Day 134 - Thursday 11 May - The East MacDonnell Ranges

Day 134

Thursday

11 May 2017

Alice Springs – Trephina Gorge

8.30am, that is more like it. Actually we couldn’t believe we both slept that long.  That being said, we didn’t crawl out til 9am, happy to read for a while. When we heard Bruce and Denise pull out, we figured we should get our selves up and motivated.

We ate breakfast and pottered around. We were going to do our washing, but every man and his dog had the same idea so we figured we would wait. We took off into town so I could check out the old Stuart Town Gaol, the red Sturt Desert Pea plants I had seen along the main road median strip and then the Hartley Street School. 

We paid our $2 each and went into the school, checking out the octagonal building. It was quite amusing reading the stories and checking out the paraphernalia. 

We did a quick shop and began making our way back to the car when I ran into an ex Clarkson Primary colleague, Leanne Lampard. We chatted for a bit, surprised that we would bump into each other on the main street of Alice, it was very amusing, especially as we are also at the same caravan park.

After our brief reunion, we returned to the car and then the van. We packed up our lunch and needed items and then made the 75km drive out into the East MacDonnell Ranges, stopping at Trephina Gorge.

Once we pulled off the main road, we had to travel on about 5km of dirt before we arrived at the gorge picnic area. We took out our lunch and found a picnic table under shade to eat. We chatted to a bloke who was camping in his tent after he and his wife had ridden their motorbikes along the Plenty Hwy from QLD.

After lunch we began our walk, opting to complete the 2km gorge circuit. 

We followed the path up over the rocks to the rim and then began a more sedate scramble over the large flat rocks. From here we had a good view back into the gorge that was mostly dry.

We descended into the gorge on the other side and walked along the riverbed. There was a small pool of water, but you wouldn’t want to swim in it. We continued along the sand before arriving back at the car and making our way back towards home.

We stopped in at Jessie Gap, about 15 min from the park. There wasn’t a lot to see. There was a sign saying rock art, but we couldn’t find it. We made our way back to the city, collecting some things we had forgotten at Woolies and buying an extra fly net before returning to the park to relax. The internet was up, so I was able to add all the pics, while I also sorted the ones from today.  

It was lovely sitting outside, enjoying the sun and a few cheeky cheese and crackers. We watched the 28 parrots come in for a drink and when it got too cold and the mozzies began buzzing, we retreated to the van once again.

We made our dinner and ate and I continued to add things to the computer until the net disappeared again. About 20min later I realised it was actually a power cut, but as our lights are 12v they kicked in and we had no idea.

We opted to go to bed instead and read. Paul wasn’t feeling 100% so he was happy to retire. It wasn’t until I jumped into bed and my engagement ring caught on the blanket that I realised that one of my diamonds had come lose and I was left with a gap. Bugger. I guess I will have to deal with that tomorrow.