Ballarat' of the State and provide them, the Government, as well as the miners, with much wealth. It didn't. It was the first major centre in the Territory, which was administered by S.A., and had several underground mines and a Government Stamping Battery but there just wasn't enough gold and the place was so isolated. As we walked around the ruins it was hard to imagine how the miners survived. Most 'homes' had one room, about half the size of Jack's bedroom, with walls of local stone and a canvas roof. 

Although the road was rough the scenery was just magnificent. We were back at Trephina for a late  2.30 lunch and another lazy afternoon.

Today we packed the van, did a 1hr walk which took us to a panoramic lookout above the Gorge, drove back to the G'Day Mate Caravan Park in Alice and did all the domestic stuff so that we can head further North tomorrow. It might be some time before we can do another blog.

The Red Centre

Yulara - Curtin Springs: 87km
Curtin Springs - Kings Canyon: 213km
Kings Canyon - Redbank Gorge: 225km
Redbank Gorge - Ormiston Gorge: 35km
Ormiston Gorge - Alice Springs: 145km

We are now in Alice Springs and have been out of contact with the world for the past 5 days - what bliss! No politics, no annoying politicians, no footy, no news about Greece, no share reports, no news about the house, no contact with family and friends - actually we felt quite isolated from family and friends and realise how important regular contact with them is to us. We don't think we could be on the road for years as some of the folk we have met have been.

What have we done? you may well ask.

We have done heaps!  Seen lots, walked miles (kilometres) and taken dozens of photos - thank goodness for digital cameras.

Thursday started with an early morning pack up, then a 10km walk around and lunch next to Uluru - lots of green grass, red rock and blue sky.

Then it was of to Curtin Springs for a free night on the cattle station - with about 20 others.
En route to Kings Canyon we stopped at Kathleen Springs and walked into a beautiful deep waterhole. We arrived at Kings Canyon Resort and set up on a grassy unpowered site. Drove back to the Canyon road and then walked up Kings Creek to a lookout from which the great walls of the canyon can be seen. On dusk back at camp there was a dingo checking out our clothes horse and we watched it do the rounds of other camps and then howl at a girl cooking some meat in the outdoor kitchen.

Next day, after breakfast (including coffee), we drove to Kings Canyon and spent the morning and early afternoon doing the Rim Walk. Domes of the Hidden City, Garden of Eden, awesome rock walls - a good walk.

 

In the evening I went to the shop for an ice cream - Magnum Classic for $5, and Merilyn collected hot water for the dishes and when she returned there was a dingo at the van lapping the water that was soaking the skillet!! She managed to get in the van, grab the camera and photograph it.

Dingos howled several times during the night and the toilet blocks have iron gates that have to be kept closed to keep the dingoes out.

On the road again travelling on the Mereenie loop towards Glen Helen. Classed as a suitable for 4WD it presented some challenges with long sections of  corrugations, rough rocky sections and some sandy bits. It passed through aboriginal land and we had to purchase a permit and were not allowed to stop on the way apart from one rest stop. We lowered the pressure in the tyres, took out time and had no problems. We passed one 4WD, stopped and replacing a tyre, and caught up with another who had stopped and found the microwave in their large van on the floor. For lunch we drove in to Gosse's Bluff on a 6km  4WD only road which was quite easy. This is quite an awesome place. It formed when a comet (ice and gas) exploded when it hit the flat surface of the earth about 140 million years ago. Debris from the explosion formed a crater 20km wide which has now eroded away. The 5km wide crater which is exposed now actually formed below the surface in the layers of rock and has been exposed as the surrounding land has eroded away. I suggest you type Gosses Bluff into Google Earth and have a look. Zoom in and you can see the rugged 5km crater and as you zoom out you can see the wider debris layer.

Gosse's Bluff from 30km away

Inside the crater
We went on to Redbank Gorge in the Western Macdonnel Ranges for the night and we were the only ones there. Bright eyes (Merilyn) suggested we walk down to the waterhole for a look and to rinse a bucket of washed clothes - it took us one and a half hours. The things I do!!

The next two nights were spent at wonderful Ormiston Gorge - one of our most favorite places. We had a relaxed day of reading by the rock pool with a short walk up to the Ghost Gum Lookout. Next day we walked up to and into the Pound and on to the first waterhole and chose to retrace our steps rather than wade/swim through a waterhole which blocked the route back through the Gorge. Many people did wade through the very chilly water but we weren't convinced it was best for us. Just on dusk from our van we could see a dingo outlined on a ridge above the camp howling, we presume for a mate. Most impressive, He must have had some success because there were two dingoes howling in harmony early next morning - sounded a bit like the Pomonal singers.

Now its Alice Springs - washing, cleaning, shopping, and also noisy, people, traffic and no dingoes. Still there are things to discover over the next few days.

Mighty Uluru

Stage 6: Coober Pedy - Erldunda 495km
               Erldunda - Yalara 250km

Weather: Mornings have been COLD 2-5degrees but 20's by 9 o'clock. Have not seen a cloud for 3 days!

Monday 14th May

Travelled all day under clear blue skies. At Coober Pedy we had been inundated by flies but the numbers  dropped off the further north we went. Reached Erldunda mid afternoon.

Tuesday 15th - early start, reached Yalara and set up by lunchtime. Spent the afternoon at Uluru. It is so good to be back here. This is my 6th visit but only Merilyn's 2nd - the last was with the family in 1985. Four of my visits were with 40 teenagers after having sat in a bus with them for 3 long days of travel so were not quite as relaxed as this visit. The rock of course has not changed, still immense, inspiring and awesome. Around the rock however there are some changes and I see them as necessary and positive. Tracks are well defined and they insist you stay on them, there are boardwalks over fragile areas, there is very good signage explaining the significance of features to the aboriginal people and also detailing plant and animal species, and there is an attractive and very informative Cultural Centre about 2km from the rock. The freedom to roam which was there when we explored the area in 1985 has gone but to this had to happen because of the impact of the huge number of visitors the area attracts. We started our visit at the Cultural Centre which was interesting and very well presented, and walked from there to the rock to on the Liru Walk (4km return), continuing on to the Mala Walk (2km return) which took us to Kantju Gorge, an inspiring place.

                         From Merilyn's diary  '...The Gorge is a place for silence and stillness with its sheer walls towering above and the golden hue of the rocks surrounding us. There was water in the plunge pool too....'   After this we watched the Sunset at the rock from the new, more efficient, viewing area.

Wednesday 16th May
 A wonderful day at Kata Tjuta (The Olgas). Picnic lunch, 7km circuit walk (sometimes difficult) in the Valley of the Winds with 2 excellent lookouts. Everywhere we have been the vegetation has been lush, some plants flowering, water in some pools, and some colourful birds. The road approach to the walk was much easier than it was in 1985 when we took the XD Ford around the back of the Olgas on a 4WD track. Now its only a few k's on a bitumen road. The other main difference is the number of people, we saw busloads. The Kata Juta domes are just delightful.

Mining Country

Stage 5: Woomera - Coober Pedy

Distance: 368 km

Weather: Fine and warm (low 20's)

Thursday 10th May
We had decided to stay in Woomera instead of Roxby Downs as originally planned because the camping fees were $25 cheaper per night. We still wanted to see the area so we left early and travelled firstly to Andamooka. We spent over an hour walking through the historic huts in the main street and having a short browse at opals in the P.O. We were amazed at the lodgings used by opal miners from the 1930's to the 1960's when Mrs Perry's kitchen finally closed. All of the huts were built using a rock bank as the back wall. We were amused to see the privvies perched behind the houses on top of the rock bank. It was a vey interesting, somewhat ramshackle town with quite a community feel about it and hardly any tourists. Frontier Services run the Health Centre/hospital.

After lunch we did an above ground tour of the Olympic Dam mine leaving from Roxby Downs, a modern town of 5,000 built for mine workers and their families. It was quite amazing and such a contrast to Andamooka where individuals dig mines on a 100m by 50m claim hoping to find their fortune in opals - few do. At Olympic Dam, 250 workers do 12 hour shifts, 5 days on then 5 days off, helping BHP Billiton  shareholders (us) supplement their income. Ore is mined from which they produce copper, gold, silver and uranium yellowcake - all done on site. The mine is underground - 35 km of tunnels and workshops, a trainline and massive equipment. The proposed mine expansion is mind blowing. An open cut 3km by 7km and 1km deep. A town for 10,000. New docks at Port Augusta and a rail line linking to the main line at Woomera. It will mean a lot to S.A. if it gets the go ahead.

Friday 11th May

An early start and we arrived at 'Riba's Caravan Park in Coober Pedy in time for lunch. About 5km out of town the office and residence are in a dugout. We did an on-site mine tour after tea. 

Coober Pedy is such an interesting/different place. Simlar in some ways to Andamooka but about 10 times bigger and really tuned in to tourism - opal shops everywhere, cafes and restaurants, heaps of accommodation and lots of mine and underground house tours. I quite like the uniqueness of the place but Merilyn finds the effect on the landscape somewhat depressing.

Saturday 12th and Sunday 13th

Merilyn the opal diviner

We were Coober Pedy Tourists. Enjoyed the underground historical display in the big Desert Cave Hotel complex, the Catholic church, the landscape of the Breakaways, and going to the Catacombs Church Service (Anglican) - bright and friendly.

Catholic Church

Typical House entry

Dingo fence

The Breakaways

Outback

Stage 3: Adelaide via Mambray Creek to Woomera

Total Distance: 609 km

Weather: fine and warm! 26 - 28  degrees C

 Tuesday 8th May

In a way this feels like the beginning of the holiday. We had morning tea in our 'usual' place at Port Wakefield with its lovely stone cottages. Lunch and a walk at Crystal Brook - our first visit to that town. The weather was very hot and windy with lots of raised dust and billowing smoke from a bushfire in the Lower Flinders Ranges - it felt like summer. We called in at Port Germain and walked the pier which took 40mins and then on to Mambray Creek Campground in Mount Remarkable N. P, a favourite place we can thoroughly recommend to travellers along Highway 1. A short stroll, book reading and tea. The wind dropped, the silence is deafening!

Contemplating the walk back

Bushfire in Lower Flinders

Mambray Creek

                                                                     Wednesday 9th May
Left early, turned right at Port Augusta and headed up the Stuart Highway, with lots of other grey nomads - we are going to have to get used to the crowds. Gibber plains, road trains, salt lakes, blue skies and wide open spaces - feels good. After settling in and lunching at Woomera we did the town on our bikes - 1st ride a whole 7 km. A lot of rockets and weapons history.

Island Lagoon

Woomera Sunset