WEDNESDAY 6 OCTOBER 2021
Today the time has come to say farewell to Alice. Norm set out our itinerary for the drive down to the York Peninsular in South Australia. Before I tell about today’s ambles I need to tell you about our last big adventure in Alice Springs.
Last Monday, 4 October, we returned to the spectacular West MacDonnells for the day. We took the Western Loop drive via Namatjira Drive, out to Glen Helen, Gosse Bluff and then to the end of the Finke River Gorge near Hermannsburg. We then returned home via Larapinta Drive. Sadly time would not allow us to revisit all those fantastic places along the way that we remember, such as Ormiston Gorge and Ellery Big Hole or Hermannsburg.
In the early morning light the soaring cliff tops of the Heavitree Range were a deep reddish brown, with lighter highlights on some of the ridges. I always feel like I am really in the West Macs when I see those undulating curving waves such as in the last photo.
The views from the Point Howard Lookout were spectacular in all directions. Even Rosie took her time soaking up the amazing scenery.
Back on the road we continued past more of my favourite landscapes until suddenly there in the distance was our first glimpse of the beautiful Mount Sonder. There are many eye-catching watercolours of this mountain painted by Albert Namatjira.
Just past the turnofff into Glen Helen there is great lookout where you can see Mount Sonder as well as back to the Finke River at two mile camp.
Before calling in to Glen Helen for lunch, we took a short detour down to the beginning of the two mile camp area to get up close to the Finke. There were some sandy campsites there, with marvelous views of the river.
Since we last visited Glen Helen, it has changed hands and is now part of the Discovery Parks group. They only recently opened up again so we were lucky to be able to enjoy a sandwich and a beer on the back deck with the breath taking views across the Finke and to the Glen Helen Gorge.
The next attraction for us was the Gosses Bluff Meteor/Comet/Impact Crater. We paused at Tyler’s Pass to take in the distant views of the crater. Then we took the track inside the awesome crater, which is huge. The local indigenous people say that the crater was formed when a baby in it’s wooden cradle fell from the milky way while its mother was dancing. More information is in the document linked below:
Before we returned ‘home’ Norm wanted to drive into the Finke River Gorge for a short distance to revisit those spectatacular cliffs. We both have great memories of the trip we took with Laurie and Kate back in 2006 when we drove north from Finke on the SA/NT border and roughly followed part of the track taken by the Finke Desert Race Event. (Very roughly when we drove along the remains of the old Ghan Railway track!). We camped overnight beside the Finke River and followed it all the way to Hermannsberg. Below is a link to a slide show from that time, the Finke photos are about 4 minutes in.
AND NOW TO TODAY: ALICE SPRINGS TO KULGERA (THE LAST PUB IN THE NT HEADING SOUTH)
As we drove through the Heavitree Gap and out of the Alice, the police were busily engaged on the opposite side of the road conducting breathalyser tests. It was 9.30 AM! They had a long queue of customers and it looked like several had been pulled over for some misdemeanour or other. Oh the excitement of the Territory. In no time we were driving down the long straight road heading south. We had a north easterly tail wind gently assisting our progress.
By the time we were driving past the Waterhouse Ranges the wind had shifted to a north westerly gale, blowing up dust and sending rolly polys racing across our bow. We stopped for an early picnic lunch beside the Finke River.
Back on the Stuart Highway again, we chased storm clouds all the way to Kulgera.
It was sunny when we arrived however shortly after, the skies darkened, thunder roared above and it started to rain – the first real rain for months. During the afternoon we experienced everything from sunshine, rainbows, storms and clear skies. A freezing cold south westerly then blew the storms away. We joined several of our fellow campers at the pub for dinner. The bar was decorated with all manner of underwear hanging from the ceiling. I wondered if the bras and things belonged to the owners of the shoes hanging on the hills hoist out near the fuel bowsers.
ON THE ROAD 