Day 133
Wednesday
10 May 2017
Alice Springs – Hermannsburg – Tylers Pass – Glen Helen
Gorge – Ormiston Gorge – Ochre Pits – Travelling the West MacDonnell Ranges
7am is becoming a habit that I am not sure I can live with.
I slept somewhat better, but the scratching still managed to wake me at various
times throughout the night. Paul was up and out as soon as the alarm sounded. I
reluctantly followed. Once up and going it was easier to get motivated and we
were all packed and ready to head out at 7.50am. First we had to say goodbye to
Bruce and Denise and then we popped our heads in to Trev and Vi’s van, they
were nice enough to give us a pack of their own export grade beef mince, can’t
wait to have it for dinner.
With the formalities out of the way, we made our way to
Hermannsburg about 120km away along the Larapinta Drive. This was the site of
the Finke River Mission, set up by the German Lutheran missionaries back in the
1870’s. It is literally in the middle of nowhere and it really is unbelievable
that they came this far to preach to the Aboriginals about something that would
have been so far fetched. While I understand they thought they were doing good,
I can’t help think that it was a little patronising and they really didn’t stop
to listen to or see what the locals were already so proficient at, surviving.
Anyway, we wandered around the white washed buildings, most are not original to the first settlement, with many perishing for various reasons and being rebuilt. The blacksmiths, however still has its 1882 capstone.
When we had finished our wander, we stopped in at the
Strehlow’s house where meals are served and had our selves a delicious pastie
and a famed piece of apple strudel. Oh my goodness it was tasty.
We did a quick wander back through the old bakery, now the
entrance, checking out the various art; one piece was particularly striking,
but at $1900, I wasn’t coming home with it.
We returned to the car, followed the detour in place due to
the funeral and then made our way in the direction of Glen Helen Gorge. This
was a further hour along the loop road. 30km along we encountered a road plant
that meant 10km of dirt. While we were supposed to drive along the edge, Paul
slipped up on to the carefully graded dirt surface when there were no vehicles
about. We did pass a water truck spreading water to keep the dust down, only
for the car to pick up a few extra kilos of mud.
As our loop joined Namatjira Road and we began heading back
towards Alice, we returned to bitumen and continued our journey on a better
surface.
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| Mount Sonder |
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| Mount Sonder to the left |
We stopped at two spots along the way, Tyler’s Pass and
another lookout. From here we could see the land spread out before us. At
Tyler’s, it was quite lumpy looking and well coated in a layer of low grasses,
however at the next lookout, you had views of Mount Sonder and the curved
arches of the land were quite pronounced. There were also sections that looked
like the armour of an old stegosaurus.
From here it was a short drive into Glen Helen Gorge, making
it for 12.15pm. We found a place to park, checked out the caravan park and then
made our way to the edge of the gorge, where there was a pool of water. It was a beautiful view. We made our way to
the edge of the water, before fighting our way through the reeds to check out
the large waterhole between to rock faces. It looked very inviting.
We made our way back over the river sand to the car and then
drove on a further 11km to Ormiston Gorge. We stopped first for lunch and then
we made our way to the waterhole. It was just a magic spot. I was able to take
off my shoes and paddle my feet, as I sat on the rock edge. The little fish
darted between and under my feet as they splashed against the surface.
Ahh…heaven.
We did a walk up along the sandy bank and on to the rocks to
check out the gorge as it bent away from us. The patterns and colours in the
large pieces of stone were very intricate and colourful.
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| The lookout is at the top point of this rock |
We made our way back to the car park and then opted to walk
up to the lookout. It was a fair climb, but we made it easily and it provided a
wonderful view back over the gorge and the entry road, we even say Bruce and
Denise arrive.
We returned to the car and followed the road signs to the
Ochre pits. This was a short deviation, as the pits were only a few hundred
metres from the car park. Here there were all the colours of ochre used by the
indigenous people of the area. You are not allowed to take any of the ochre or
you risk a $5000 fine.
Once we had checked it out we were then ready to head on
home as it was a further 100km along the road.
We passed a number of other stops along the road that we
decided we would come back and do on another day as we didn’t want to rush
through. We eventually made it back by 4pm and automatically jumped into wind
down mode.
To our surprise Bruce and Denise returned to the park after
their drive around the Ranges rather than stay out there. We chatted for a
while, then I went for a shower, cleaned up and then we made our way to
Lasseters Casino for dinner. We were eager to have the lobster caeser salad
special for $18 with a drink.
Unfortunately it wasn’t enough so we ended up ordering squid and a mud
cake to finish it all off.
When we finished our dinner we made it back to the van. We
were happy to have another drink while I continued to work on the photos. We didn’t
stay up for long as we were both tired.
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