East McDonnell Ranges, Finke Photos

Camping at Trephina
Binns Track
For the horse enthusiasts, a family of very beautiful wild brumbies. Mum's pregnant again
Underground in the mines
Locking Dad in Jail
Trephina Gorge, East McDonnell Ranges
Sleeping Beauties
Crossing Finke River
Ridge walking, Finke National Park
Wildflowers at Finke
Tractors crossing Australia

28th July, Back in Alice off to the Tanami

Palm Valley
Finke National Park

Back in Alice, again... the boys are thrilled as we are being particularly luxurious after a month of tents and staying in a little tin shed cabin in the caravan park where there is a jumping pillow :) The last 5 days we've spent in Finke park at Palm Valley and the East McDonnell Ranges. The recent floods meant the bogey hole track and ruby gap were closed to us which was a pity, but we still enjoyed the places we were. Palm Valley was spectacular with literally its valley of palm trees. These are the only ones in Central Australia, a legacy from the Dinosaur times, due to the unique nature of the surrounding gorge holding water and protecting the palms. Spectacular scenery around the valley and lots of river crossings going in, as the Finke is flowing, which the boys really enjoyed. The highlight for all the boys, especially the eldest was the arrival of 5 tractors towing caravans crossing from WA to Byron Bay to raise money for the Flying Doctors. Quite a sight as they all pulled in (one being towed as it had broken down going through the bogey hole). From Palm Valley we crossed the Owens Spring Reserve which was really pretty going along the river beds and bush camped by a waterhole. No people which was lovely. Then out to the East McDonnell ranges along Binns track to N'Dhala Gorge to see some aboriginal rock carvings and camped at Trephina Gorge. People had said that the East McDonnells were nicer than the West and how true that was. Much quiter and some spectacular 4wd tracks and gorges. We had a beautiful camp spot for 2 nights by the river under massive rock walls and the weather finally warmed up.

Did I mention this is the coldest, wettest winter in Alice Springs in 40 years.... Meaning it hasn't been getting much above 15 degrees and close to 0 at night, and lots of roads closed. On the plus side to some extent, everything is spectacularly green with lots of flowers in bloom. Its very hard to believe we are in desert, and the boys keep asking when are we going to get to the desert. I suspect we are going to see this most of our trip. We'll have to come back again another time to see what it is supposed to look like.

So we are now reaching temperatures above 20, which is a bit of a shock but very pleasant and good preperation as we make the big trip north. Yesterday we went out to Altunga, an old gold mine town where the boys could actually climb down ladders and go through the tunnels to great excitement (and saw a bat). Also had the opportunity to lock Dad up in a 100 year old jail which they took advantage of :)

So back in Alice, rearranging ourselves as we are back with our campertrailer after being in the tent for the last week, doing the usual loads of washing before we head off for the Tanamai desert tomorrow. We are lucky it is open as it was closed for 2 weeks after the rains a couple of weeks ago. Allowing 3 to 4 days to get across before going to the Bungle Bungles where we hope to meet up with the Cracknells for a few days. Back on line in Kunanurra in about week. Ciao!

23rd July Heading out of Alice

Well we have spent 2 days sorting out stuff in Alice and not really seeing anything. New beds for the boys, finally got our mobiles sorted out and the satellite phone, went to see the Karate Kid which the boys enjoyed and had a not so peaceful dinner with Erica, Nick, Sophie and Tom. Our darling children introduced Sophie and Tom to the concept of war, which I am sure they are really pleased about. We are now heading back towards the West McDonnell Ranges but to try and get through Finke Park and do a loop back to Alice before heading to the East McDonnell ranges. We have rearranged ourselves to travel for the next week without the Camper Trailer in the hope that some of these places will be more accessible and to have a different type of camping experience:) No photos of Alice as not the most photogenic of towns and we didn't get to do much. Oh well. Bye for another week.

West McDonnell Ranges Photos

Camping Finke River 19th July

Ormiston Gorge 19th July

Redbank Gorge 18th July

Gosse Bluff Crater 18th July

Travellers having a laugh on the Meereenie Loop, leaving souvenirs on this tree (no we didn't :()

Wild Horses on the Meereenie Loop

The Mereenie Loop Road (not as bad as it is made out to be) 18th July

Arrived in Alice Springs 20th July

Kings Canyon photos

Hi All, we have arrived in Alice Springs earlier than expected in the hope that certain roads will open up again in a few days after all the water from the storm we experienced in Uluru closed quite a few temporarily. Since leaving Uluru we camped once again near Mt Cooper before heading to Kings Canyon. Definitely a highlight and probably rivals Uluru. We did the circuit cliff tops walk which was a big walk for the kids being all up about 7km long but we all really enjoyed it. Kings Canyon is incredibly spectacular with its massive gorge, beehive domes and gardens. We even managed to find a King Brown snake about 1.5m long who was obviously confused with the seasons. From Kings Canyon we headed around the Merennie loop which is through aboriginal land and a transit pass is necessary. Beautiful countryside with both wild horses and donkey's roaming near the dirt road. From here we entered the West McDonnell ranges which are also spectacular and full of gorges. Visited Gosses Bluff which is a crater created by a comet about 142 million years ago. Really amazing sticking out of the middle of nowhere on flat plains. Bushcamped on the top of a ridge near Redbank gorge with spectacular 360degree views before walking into the gorge the next morning. The last 2 days have been spent exploring the gorges and waterholes which are all really beautiful. The boys are a bit gorged out now and thoroughly excited at being in a caravan park! However the camping highlight was last night near the Finke river with a view of Glen Helen gorge in the distance. Staying in Alice for the next couple of days to stock up on a number of things, have a look around before we head to Finke Gorge where we hope we will be able to get to Bogey Hole and through to Ernst Giles road if the river has dropped enough. Up to number 6 square on the blanket!

Chris 15th July

Hi, I am at Uluru. We met up with the Cracknells and had a more than 3 hour walk around Uluru. We walked through the Valley of Winds the next day. All the walks were tiring. This has been my favorite spot so far. Bye.

Luke 15th July

Hi, we met up with Finn at Uluru and we went rock climbing with him. Finn and his older brother came over for a sleepover in our smaller tent. We walked around Uluru and saw camels. The camels have one hump.

Valley of the Winds 14th July

Yesterday we walked around the Valley of the Winds which in some ways was more inspiring than Uluru. The massive rocks with their huge gorges and lush vegetation are really beautiful. The boys were pretty tired after their big day previously but managed to walk about another 6km over the rocks and into one of the gorges. Today we are packing up and heading off towards Kings Canyon. Had a great camp fire last night celebrating Erica's 40th with Alison, Peter and her husband Nick resulting in a late night for all. 2 Cracknell boys and 2 Kelly boys camped together in our stand alone tent and were all up bright and early this morning :) Have said goodbye to the Cracknells as they head off to Alice to get Josh and the Campervan fixed but hope to see them on the road again soon. After Kings Canyon we are heading into the West McDonnell ranges around the Larapinta Drive which will hopefully be Ok after all the rain, before heading to Alice in about a week or so. Likely to be over and out from us until then.

Uluru 13th July

Yesterday we made it around Uluru (10km all up) under Sunny skys which was very surprising given the massive storm we all tried to sleep through the night before. The boys did a great job getting around it, motivated by the Cracknells who also made it around, including Josh with a broken collar bone. Saw our first wild camels!Off to the Valley of the Winds today. Very cold this morning but a stunning day.

Oonadatta Track Photos

Entering the Northern Territory

Dalhousie Hot springs

Plane Henge

Arrived at Uluru 12th July

Well for the last week we have truly being in the outback with no mobile or internet connection to be seen. We are now in Uluru and everything you could possibly need is here as well as alot of Australia and the rest of Overseas it seems.

After leaving Leigh Creek we headed up the Oonadatta track as far as Oonadatta, track is maybe a little harsh. It is more like a dirt highway, with lots of people on it, but beautiful nether the less. Highlights of the track were bushcamping along the Old Ghan Railway with emus joining us for breakfast, sometimes near derelict stations, Plane henge, a sculptural park using actual planes in the middle of nowhere and Lake Eyre, with water in it! We actually managed to stand in the waters of lake eyre north! Visited the very remote pubs of William Creek, Mt Dare and Oonadatta which all have young foreigners working in them. Not sure if they really knew what they were in for when they signed up. They really are in the middle of nowhere. From Oonadatta we headed further off road towards the Simpson Desert to the Dalhousie Hot Springs through huge cattle farms and pretty rough roads. We had to do a 100km detour as the quickest access route had been closed as no one is prepared to take the public liability. The hot springs were worth it though. A better description would be a hot lake, the exact temperature of a hot bath and up to 15m deep in some places. Very much appreciated after 5 days of no washing and worth a 2 day stop. This is where people head out to the Simpson or come back from so there were some pretty serious 4wd'ers there and it was busy, nothing by Uluru terms though. Fully refreshed we headed back into the outback across a really horrible road to Mt Dare and the pub there. From that point we remained off road to Uluru which was lovely. For 2 nights and 2 days we virtually saw no one and the roads although dirt were actually a pleasure to travel on. We went through the aboriginal community of Finke which was a bit depressing really and camped out under a massive rock structures which the boys really enjoyed climbing. Last night we went bush towards Mt Cooper which rose out of nowhere and is incredibly majestic. Got semi lost (not really) on some big cattle station and camped with fantastic views of Mount Cooper with camels roaming around during the night. Woke up this morning in a complete fog, and no view and 2 hours of bush bashing to get back to the road. We are now in Uluru where we have met up with the Cracknells and its raining! We have sighted it however and if the weather clears will head out for sunset drinks, after much needed showers, washing and food shopping.

Luke 5th July

Hi, we've been to the Hot Springs and it was very warm in the water. We saw lots of rock wallabies and we saw 3 emus. I climbed 2 mountains and there were lots of really big spiders and isaw the longest spider web in my whole life. We saw rock caarns made out of rocks at the top of the mountains and some had writing on them, and we put our names on the rocks that we put on top. I put seven rocks with my name on them. Luke below on top of the mountain.

Northern Flinders Ranges

We're back briefly in civilisation before heading back to the outback up in Lake Eyre. Since leaving Mildura we made our way up to Broken Hill accompanied by "How to be a Pirate" another great success. Beautiful vast countryside, very flat. At Broken Hill we bush camped on the outskirts, possibly in mining land which was beautiful none the less, getting colder at night. After a morning in Broken Hill getting fresh food and more stuff we headed off to the outback in the Northern Flinders Ranges. After a couple of hundred km of our last bitumen road for a while, we hit our first dirt road, and as it had just rained our trailer and car became immediately red. We now really look like we are hard core travellers. Made it about 150km up the road before we decided to bushcamp by an old ruins and windmill, accompanied by the odd dead sheep. A bit creepy but very much outback. The next morning (not very good at getting going early yet) we headed off again to Arkaroola a private game reserve in the Northern Ranges. Stopped for lunch and had our first gorge walk which was beautiful but maybe not as spectacular as we hopped. That evening we made it to Arkaroola and are now experiencing probably what it will be like the rest of the way with lots of camper trailers. Arkaroola is nestled in the ranges surrounded by very red, rocky mountains, that the boys thought were fantastic and were immediately off to climb. Can't get the youngest one to walk very far, but he's very happy to climb a mountain, which was what we did for the next couple of days. Also went off searching for the hot springs, only 30km's away, which only took us 1 1/2 hours to get there on the 2WD track! Really specatcular scenery. Hot springs were a bit of a disappointment with lots of green weed (which we discovered later particularly likes radioactive water at 62degrees) but we all got in anyway. First bath since departure and scolded all the dirt off. Had proper showers the next day much to the boys disgust. Saw lots of Rock Wallabies, not sure they were the famous yellow footed kind though. More mountain climbing and some trailer/car modifications before we headed off this morning. Did I mention how cold it is at night now? We wake up in the morning to anything liquid left outside to being frozen solid. Not helping in the motivation to get up in the mornings! We are now in Leigh Creek, probably last connection for a while. Heading up to Lake Eyre this afternoon where we may get the boat in the water! Thanks Jo and Simon.

Hope everyone is well. Over and Out.

Chris 5th July

Hi, We have been at Arkaroola where there were a lot of big rocks which I enjoyed climbing. I went in some hot springs they were hot.