Well this has been a big break between writing. We got to Alice Springs with no hassles then Kaye flew out to Canberra for three weeks to spend some time with Jade and the boys leaving yours truly behind to fend for himself. Maybe in hindsight not the best decision for me as I have somehow done my back in and have got some pretty bad mobility issues at present. Not sure how I did it but I have pinched a nerve in my lower left and it is also making my left leg ache very badly as well.
Anyway enough of my sad tales of woe. While Kaye was in Canberra being more cold than I was in Alice Springs I did manage to get out and do a few things around the town. The first weekend there was the Finke Desert Race. This leaves from Alice Springs on the Saturday and follows the Old Ghan Railway to Finke and then returns on the same course the next day. I decided to go on the Sunday and look at the competitors returning. I miss timed my arrival at the finish line by about ten minutes as the winner had just finished when I got there. I saw the second place getter come in and lots of others after that. It is a very well run event with heaps of viewing areas around the finish area. The only thing I found was that it isn’t the most exciting racing to watch as it is a time trial and you only see competitors finishing solo every 10 to 20 minutes. So unless you knew someone in the race or were a competitor I found it a bit boring to watch. As a result I didn’t hang around and wait until the bikes started coming back to Alice as they were still about 2 hours away from arriving when I left.
The National Road Transport Hall of Fame was well worth a visit and one of the best transport museums you will see. The displays there are extensive and very well maintained. The Kenworth display is pretty special with the amount of trucks on display and the condition they are in. A real credit to the committee and Kenworth Australia for the upkeep and donations made. A must do on your visit to Alice Springs.
The Alice Springs Desert Park was a place worth a visit. The walk around the complex is pretty interesting and varied with plenty of information to read as you enjoy the easy walk. Not all of the displays were operating but what was there to see was good. The nocturnal display was excellent and very large. They had a huge display of animals from lizards, snakes to bilbies and lots in between. They also put on a bird display with a variety of birds that was a very entertaining 30 minutes.
A day trip out to Chambers Pillar was a great day out as well. The drive to Chambers Pillar is around 140 kilometres each way. The road wasn’t to bad though it was chopped up a bit from the spectators driving out to watch the previous weekends Finke Desert Race. You basically drive south from Alice Springs and follow the Old Ghan Railway down to Maryvale and then turn right and go just over 40 kilometres in from there. This part of the road had lots of large and long bull dust holes along it so the car go a nice dust bath. You are able to see Chambers Pillar well before you get there. In the early days of explorers crossing our continent it was used as a landmark by them. They have also carved there initials into soft rock formation that go back to around 1870. It has been spoiled a bit by others carving their initials into the rock over the years but this seems to have lessened now that a walkway was installed to keep you away from the rock face a bit. Next to Chambers Pillar is Castle Rock which has some great weathered formations in the soft sandstone. A great drive for the day and also saw a dingo as well on the drive out that was very close to the car and stayed around for some photos.
We did a couple of day trips out to the East Macdonnell Ranges to look at a few gorges and rocks as well as do a couple of walks. At this stage my back was still ok and we weren’t aware of what was to come. We didn’t travel all that far out to the east. Stopped off at Emily and Jessie Gaps, Corroboree Rock and Trephina Gorge where we did a really good walk along the top of the gorge and then down into it. As with most of the Macdonnell Ranges around Alice Springs the scenery is pretty special wherever you look. Driving out of Trephina Gorge we did a short detour and drove into John Hayes Rockhole for a look. It was a good track until the last 200 metre’s then turned to rubbish so a little adventure for the day.
Just to the west of Alice Springs were some other sites worth the short drive to see. These were Simpsons Gap and Standley Chasm. These are at the start of the West Macdonnell Ranges and are arguably the better part of the Macdonnell Ranges to see. At Standley Chasm you have to pay an entry fee to visit which we were surprised to see. The best time to see Standley Chasm is an hour either side of noon on a sunny day as the suns glow reflects off the walls. The walk into both these sites follow a creek to get to them and offer some good sites along the way.
To continue seeing more of the West Macdonnell Ranges and we thought that we would leave Alice Springs and go and stay out at Glen Helen and use this as a base to do some day trips from. Glen Helen is around 130 kilometres from Alice so a nice short drive down the road. As with most of the camp areas around here the back drop at Glen Helen was pretty spectacular and they had a great waterhole just a short walk from the campground. Also being the school holidays at the moment everywhere was crowded with families camping. This was good to see and the kids all seemed to be enjoying themselves a lot with no TV or internet. From here we went and looked at Redbank Gorge, Ormiston Gorge, The Ochre Pits and Serpentine Gorge. Ormiston Gorge had some great walks while we thought the Ochre Pits were a little disappointing. It is also on this part of our trip that I did my back in. Not sure what did it but after three days I was in agony and we had to return to Alice Springs. At least we were able to get some sights in before all this drama, will just have to come back again maybe one day and look at the rest of the West Macdonnell Ranges.
After our third day in the West Macdonnell Ranges it was time to pack up and head back into Alice Springs. The pain in my back was getting worse and we decided that I should go and see someone about it. Trying to describe to Kaye about what man pain was like was very hard because as we all know it is something that can only be experienced. After arriving in Alice I booked into the doctor and also found an excellent Chiropractor who was a lot of help. Basically though it is going to take a long time to get over so we now are making different plans for our trip back to WA. One thing we did notice on our return to Alice was that the nights are definitely getting colder. The hoses for our water to the van were freezing up every morning which delayed princess getting her cup of tea in bed each morning. Yes even with a sore back I still have to get up and make it, no sympathy in this caravan.
After a week in Alice Springs we decided to pack up and head a bit further north to some warmer weather. The cold weather in Alice was starting to get us down a bit so we decided we would chase the warmth a bit and head up towards Mataranka and the warm springs. Might even help my back a bit as well. Hopefully by the next update all has improved a lot and we are travelling a lot easier. Its not a easy life all this caravanning and holidaying.