Alice Springs and The West MacDonnell Ranges

We have spent the last two nights 20mins out of Alice Springs at Wanngardi Caravan Park. Sunday afternoon we were lucky to coincide with a local Jazz in the Claypans event, so after doing some washing to remove the red dirt from our clothes, we hopped on the bikes and rode a few km’s up the road to sit and listen to some lovely jazz in the sunshine.

We awoke to a plummet in the temperature, only 5 degrees, so we found the jackets and headed into Alice to visit the Araluen Cultural Precinct. Unfortunately we were disappointed with the limited pieces of aboriginal art for showcase in the gallery, so we grabbed a coffee and drove to Anzac Hill for a great view over the town.

Alice Springs had a very different feel to the last time we were here (6 years ago). The town had a rather eerie, isolated feel, with very few tourists around - no doubt due to the recent media attention regarding violence particularly from local youth. We needed to stock up on groceries before heading off grid, so headed to Coles in the centre of town. Andrew stayed with the car, whilst Cathy went in and shopped. There appeared to be no other tourists in the store and with the presence of two security guards, one at the door and the other roaming the car park, Cathy shopped very quickly and we were glad to leave and head back out of town. Sippy was hoping to also get some beer whilst in Alice, but all liquor shops are currently only open Wednesday – Friday, so no luck for him (probably just as well as he would not have felt too comfortable carrying it back to the car).

Tuesday morning we packed up and joined Larapinta Drive - destination the West MacDonnell Ranges. Our first stop was only 20mins away, Simpson’s Gap. We were blessed with a beautiful blue-sky day, so we were anticipating some lovely photos showcasing the brilliant colours.

We stopped at the park information centre (which was unmanned) and did the recommended Ghost Gum walk, passing by several ancient, towering Ghost Gums. Due to recent rains the area is very green compared to our last visit, with all the shrubs and trees quite vivid against the red dirt and big blue skies. We then drove on down to the gap and walked down to the waterhole.

Standley Chasm (Angkerle Atwatye – meaning ‘the Gap of Water’) was next on the list – another 27km on. Perfect timing, we arrived at around 11:30am, in time to walk to the end of the gorge and see the sun beautifully positioned between the two red rock faces. They were actually filming a TV doco with local Aboriginal women relaying stories of their time growing up in the area whilst we were in the gorge. They waved us through and encouraged us to spend as much time as we liked marvelling the beauty of the gorge at midday.

On the walk out we took a detour up onto the Larapinta Trail (Section 3). The climb up from the gorge trail to the top of the cliff was very rocky and steep, but we managed and were rewarded with a great view from the top. We admired how Bree had carried a 17-kilo pack along this section of the Larapinta when she did her Gold Duke of Edinburgh expedition here in 2015!

Another 30kms on and we reached Ellery Creek Big Hole, a beautiful large waterhole easily accessible with a sealed road. Although the water looked very inviting, it was far too cold for a dip this time around. Last time we visited we did swim here. We were lucky enough to have the place to ourselves, so we sat by the waterhole and took in the serenity.

As it was early afternoon we decided to head to our camping destination for the next three nights in order to set up before the sunset and the temperature plummeting. We were camping at Redbank Gorge in the West Mac NP, which was at the western end of the ranges. Sippy had booked one of the best sites earlier in the year and had read the reviews – so was fully informed about driving in the wrong direction to be able to access the site. We had firewood for the 3 nights, so after setting up we got a beautiful blazing fire going. The stars also came to the party for the next 3 nights :)

We awoke to 3 degrees … burrrrr – but lucky for us we had the diesel heater so we were toasty having breakfast in bed – spoilt indeed.

After playing around with the ‘follow me’ command on our bikes with the drone, we rode on a rather rocky track down to the start of the Redbank Gorge track. We chained up the bikes and walked the remaining 1.2km, traversing the river stones and clambering over some decent boulders to reach the gorge. Last time we visited here we swam across the waterhole and through the gorge until we met a snake and made the decision to retreat. This time Cathy paddled her feet in the freezing water only, as the weather, although sunny, was only 22 degrees and not enticing enough for a dip. We had a lovely chat to a family from Brisbane travelling with their three primary school aged children.

We then motored on to visit Ormiston Gorge. How beautiful! We missed this last time (due to lack of time) but we made the most of the visit this time, hiking the loop track, past the lookout and along the river bed and picture perfect waterholes. Sippy managed to find a way down the slope so that we avoided having to swim across the deep waterhole to the other side. Had to go down on my backside as rather steep, but worth it to avoid swimming holding our gear above our heads!

We had lunch and an Alice Springs Brewing Ale at Glen Helen Gorge and then headed to see the Ochre Pits. This was amazing, with swirling near vertical curves of colour on the 10m high cliffs. Wind and rain have carved layers to reveal beautiful designs in the ochre. The yellow is caused by a mixture of white clay and iron oxide (rust), the red is formed by high levels of oxidised iron and the white comes from kaolin, a white clay mineral. It was such an authentic site and one could just imagine the importance of this resource to Aboriginal people for their ceremonies and rituals. We were blessed to be able to walk up to the cliffs and see the ochre firsthand. I loved it.

Back at Redbank Gorge, we set a lamb roast in the Weber, lit the fire and popped some Champagne to toast another great day.

 

Gem Tree – near the end of The Plenty

Leaving Jervois Station, after a lovely leisurely morning of watching cattle and flocks of budgerigars circle the BT, we once again hit the red dirt for another 30km before we floated onto the newly completed 2022 bitumen upgrade section. What a delight! Sippy used his compressor to add air back into the tyres and away we went. Unfortunately, after only 50km on the new tar, the road again turned to red dirt. This was because we had entered onto Aboriginal land and the indigenous owners want to charge the government big money for use of the dirt to create a tarred road – so consequently this section remains unsealed. The road was quite corrugated in spots with lots of soft, red dust on the edges. You would need to be very careful if pulling over onto the side as you may get bogged. Lucky for us we didn’t pass any traffic, but Cathy did drag her sandaled feet through the dust for a photo…. she then had very red Ecco’s!

Approximately 80km out from Gemtree, just after we were back onto the bitumen, we were greeted with blue flashing lights – yes, the cops from Harts Range Station pulled Sippy over to breathalyse him! They shared a laugh with us at our disbelief and allowed us to video the proceedings for proof to friends and family back home.

Gemtree was a welcome sight as we arrived mid-afternoon. We had successfully conquered The Plenty Highway and Sippy was one happy man.

As we pulled up to our allocated site at the bush camp, we were greeted by another BT owner, Chris. A friendly, elderly chap who shared a joke or two and filled us in about his love of fossicking and knowledge on all matter of things including how to protect your side mirrors from pesky pee wees. Upon further chatting to Chris

later that afternoon, we learnt that Dr Chris Hatton was a retired Endocrine Surgeon. He was delighted to learn that Bree had just commenced at St George Hospital and filled us in about his early medical days and certain events throughout his career.

Chris and his buddy PJ convinced us to try our hand at fossicking for Zircons the following day, so we signed up for the fossicking experience along the Binn Track. After loading the gear into our car at 8am we followed Alan, our guide for the morning, at pace along the dirt track. Alan demonstrated the process, including how to identify zircon over agate and then left us to it. We had a great four hours of fun in the sun, digging, sifting, washing and searching for zircons. We managed to collect a fair few in our tin and after having them professionally sorted back at the camp we have sent two pieces off to SA to have cut into stones.

Later that afternoon we purchased an Aboriginal painting from local indigenous artist Dianne Dixon. The painting was from the Engawala Art Centre Aboriginal Corporation in the Engawala Community, approximately 180km north-east of Alice Springs, We were attracted by the beautiful vibrant colours used and the fact that the painting is titled ‘Bush Medicine’, which we thought appropriate since Bree has just started her Internship. It will look great on a wall back home.

In the evening we attended the famous bush camp cook up offered by Gemtree. It didn’t disappoint! Roast beef and lamb, onions, potatoes, vegetables and gravy, and choc chip damper with golden syrup and fresh, whipped cream for dessert. Absolutely delicious! This was washed down with the local Alice Springs Specific Ale.

Prior to our trip I had voiced my concern with friends that I may not have many people to chat to during our trip (other than Sippy), which he assured me would not be the case. At dinner we were seated next to a retired Merchant Naval Captain, Alister, who regaled many adventures of sailing the seas across the world and a lovely family from Coffs Harbour who were home schooling their 7-year-old daughter for the year. What a delightful evening. If I was at home, I doubt I would have befriended an endocrine surgeon and naval captain in the one day – LOL.

Northern Territory Cattle Stations - Tobermorey to Jervois along The Plenty Highway

After a leisurely morning and a wonderful chat to an incredible lady whom we camped alongside, Julia Francis, who rides solo around Australia (@Ozgirlbike), we drove out the gates of Tobermorey Station to head onto The Plenty Highway. We were a little anxious as to what was in store as we crossed this ‘bucket list’ icon towards Alice Springs, but we were informed that the road had recently been graded with advice to watch for bull dust patches and soft spots (after the recent WA cyclone rains). When we say highway, we really mean red dirt road often full of corrugations, but we were pleasantly surprised with the condition and the fact that the road was wide (as opposed to our experience on the ‘Dangie’ the previous day). Sippy let down the tyres to 30psi and off we motored, sitting at around 70km/hour.

Again, we marveled at the changing scenery, the giant termite mounds, the rich red of the dirt road, and the big, blue sky. It was amazing to stop every now and then and feel the silence and embrace the remoteness. We had fun flying the drone and at one stage lying down on the ‘highway’ – we only passed a few vehicles all day.

We arrived at Jervois Station in the early afternoon and were greeted by the lovely station owners and warmly welcomed by their two very affectionate donkeys. After setting up, we pulled out the chairs, lit a campfire and put a chicken and sweet potatoes to roast in the Weber. During the afternoon the BT became surrounded by many inquisitive cattle, including a few cute black angus calves wanting to know what we were doing camping in their paddock.

Jervois Station runs 8,000 breeders over 1.2 million hectares! One of their major customers is McDonalds, desiring their Angus beef for their meat patties. The station has no paddocks (except around the house and campground), as they have too many camels roaming through that would destroy the fences. Jervois mostly truck their cattle to SA to fatten, where the owners have another property, as the land they occupy in the NT does not normally have enough feed. That is not currently the case as we were informed that there is the best feed in 7 years presently available, thanks to the summer floods. There was an awful lot of grass for the Herefords and Angus to get through!

Mt Isa to Tobermorey Station – The Outback Way!

After spending just one night in Mt Isa (enough for us), we said goodbye to outback Queensland and finally hit the dirt on our way to Tobermorey Station, located just across the Northern Territory border. 

We left on the Diamantina Developmental Road which links Mt Isa to Boulia. After 88km we turned right onto the North Urandangie Road which becomes the Urandangie Border Road. We now felt rather remote with Google Maps no longer showing us on a road! We travelled along the Queensland/Northern Territory border (on the red dirt) for about an hour until we saw the border sign welcoming us to the Northern Territory! Woo Hoo!!!

We loved the changing scenery, the swopping wedge tail eagles feeding on roadkill, the beautiful soaring kites, flocks of pink galahs and tiny fairy wrens. The road was very narrow, at times becoming a single lane goat track, but at least it was straight, giving us plenty of time to move off to the side to allow the odd road train to safely pass. At the tiny town of Urandangie we were greeted by two pigs who happily trotted out from behind the one building to say hello. You don’t see that every day! The only other person in sight was an elderly indigenous man sitting in his shed, who waved back to us as we passed through.

We arrived at Tobermorey Station at 2:00pm to lush green grass and welcoming staff. We checked in for the night under the shade of some lovely Ghost Gums, had a walk around the station and a cuppa in the shade. Tobermorey runs 13,000 breeding cattle, along with bulls, fats and calves. Breeding cattle produce the same amount of calves every two years – that’s a lot of Angus!

The magic of the afternoon kicked in, with 1000’s of birds singing and calling along the creek as we watched the sunset with a glass of wine. It feels like the adventure has started.

 

Quirky Queensland Pubs

 The Walkabout Creek Hotel and beers with Mick Dundee

On the drive from Winton to Cloncurry we stopped at the Blue Heeler pub in Kynuna, along the Matilda Way.

A fabulous pub with a big blue heeler dog on the roof, blue paw prints painted on the picnic tables and 1000’s of signatures from passers-by literally covering all the walls and the ceiling. Jen tells me her signature is there somewhere and that she actually visited the pub with Bear, her much loved blue heeler dog from days gone by. We were also lucky to have another pair of Brolga’s greet us out the front of the pub as we pulled up (I actually thought they were statues until they started calling out and walking).

We then drove on to McKinlay, the home of The Walkabout Creek Hotel, famous in the iconic Australian movie, Crocodile Dundee. We had a beer with Mick Dundee and purchased Sippy a Walkabout Creek Stockman’s shirt. After lunch and a chat all things caravans with New South Welsh men from Mudgee and Nyngan (both of them desiring a BT), we headed on to the Mary Kathleen abandoned town site, 50km out of Mt Isa, for our first free camp of the trip.

We had time to nab a camp spot, then off came the bikes to ride the 18km return dirt and stone track to the open cut uranium mine site and the cobalt blue water that lays at the bottom of the mine. The weathering of the rock releases various metals and salts giving rise to the amazing colour. Definitely no swimming allowed in the crystal water however due to radioactive waste still being detected. We caught the last glimpses of the amazing aqua water in the sun, snapped some photos (it’s currently deemed an Instagram hotspot), dodged our first brown snake on the track (Andrew oblivious) and headed back to camp for the sunset and a cold beer. The snake was sunbaking on the track on our way down, but unfortunately flattened by a 4WD on our way back (hence the photo).

Cathy standing inside the old Olympic swimming pool, which was part of the Mary Kathleen town site - abandoned in 1984 - two years after the mine ceased operation.