A town like Alice

We’ve come to the end of our week in Alice Springs, but we’re still here! A small problem with the ute has arisen which can’t be dealt with until next Monday, so we gain an extra five days in this beautiful town.

Last Friday we drove out along Namatjira Drive to the far end of the spectacular West MacDonnell Ranges and began working our way back to Alice. Amongst other natural wonders, we visited Redbank Gorge where we walked along the mostly dry creek bed to the end of the gorge, which rewarded us with magnificent views of rich red rock walls, with the fallen rocks on the floor coloured in purples, blues and silver. At Ormiston Gorge we again admired the rugged red rock walls and white-trunked gum trees reflected in the pools of water. Serpentine Gorge is another magnificent spot where we also took a steep climb to the top of a hill for expansive views of the gorge. By this time daylight was running out and we still had 100km to drive back to Alice, so we called it a day.

Redbank Gorge

Ormiston Gorge

On Saturday morning we visited the School of the Air, the first to be established, in 1951, which bills itself as ‘the world’s largest classroom’, covering more than 1.3 million square kilometres. We learned of its history, from students using pedal radios to communicate with their teachers to the current day use of satellites and computers, and watched a class in action, albeit via video as there were no classes running on the day. In the afternoon Rod visited the National Road Transport Hall of Fame, which features a Truckie’s Hall of Fame – a tribute to the men, women and machines of the road transport industry – and a Kenworth Truck Museum. Meanwhile Julie went to the Old Gaol to look through the National Pioneer Women’s Hall of Fame, which features the stories of pioneering Central Australian women and over 100 Australian women who were pioneers in their field.

Road Transport Hall of Fame

On Monday we headed out along Larapinta Drive to the old Lutheran Finke River Mission at Hermannsburg, where we looked through the historic stone buildings and gained a sense of life in a late 19^th century mission community. A gallery contained many of Albert Namatjira’s watercolour landscapes of his magnificent country, as well as paintings by his children and others. Rod then let down the tyres before we continued along a 4WD track which followed the Finke River bed to the Palm Valley campground, where we set up the tent before tackling the challenging rocky track, including several water crossings, into Palm Valley. There we took a walk through the unique palm-filled gorge before returning to the campground, Rod now a fully-fledged 4WDer! After a successful night camping in the tent we returned to Hermannsburg and reinflated the tyres, then on the way back to Alice we completed the West McDonnells, calling into Standley Chasm, a narrow gap in the range with spectacular sheer red rock walls, and Simpson’s Gap, another picturesque river bed running through a gorge of massive and rugged rock walls.

Old Church Hermannsburg

Palm Valley

Finke River

Standley Chasm

The nights have turned quite chilly but in compensation we’ve enjoyed some beautiful sunny days, and look forward to another one tomorrow for the Alice Springs Show, a bonus or us now that we’re staying on a little longer.