The West MacDonnell Ranges

(Magyar összefoglaló a végén)

Rev. John Flynn's grave

Friday, 14 Sep, Alice Springs - After a second round of tests, our serviceman found out that the problem with our fridge is the thermostat, but they don't have it in stock, it will have to be ordered from the supplier (Dometic), and who knows how long it will take to get it here. Not good news, but in the meantime the fridge is now working on full strength by bypasing the thermostat. We'll see what happens next week when we come back.

Simpson's Gap

Walking to Simpson's Gap

In the morning we went out to the West Mac-Donnell Ranges to visit the two closest attractions. Simpson's Gap is just 17 kms from the town. There is an easy 20-min walk from the car park to the gap between two impressive steep rough rock faces where Roe creek passes through the mountain range. The creek bed is mostly dry, but there was some water in a few lower holes. We obeyed the signs and resisted the temptation to swim...

Standley Chasm

Standley Chasm is a further 20 km away, a narrow gap carved into the sandstone by the Finke river. Another 20-minute walk leads up to the chasm along the riverbed surrounded by lush dark green vegetation, very different from the area outside this valley. Some of them, like the cycad palms, are remainders from a long-gone wetter era. There was some water streaming down between the rocks. The Chasm itself is quite short and narrow, about 4-5 m wide, but very impressive between the 80 m high reddish vertical walls. We were there exactly at the right time, around 11 am when the sun starts to light up one side and the reflection the other, and were lucky to be alone in the gap. Two busloads of tourists arrived just when we left, they would have a very different experience in there.
In the afternoon back in Alice we went for another walk around the town centre, looking for the old Stuart Town Gaol (not very impressive), then went shopping to fill up our reserves for the next few days.

Glen Helen Resort

Saturday, 15 Sep, Glen Helen Resort - We came out to this place in the morning, about 130 km from Alice Springs, along the Namatjira Drive. This is at the West end of the West MacDonnell Ranges. The "resort" is at an old homestead, just beside Glen Helen Gorge, at the foot of an impressive vertical red rock wall. While it does not live up to the image one would normally associate with the word "resort", it is quite a nice place apart from the dusty barren campground, but that's acceptable in the desert.  

The restaurant at Glen Helen Resort

This will be our base camp for the next few days, to discover the attractions in the surrounding area.

Glen Helen Gorge

We got here by 10.30, so we had enough time to go down to the Gorge, only a 15-minute walk from the homestead. This gorge is one of several along the Finke River which starts not far from here and goes down 700 kms to the Simpson Desert. Of course most of the time it is just a dry riverbed, but there are several permanent waterholes along the way, one of them right here, across the gorge. 

It was interesting to see quite a lot of water, surrounded by reeds and many birds, ducks and cormorants, and they say there are nine species of native desert fish in the water. For this reason we could only get to the entrance of the gorge, but we spent some time just watching the birds and the water, a nice quiet place.

Mt Sonder

After lunch we went on a tour, first stopping at the nearby lookout. The main attraction is Mt Sonder, the fourth highest mountain in Central Australia, 1300+ m high, but all around the scenery is very pretty, with the Finke river just below the lookout (and quite a lot of water in it), and the MacDonnell Ranges on both sides. 

Redbank Gorge

Then we went to Redbank Gorge, an even narrower and more exotic gorge than the Glen Helen. This one is also full of very cold water, so we just sat around the entrance and enjoyed the view and the many colours of the rough rock faces. 

Rock colours

In  full gear

While travelling in the outback, one thing I was surprised about so far was the lack of flies. Not any more. From what I read and heard about the outback I expected a continuous torment from flies, and so far there was nothing like that. Now it seems they woke up with the warmth of spring, and started to be a nuisance when walking. Fortunately we were well prepared for this attack, and now were happy to put on our fly-protection screens and just laugh at them from behind.

A rock wallaby

Just in front of the gorge we also saw a black-footed rock wallaby, sitting immobile on a rock of almost the same colour as her skin, so it was very hard to recognise it. It is a very rare and endangered animal, we were glad to see one. We also saw a dingo, sitting just a few metres from us passing by and scratching fervently, seemingly very much used to humans; not such a good sight.

Serpentine Gorge from the lookout

Sunday, 16 Sep, Glen Helen Resort - We did a lot of "work" today. First we went to Serpentine Gorge, about 40 km back towards Alice Springs. The walking track to the gorge is about 1.3 km, an easy walk, but then we climbed up to a lookout, which was a bit harder, but the wonderful view we got up there was worth the effort. We also saw another rock wallaby sunning very close on a rock ledge, it was cute. Back down, we walked to the entrance of the gorge, again blocked by a deep waterhole so we could only appreciate the view from that point. 

Serpentine Gorge

The Big Hole

Next we went to the Ellery Creek Big Hole, a very popular wide waterhole, with lots of people coming out from Alice Springs, especially on a Sunday morning. Some brave people, Germans obviously, ventured into the cold water, for us it was enough to take in the view.

The Ochre Pits

On the way back we stopped at the Ochre Pits, a very nice spot where a range of colourful ochre walls are visible at the side of a creek. It is an important place for aboriginals mining the ochre and taking it to all over Central Australia. 

Ochre Pits

The choir in Ormiston Gorge

After lunch we went to Ormiston Gorge, where a local acapella choir from Alice Springs, Asante Sana, gave a performance as part of the Alice Springs Desert Festival. They sang mostly South African songs, with an enthusiastic black choirmaster from Melbourne who comes here for a few months every winter to lead the choir. The setting was very nice, the high walls of the gorge creating a natural amphitheatre with good acoustics above a central waterhole. This is quite a large gorge, with lots more to see, we'll have to come back tomorrow to discover the rest of it.

Ormiston Gorge from above

Monday, 17 Sep, Glen Helen Resort - We went back to Ormiston Gorge this morning. First we climbed up to a lookout with stunning views of the gorge, the creek and the surrounding mountains. We came down on the opposite side which led down to the gorge itself. This one is quite long and although there is a lot of water in it at several ponds, one can get through the rocks sandy creekbed. The rocks has an amazing variety of forms, textures and colours, we could never had enough to see. It was a good and relatively easy walk and a very enjoyable place. 

Ormiston Gorge

We were back at the resort by 11, and spent the rest of the day just doing nothing and enjoying the view of that impressive read vertical wall in front of us. In the evening we listened to the live music in the lounge of the homestead/resort, a one-man show of guitar and singing. A guy of around 50 years from Adelaide, a high school guitar teacher, he was a good guitar player, not as good but passable as singer, and his repertoire was enjoyable. A pleasant finish to our stay at Glen Helen.

The Lutheran Mission in Hermannsburg

Tuesday, 18 Sep, Alice Springs - We came back to Alice Springs this morning, but made a detour to Hermannsburg to visit the old Lutheran mission establised in the 1870s by two German missionaires. There are about half a dozen old buildings, all in a very poor shape, with lots of old photos and information tables describing the history of the mission and the life of people, aboriginals and missionaries who lived there. 

The old church

This was also the birthplace and main inspiration of Albert Namatjira the famous aborignal painter. The art gallery of the mission shows lots of old original photographs and paintings, not only from Albert but from many of his children who attempted to follow in his footsteps (with not the same level of success).

37 degrees in the van

Back in Alice, in the same caravan park as last week, we are now waiting for our fridge to be repaired, but so far the spare part has not yet arrived. Unfortunately the weather is not very pleasant, windy, dusty and extremely hot. This afternoon we had 37.4 degrees in the van, and about the same outside. And it is expected to be even hotter in the next few days according to the forecast...

Our itinerary can be seen at the following Google Map:
http://g.co/maps/wcwv8 
(Note that to see the route after Bowen, you need to move down to the bottom of the left panel, and select the following pages!)
(Note 2: don't be fooled by the fact that Google maps shows only 4 pages on the first page. If you click on page 4, the next page (5) will appear in the list, then 6 and etc. as you move to the next page. I don't know why it is done in this silly way, but I can't change it, sorry)

A mult hét többi részét és a hétvégét AS-től nyugatra, a West MacDonnell ranges (hegyvonulat) vidékén töltöttük. Egy Glen Helen Resort nevű helyen szálltunk meg, ami nemigen felel meg a képnek ami a "resort" szóról eszünkbe jut, de igazán kellemes hely (a portól eltekintve), egy régi "homestead" (farmház) és nagyon szép a környezete, egy közel 100 m magas függőleges vörös sziklafal tövében. Itt táboroztunk le 3 napra, és végigjártuk a környék nevezetességeit. Ezek többnyire "gorge"-ok, vagyis meredek sziklafalakba vájt szűk szurdokok. Nehéz elképzelni hogy ezen a száraz sivatagos vidéken ahol leginkább csak kiszáradt patakmedreket lehet látni, ilyen munkát tud végezni a víz, de hát sokmillió év alatt ez is megtörténik. Végigjártuk az összes elérhető gorge-ot, sajnos a legtöbbe csak a bejáratáig lehet bejutni, mert ott van egy mélyebb vízmedence ahol egész évben megmarad a víz. Mindegyik egész más és mindegyik szép, fantasztikus érdekes szikla-formációk, színek és felületek, nem lehet megunni. Nem sorolom fel a neveket, de a képeken láthatjátok. Tegnap volt egy koncert is az egyikben, szintén a Desert Festival keretében, egy 70-tagú helyi kórus énekelt többnyire dél-afrikai dalokat, többet Kati is ismert.
Hétfőn reggel visszamentünk ebbe a (Ormiston) gorge-ba, hogy ezt is tüzetesebben megnézzük, felmásztunk egy kilátóhoz, aztán egy darabig a patakmederben - ez volt a kivétel, ahol bele lehetett menni száraz lábbal, pedig elég sok víz is volt benne -, de aztán kifogytunk a látnivalókból, már 11-re itthon voltunk és itthon is maradtunk pihenni délután. Este lementünk a "resort" előcsarnokába ahol élő zene volt, egy ötven körüli pasas Adelaide-ből gitározott (nagyon jól) és énekelt (kevésbé jól de élvezhetően), többnyire kedvünkre való műsort csinált.
Kedden (szep. 18) reggel indultunk vissza de előbb tettünk egy kitérőt Hermansburg-ba, ahol egy Luteránus misszió működött valamikor, 1870 táján alapította két német pap, és működött még a 60-as években is, most inkább múzeum. Van egy fél tucat eredeti épület, elég lerobbant állapotban, bennük sok régi fénykép és információs tábla. Itt születet 1901-ben és élt a leghíresebb aboriginal festő, Albert Namatjira, sok régi fénykép és festmény (reprodukció) látható tőle és a gyerkeitől akik követték apjuk példáját (de kevesebb sikerrel).
Délutánra visszaértünk Alice Springs-be, és most várjuk a fridzsiderünk javítását, de még nem érkezett meg a pótalkatrész. Sajnos az idő elég kellemetlen, zeles, poros és nagyon meleg, délután 37.4 fok volt a lakókocsinkban, és kint is hasonló. Ráadásul a következő napokra még melegebbet jósolnak... 

Az útvonalunk a következo Google Map-on látható:
http://g.co/maps/wcwv8
(A Bowen utáni szakaszokhoz le kell menni a baloldali panel aljára, és a következo oldalakra kattintani!!)