A Town Called Alice

The sun is shining, and it's been a beautiful 26 degrees here in Alice Springs today.  Sorry to all of you stuck in colder climes, but it's so nice the lilly-white Victorian legs came out for an airing today for the first time, and it's been fabulous.

We've spent the past few days in Alice Springs, having come into town on Monday.  We had previously spent nearly a week in the bush, between towns, and a shower was very welcome, let me tell you.

Back-tracking though, to the Finke Gorge National Park.  This park lies west of Alice Springs, and we spent a wonderful few days meandering through it, experiencing all it had to offer.  We enjoyed the peace and absolute silence (except for a local water bird that squawked into the night) of our Finke River campsite.  The bush is so lush at this time, that there's something to see everywhere.

After leaving our river bed campsite, we completed the Finke Gorge 4WD track, heading north, and emerging at Hermannsburg.  The journey of only about 40km took us about 3 hours, crossing the dry river bed again and again as we made our way north.

We decided to leave exploring Hermannsburg for the way out and make our way straight to the campground at Palm Valley, as we'd read that it could get busy at this time of year, and we wanted to be certain of getting a site.  We needn't have worried, because as we arrived at just about midday, the campground was almost deserted and we had our choice of where we wanted to camp.  So deserted in fact, that a dingo was casually scouting around to see what he could scrounge.

It was a beautiful afternoon, and after we had lunch, we set up camp, and had a well-earned "lazy" afternoon, sitting in the sun  and reading.  The view from our campsite was so distracting, that more often than not, I found myself just sitting looking, rather than reading my book. 

We were surrounded by the red escarpment of the valley, and when the sun hit in the late afternoon, the cliffs glowed in the light.

 

  

We spent a couple of very pleasant days at Palm Valley.  I would recommend it to anyone who travels this way.  The sign at the start of the road in reads "Extreme 4WD road.  High clearance vehicles only".  We drove the 18km to the campground and wondered what they were going on about, but the final 4km from the campground into the valley itself was a different story - very slow going over rocks, washouts, river beds etc.  Great fun!!!

 

We walked the Mpulungkinya (Mool-ung-kin-yah) walk the next morning, taking about two and half hours to scout round the escarpment (I love that word - so much better than ridge, or cliff) and back into Palm Valley.  I know I'm using the word magical a lot, but really, there's no other word to describe this country.  It's breathtaking. 

 

Doug on the top of the escarpment overlooking Palm Valley

 

Down in the valley floor


 After recent rains, part of the walk was covered by the creek, and the choice was either to wade through knee-high water or cling to a cliff face and slide across.  Doug chose the cliff face option, and I tried to follow, but bottled it half-way over.  I just imagined falling backwards into the water and getting more than my feet wet.  Julie Anderson, I thought of you, as I clung to a rock face with absolutely no hand-holds, but it did me no good.  I retreated, took off my boots and socks and walked through.  Sorry, no photos, but seeing me stuck to the side of a rock face would have been kind of funny!

 

Another walk we did took us up to a look out point high above our campsite, looking down the valley.  The climb was easy enough to where the look out was, but Doug decided he needed to go higher.  Along the lines of "if they build it, they will come", this was "they've put this rock here, they must want to you climb it"!!.

 

Doug's view from the rock

 

My view of Doug

 

The rock from the ground




We left our Palm Valley campsite and travelled back through to Hermannsburg, stopping to look round the old mission buildings that form part of the community there.  Hermannsburg was the first settlement in the Northern Territory back in the late 1800's, originally established by the Lutheran Church.  It ran, on and off, as a mission until the late 1960's.  It's now a historic collection of old buildings and a museum, outlining the work of the mission.  The Lutherans didn't regard the indigenous people as inferior or 'savages'; their concern was for their souls after death, hoping to attract them to Christianity in the hope of offering them an after-life.  The mission survives today with the help of volunteer workers who staff the gallery and tea-rooms and work on maintaining the buildings in exchange for free camping.  It would be a good way to spend a month or two.

 

The "Meat House" at Hermannsburg

 

The old fence outside the tea-rooms (killer scones by the way)







 

After exploring Hermannsburg for an hour or two, we made the short journey into Alice and headed straight for the caravan park we'd booked into.  Although they're not really our choice of campsite, the Stuart Caravan Park in Alice has great facilities, isn't noisy and suited us for a couple of days.  We got the washing done, did a bit of maintenance on the vehicle and camper, did a bit of shopping and then enjoyed the sunshine and read our books.  It also gave us that chance to catch up with the kids after being out of contact until now.  It's good to know the house is still in one piece and they're getting along ok (contrary to what people might try and tell us, Warren and Darren!!).

 

Today, with all the chores done, we took ourselves off to the Desert Park, which was just being established the last time we were here (14 years ago).  It offers people, in a snap-shot environment, the opportunity of understanding the various regions that can be found in this part of Australia.  Although we were familiar with the different landscapes, having travelled through most of the different regions on the way to Alice, it was a chance for us to get answers to questions we had had on the way (what type of tree is that? - what's that bird? -  why is the rock formed that way?  etc etc).  It's very much aimed at the tourist market, but we enjoyed our visit, if for nothing else but the wildflowers and birds on display.

 

 

 

 



While taking a look through the Nocturnal House, we chanced upon our relative - a slippery little character, although beautifully marked.  Just goes to show - don't muck with a Ramsay!

 

 

Our visit to the Desert Park proved to be one of the few chances of spotting wildlife our entire trip, so far.  It's been something that we've wondered about for nearly two weeks.  There has been so little wildlife seen from the roads, and only a couple of encounters with "Derek" the Dingo at our campsite in Palm Valley.  Not even road-kill on the sides of the roads.  Oh well, maybe further north.

Tomorrow we leave Alice and head up the Tanami towards the Kimberley.  This is the real start of our trip.  We'll be heading from Halls Creek to Purnululu National Park, and from there to Broome via Fitzroy Crossing, so will probably be out of reception for about two weeks.  More updates will follow after that, including our trip to the Horizontal Falls for my birthday.

And by the way, after a couple of quiet days, we're only up to "P" in the song list.  I'm sure three days on the Tanami will sort that!!!