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Ellery Creek Gorge - looking into the gorge |
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| Ellery Creek Gorge Bighole - across to the shady side |
A GORGEus day indeed as we left from Alice Springs and
headed west to our ultimate destination for the day - Glen Helen Gorge via a series of other
spectacular gorges in the West
MacDonnell Ranges. All of these gorges were located on the
Larapinta Trail, a walking trail which stretches 227 km from Redbank Gorge to
Alice Springs – now that is some serious walking!
Heading west along the Namatjira Drive we first called in to
Standley Chasm only to find that we needed to pay $10 each for the privilege of
walking to the chasm which is not part of the National Park but rather
privately run. After talking to some people who had made the trek we decided to
save our money and look forward to other experiences as they said it certainly
wasn’t worth it.
Therefore it was back in the car and west to Ellery Creek
Bighole which was just spectacular (and free to visit). An easy walk down to
the permanent water hole which was absolutely freezing according to our
subtropical Bundaberg bodies.
Serpentine Gorge was the next stop with a smaller, still
freezing water hole after quite a long, hot walk. On the way back to the car we
had the choice of retracing our steps or following the dry creek bed. In honour
of Michael who always wanted to blaze his own trail we decided to bushbash
along the creek.
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| Glen Helen Gorge - a permanent waterhole |
We arrived at Glen Helen Gorge Resort ( we use the
term loosely – it has a pool so that must be the deciding factor) to have lunch
and set up camp. We decided that having lunch next to the sheer escarpment of
the gorge under the shade of a ghost gum came third in order of our favourite
lunch spots – 1st was hotdogs at Cradle Mountain and 2nd
was brushing the snow off the table to sit down for lunch on Mount Buffalo.
Glen Helen Gorge is the only north facing waterhole which means that it is
warmer (still darn cold, but we did get more wet).
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| Ormiston Gorge - when the wind died down the reflections were like a mirror |
After setting up we backtracked to Ormiston Gorge late in
the afternoon and were greeted with high red sheer cliff faces coming down to
water like a mirror. Even though there were a couple of other families there,
it felt like we were the only people in the world, such was the peace.
Tomorrow we leave the bitumen to travel on the Mereenie Loop
road heading for Kings Canyon. This road travels through Watarrka National Park
and we have our travel permit to pass through Aboriginal land.
This post was done under trying circumstances using the wifi at Glen Helen Gorge Resort - I think there is actually a hampster out the back pedalling it is going so slow and we had to pay for it also.
Love to all S & E
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