Day 103 Alice Springs
Well I should start with an apology for yesterday’s blog. I
really should do the blog first, then have a
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| John Flynns resting place |
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| Strandley Gorge |
drink. The old Cointreau had a big
effect. I am blaming being dehydrated when I started the first one…. Well
that’s my excuse and I am sticking to it. Tonight I starting with a big glass
of Rum and Pepsi with lots of ice (go the ice machine), see how this goes
whilst I am blogging.
Today the weather decided to moderate and we headed out to
the West MacDonnell Ranges. On the way we passed yet another Memorial to John
Flynn of the RFDS, this one was different in that it was where his ashes are,
tucked under one of the Devils Marbles brought here for him. We started at
Standley Chasm. The walk there is not disable friendly so Maureen had to do
that one.
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| Strandley Gorge |
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| Strandley Gorge |
She said it was a beautiful walk both in and out. It is interesting
to see more tourists now that we have left the orth. The numbers are still low,
but there are more. The low numbers are good in that the places are not crowded
but enough so that Maureen is not on her own. There are some keen little
walkers who power into the walks and then power out. Maureen took about an hour
and that seemed about average but some were in and out in 30 minutes. Maureen reckons
they were not looking as they went and missed all the sights on the way, a bit
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| Strandley Gorge |
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| Maureen at Strandley Gorge |
of the old, get to point A then look, then back to point B. never mind, their
loss.
From there we headed towards Hermansburg. I thought it was
on the road to the other places, but it was off on a side road and nowhere near
where we wanted to go, just shows how important reading a map can be! We decided
to have a quick lunch and then back track to the gorges. Maureen had cooked some sausages last night and I had a Camel Date sausage, well a Camel and Date sausage, the other just sounds awful. We had thought about
going to Hermansburg as it was often mentioned as a kicking off point for
explorers but that that much to make a 160km return trip.
We went to the next stop at Ellery Creek Big Hole, yep, imaginative
naming group again. It was advertised as having a walk and a swimming hole –
hence the name Big Hole. We unloaded the
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| View from lookout |
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| Maureen at lookout |
Beast and headed off. 250m later, dead
end. The walk went to the water hole, the walk is not Beast friendly so a bit
disappointed. We loaded up again and headed off again. We drove the 40ks to a
lookout, Mt Sonder lookout to be precise and it was well worth the drive. If you
do not do any of the walks, this makes up for it. From the lookout, you have
this lovely billabong right in front of you then some woodland area
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| Billabong down front |
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| Standing Granite wall |
with heaps
of lovely ghost gum like trees, then you have this vista that includes all the
different types of ranges and formations we saw on the way out. We stopped
there and had afternoon tea. This spot alone made the day worthwhile! We wanted
to make one more stop on the way home (110kms away) at Ormaston Gorge. We pulled
in at about 4:30 but the walks looked unfriendly foe me so we hot footed out
and headed back to
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| Billabong, granite and Range |
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| Cuppa at Lookout |
Alice Springs. As I said before, the drive alone is worth
the trip, the changing light highlights stuff differently than on the way out.
We hit town and went to ANZAC Hill to watch the sun set. Again
there were groups of people there, but not that many that it was crowded. We watched
the sun set and again enjoyed the view of Alice Springs. We went to
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| Sunset ANZAC Hill Alice Springs |
the shops
on the way back to Girt as they are open here until midnight and filled up on
petrol and gas. Tomorrow we head for Ayers Rock. Seems funny that tomorrow we
will watch the sun set over the rock.
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