May 6-7 Uluru

We drove from Alice Springs towards Uluru. We only made a bit over half way and stopped overnight at Mt Ebenezer. Nothing much at Mt Ebenezer, except for a roadhouse and campiong ground. It wins the prize (so far) for the most expensive petrol in Australia - $2:20/l for unleaded and $2:50/l for diesel. Fortunately, we had filled up at a previous stop, where we paid $1.88/l and thought that was bad. In hindsight, not so bad. Met some interesting folks over dinner at the BBQ area. Tamworth lady with 17yo Italian exchange student Enrico, and Kevin who lectured in Computer Science at RMIT for 10 years.

We set up camp at the Yalara resort. It's expensive at $41/night; but it is the best park we have stayed at. So we don't begrudge the premium (too much). The whole complex looks extremely well planned and seems to operate efficiently.

The rock is in a national park, of course, and dogs are not allowed. So we left the dogs in the caravan and went to see the sunset views of the rock. The view of the rock was good, however the sunset was disappointing - went straight from a yellow sun to grey. No orange, red or pink in the clouds at all. Correspondingly, the rock just went from orange to dull brown. Oh well. We arrived back at our camp site to the melodic tunes of 2 dogs howling and barking. Bugger! OK, so they can't be trusted on their own. Lucky we warned our neighbours before we left. But another disappointment.

The next morning, I got up early and ventured off on my own to see the sunrise views of the rock, while Jude stayed behind with the dogs and also had a bit of a sleep in. What sunrise? There was no sun this morning. Disappointed again. Never mind, still got to spend a couple of hours walking to a few points of interest around the rock and circumnavigated the rock by car. I reckon that's not a bad way of seeing it anyway. The rock climb was closed yesterday and again today. Not too upset about that though. On the positive side, there were hardly any flies around at the rock. That was a pleasant consequence of  overcast skies. Jude has gone off separately to do a similar quick tour of the rock.

NOT Ayer's Rock. Mt Connor, which you see about 100km out from Yalara

Spike at Mt Comnnor

The dogs at the rock lookout from the campground

Judith at the rock



Robert at the rock

 

The rest of the crowd at the rock

More crowds just waiting for the sunset

May 4 Ruby's Birthday

Even though Ruby's birthday is actually May 5, we arranged to celebrate it with her on the day before. (Something about wanting to go out with friends and drink legally for the first time when she actually turns 18...)

We went to the Hanuman Thai/Indian Restaurant, which is located at the Crowne Plaza Hotel. Arguably the best place to eat in Alice Springs. That doesn't sound like a big rap, but it is a very good restaurant with lovely food.

After that we went out to the Melbourne (yes Melbourne) Comedy Festival show that toured Alice springs for 2 nights. Saw Bob Franklin and Hannah Gadsby amongst others. Was a good show and very funny.

And now we have a second adult daughter who we can be very proud of. I have to say that now before I hear about what happens this week when she hits the night clubs(?) and bars of Alice Springs.

Dear Ruby, I dedicate this blog update to you!

Ruby @ 18

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Ruby @ 16

Ruby @ 11

May 3 West MacDonnell Ranges

On Tuesday, our tour guide daughter took us on a marvellous trip to explore the West MacDonnell Ranges. Ruby was fortunate to have been on a coach tour of this area a couple of weeks ago, so we got to enjoy a similar trip and she even remembered some of the stories that were told by the tour guide.

First stop today was Simpson's Gap. As the name suggests, this is a "gap" in the mountain range. The place is beautiful. Very hard to capture the size of the rocks and the all-round vistas.

Judith & Ruby walk in to Simpson's Gap

Getting closer and gap looks narrower

The views are almost as good looking away from the gap

Next stop is Ruby's favourite - Ellory Creek Big Hole. This is another beautiful place that magically appears from the rugged landscape and provides a swimming hole. There are very good facilities here also for picnicing and camping, although no dogs are allowed. Don't say anything, but we snuck our dogs in and no-one noticed. Just quietly, we do the same again when we visit more National Parks in the NT.

Ellery Creek Big Hole

Not quite swimming weather but Ruby was brave to venture in to her ankles

Just beautiful...and the scenery's not bad either

What a clever daughter...

The dogs enjoy the picnic facilties

After Ellery Creek we drove on toward Ormiston Gorge. There is also Glen Helen, but Ruby was less impressed with that place so we set off for Ormiston. Along the way we saw a sign for a turn-off to Serpentine Gorge. That sounds nice, we thought. So we turned off onto a dirt road. It was a rough and rocky road. We persevered for maybe 1km and then gave up and turned back for the main road. There were no signs about the road at the entrance, however when coming back the other way later there was an advisory sign saying the road was not suitable for caravans. I would like to add that it is also unsuitable for Mazda 121s. We drove on to Ormiston Gorge.

It was worth the drive. Another stunning rock surrounded water hole. This place was even bigger than the previous places we had seen. We noted good camping and picnic facilties again as well, although sadly they also did not want to let our dogs in. Maybe we will come back another time and enjoy staying at this place when we don't have to worry about the dogs.

Ormiston Gorge

Ruby on the rock siding to the gorge

More views of the gorge, and Ruby

This is a picture of the reflection off the water
No alterations were made to this photograph, I even held my camera up-side-down to take the photo.

Woops, I forgot about one of the stops, which was Standley's Chasm. Another remarkable place with staggering views of huge sheer rocky walls and a narrow opening between them.

The lovely walk into Standley Chasm

Mother and daughter enjoying the walk and the surroundings

Huge rocky cliffs in the background

And here's the chasm!

Still the naughty one...

Ruby using her charm

May 2 Alice Springs

Monday May 2 was a public holiday in Alice Springs. They had a few events on, but the weather was unusually overcast and we were too lazy to get along to any crowded events. Instead, we had a relaxing day checking out a few places close to "home".

We had a brief look at the Desert Park. An interesting place, if also a little over-priced, to learn more about Central Australia.

Alice Springs Desert Park - note the heavy clouds

The famous and beautiful Sturt Desert Pea

We took some photos at Honeymoon Gap, which is just around the corner from the caravan park.

Ruby at Honeymoon Gap

Ruby with her dog Spike

And again, against the backdrop of Honeymoon Gap

Judith with her dog Princess

Whilst it was dull and overcast for most of the day, there was an exciting outbreak of sun just before sunset. A nice way to end the day.

Sun on the range at our camp site

May 1 Hermannsburg

Our tour guide daughter had 3 days off so we got to discover some of the sites surrounding Alice Springs. On the first day, we decided to drive out to Hermannsburg. This is an old missionary town that was set up by the Lutheran church in 1877. It is about 150km west of Alice. Makes you wonder how they got out to this place at the time. The driving around Alice is very pretty and interesting. There are always rocky, rugged moutain ranges on the horizon, more often then not in all directions.

First stop along the way was the memorial for John Flynn - the founder of the Royal Flying Doctor Service.

The John Flynn monument

We drove for an hour or so before arriving at Hermannsburg. Perhaps the most famous resident of Hermannsburg was Albert Namatjira, an aboriginal water colour landscape painter. Just outside of the town, there is a monument to this great artist.

Monument to Albert Namatjira

Princess takes in the views of the landscape that inspired Albert Namatjira

The old missionary buildings of Hermannsburg were interesting, but probably not justification to drive the distance from Alice Springs as a sole destination. But we spent a little time wandering through them and learning of some of the hard and harsh times that were experienced in setting up and running the mission.

The old church building at the Hermannsburg mission

Ruby & Judith checking out the old buildings

Ruby framed in a window of an old dormitory room in Hermannsburg

A small population still resides in the town of Hermannsburg. Being mostly aboriginal, we were restricted where we could drive and where I could take photos. However, I did sneak in a couple of photos.

The grandstand at a local footy match in Hermannsburg

Mr Whippy actually visits Hermannsburg!