The Red Centre Way

Black footed rock wallaby

Glen Helen Gorge

Orminston Gorge

It got quite cold in the early hours of the morning. We had some breakfast and started the pack up. The kids were a lot more helpful this morning. On the way out we stopped to do the Kalaranga lookout walk. The scenery of the surrounding sandstone amphitheatre was amazing. We saw a few lizards and a gorgeous black-footed rock wallaby. We continued driving along the rocky tracks and sandy bed of the Finke River back out to Larapinta Drive and had a quick drive through Hermannsburg, an Aborginal community. Originally set up as an outback Lutheran mission in 1877 there are a number of historical buildings but we weren't too keen to hang around. From the outside it seemed a scene of despair - whatever we are doing doesn't seem to be working for the Aboriginal community. We drove west again then headed north along Namatjira drive. Our next stop was a quick side trip to the Tnorala Conservation Reserve (Gosse Bluff) where we saw the remarkable ring of rugged hills formed by am ancient meteorite crater. The comet was believed to have hit the earth over 140 million years ago and measured over 600 metres in diameter. Now we were in the West Macdonnell Ranges N.P. We stopped for lunch at the Glen Helen Resort. We did the short walk to view Glen Helen Gorge and continued driving the short distance to Orminston Gorge. It was really hot. We were originally planning to stay the night here but after a quick inspection of the camp sites we all decided to spend the afternoon here and continue on to Alice Springs back to our van. We did the Ghost Gum Lookout walk (2.5km) for views down the gorge and a rock scramble back up the river beds to the waterholes where we had a swim. We got back to the car just after 5 and headed for Alice. Rick spotted a bearded dragon sitting in the middle of the road so we stopped for a closer look and get him off the road. When we arrived at the caravan park we got our van out of storage and set up.