SYDNEY - HALLS CREEK TRIP 2007
SYDNEY - HALLS CREEK TRIP 2007
Tuesday 29 May to Monday 4 June
Alice Springs
Blog 3
As we drove to The Alice we enjoyed the blue sky, the red earth, the green shrubs and the magnificent wedge tail eagles. We settled in at the Macdonnell Range Holiday Park as we planned to make this our base for the next 9 days.
Alice seems to be much bigger than the last time we were here and much friendlier and less desperate.
We decided to take the longest day trip today, about 450km round trip including Rainbow Valley, Chambers Pillar and Ewaninga aboriginal carvings.
The weather was perfect even though it was a cold 110C when we left. We drove south along the Stuart Highway for 77km and turned east on the dirt road to Rainbow Valley Conservation Reserve. At the end of 24km of corrugation we were confronted with the beautiful sight of the sandstone formation with its dark red at the top and the white stone at the bottom where the iron oxide and silica had leached away. The rock was obviously soft. We walked around to a rock called the “mushroom rock”, the name giving away the shape. Once the softer bottom layers erode away eventually the top will fall over. The colours were spectacular.
We then had to drive back to the highway and drove further south turning east on the Hugh River Stock Route, dirt road, crossed the Ghan Railway continued on to Maryvale Station. The road was very corrugated and we were told that the road passed Maryvale was even worse.
We continued the 45km to Chambers Pillar. Mike had dropped the pressure in the tyres and the road was really good!!! On June the 9-11 the annual Alice Springs to Finke River bike race takes place. The motor bike riders have to get from Alice Springs to Finke River in under 3 hours, stay overnight and the do the return journey again in under 3 hours. The track they will use runs near the roads we were taking and all the markers were already out and we even saw bikers riders practicing on the track.
Chambers Pillar looked exactly like the tourist photos. The sandstone and colours are the same as the rainbow valley and it is really amazing to see this 50m red and yellow sandstone column standing tall above the surroundings when the rock is so soft. Early pioneers used it as a navigational landmark and the explorers carved their names and dates in it as a record for other travellers. Of course there have been many other names carved since the 1870s which is a real pity!!! The workers who were building the overland telegraph line were looking for water and long poles for the line but found neither there and had to move further east to construct the telegraph line. Fantastic history.
Our last stop for the day when the sun was setting and the shadows were already long was the Ewaninga Aboriginal Rock carvings. That time of the afternoon gives the best light and the most beautiful colours and we walked around the rock and the clay pan enjoying the afternoon glow.
We enjoyed the company of other Bushtracker caravaners around an open fire and just relaxed.
Our next day trip was to Palm Valley and we headed west along the Larapinta Drive to Hermannsburg. Hermannsburg was once a Lutheran Mission in the late 1800s and was where Albert Namatjira, the famous aboriginal water colour artist was born, painted and lived. He lived from 1902 to 1959.
Hermannsburg is now an historic place where the mission buildings have been preserved. These included the church, the school house, a tea room where we had scones and cream and apfel strudel and of course the art gallery which paintings from Albert Namatjira and many of his family; brothers children, nieces, nephews and cousins. It a great place with a great story.
Friedrich Albrecht was the head of the mission when Albert was a child and when Rex Batterbee the water colour artist came to the area to paint he suggested that Albert go with him as Albert had shown an interest and a talent for artistic things. Albrecht bought Albert some water colour paints and the 2 months that Batterbee and Albert spent together in the MacDonnell Ranges Rex taught Albert about painting and mixing colours.
In 1938, 2 years after this expedition Albert put on his first painting exhibition with the help of Batterbee. Every exhibition that Albert put on was a sell out. He died in 1957 from complications of pneumonia after a heart attack. He had married Rubina and together they had 10 children. They were brought up as Lutherans but always lived a traditional aboriginal life. They lived off the land hunting and gathering. That was the beginning of the art school that still exists in the Hermannsburg community today.
There are 600 members if the Hermannsburg aboriginal community today. The community gets about 30% of its power from 8 solar dishes. After we left Hermannsburg we drove to see the little house where Albert Namatjira lived. It was a small house with 2 small rooms. The 21km dirt road then took us into the Finke Gorge National Park and onto Palm Valley at the end of the road. Part of the road ran along the Finke River river bed.
Once in the park we walked to the Amphitheatre and the Lookout. The colours and scenery were magnificent. The view from the top of the rock of the Kalarranga Lookout looked down over the Amphitheatre which actually looked like an old crater.
We walked back down to the car and continued to drive through Cycad Gorge which as the name suggests has many cycads hundreds of years old. The road after that really became a 4WD track and was great driving. The walk through Palm Valley was a loop. On the way into the valley we walked on the rocks next to the river bed and then climbed to the top of the valley for the return journey along the ridge. Palm Valley is the only place in the world that Red Cabbage Palms are found naturally. As always the colours are spectacular.
It was very cold again in the morning as we headed east to the East MacDonnell Range. The Ross highway was a bitumen road and our first stop was Emily Gap. It was a short walk into the creek worn gap to view the aboriginal paintings of caterpillars which are the dreaming creatures of the area. The morning sun made the red rock glow.
We drove the few kilometres to the Jessie Gap which was very similar and walked along the creek bed to see the caterpillar aboriginal paintings. We next stopped at the Corroboree Rock which is an Eastern Arrernte sacred site. We walked around the rock and enjoyed light falling on the red rock which was sitting higher than the eroded surrounded area.
We drove onto a dirt road to Trephina Gorge where we walked to the top of the ridge looking down the sheer quartzite cliffs to the sandy creek and then back along the creek bed with its beautiful river red gums. We walked back along the river bed but missed the carpark turnoff and continued walking until we saw a tent camped at the campsite at least 1km from where we parked the car. We then had to back track to the car. We really MUST take the little GPS with us whenever we go for a walk in the bush.
We took the 4WD track to the John Hayes Rockhole and just walked the 100m to the water hole. It was a great drive and the area around the waterhole was beautiful.
We had lunch at the Ross River Homestead where we had a fantastic homemade Ross River Pie each and had to have a glass of wine as we sat by the fire. What a great lunch we had.
Our last stop for the day was N’Dhala Gorge which again was accessed by a 4WD track. We saw some more aboriginal rock carvings and waterholes but also lots of beautiful green budgerigars. There were hundreds swooping around from tree to waterhole. It was truly beautiful.
Tuesday 29 May to Monday 4 June
Alice Springs
Blog 3
As we drove to The Alice we enjoyed the blue sky, the red earth, the green shrubs and the magnificent wedge tail eagles. We settled in at the Macdonnell Range Holiday Park as we planned to make this our base for the next 9 days.
Alice seems to be much bigger than the last time we were here and much friendlier and less desperate.
We decided to take the longest day trip today, about 450km round trip including Rainbow Valley, Chambers Pillar and Ewaninga aboriginal carvings.
The weather was perfect even though it was a cold 110C when we left. We drove south along the Stuart Highway for 77km and turned east on the dirt road to Rainbow Valley Conservation Reserve. At the end of 24km of corrugation we were confronted with the beautiful sight of the sandstone formation with its dark red at the top and the white stone at the bottom where the iron oxide and silica had leached away. The rock was obviously soft. We walked around to a rock called the “mushroom rock”, the name giving away the shape. Once the softer bottom layers erode away eventually the top will fall over. The colours were spectacular.
We then had to drive back to the highway and drove further south turning east on the Hugh River Stock Route, dirt road, crossed the Ghan Railway continued on to Maryvale Station. The road was very corrugated and we were told that the road passed Maryvale was even worse.
We continued the 45km to Chambers Pillar. Mike had dropped the pressure in the tyres and the road was really good!!! On June the 9-11 the annual Alice Springs to Finke River bike race takes place. The motor bike riders have to get from Alice Springs to Finke River in under 3 hours, stay overnight and the do the return journey again in under 3 hours. The track they will use runs near the roads we were taking and all the markers were already out and we even saw bikers riders practicing on the track.
Chambers Pillar looked exactly like the tourist photos. The sandstone and colours are the same as the rainbow valley and it is really amazing to see this 50m red and yellow sandstone column standing tall above the surroundings when the rock is so soft. Early pioneers used it as a navigational landmark and the explorers carved their names and dates in it as a record for other travellers. Of course there have been many other names carved since the 1870s which is a real pity!!! The workers who were building the overland telegraph line were looking for water and long poles for the line but found neither there and had to move further east to construct the telegraph line. Fantastic history.
Our last stop for the day when the sun was setting and the shadows were already long was the Ewaninga Aboriginal Rock carvings. That time of the afternoon gives the best light and the most beautiful colours and we walked around the rock and the clay pan enjoying the afternoon glow.
We enjoyed the company of other Bushtracker caravaners around an open fire and just relaxed.
Our next day trip was to Palm Valley and we headed west along the Larapinta Drive to Hermannsburg. Hermannsburg was once a Lutheran Mission in the late 1800s and was where Albert Namatjira, the famous aboriginal water colour artist was born, painted and lived. He lived from 1902 to 1959.
Hermannsburg is now an historic place where the mission buildings have been preserved. These included the church, the school house, a tea room where we had scones and cream and apfel strudel and of course the art gallery which paintings from Albert Namatjira and many of his family; brothers children, nieces, nephews and cousins. It a great place with a great story.
Friedrich Albrecht was the head of the mission when Albert was a child and when Rex Batterbee the water colour artist came to the area to paint he suggested that Albert go with him as Albert had shown an interest and a talent for artistic things. Albrecht bought Albert some water colour paints and the 2 months that Batterbee and Albert spent together in the MacDonnell Ranges Rex taught Albert about painting and mixing colours.
In 1938, 2 years after this expedition Albert put on his first painting exhibition with the help of Batterbee. Every exhibition that Albert put on was a sell out. He died in 1957 from complications of pneumonia after a heart attack. He had married Rubina and together they had 10 children. They were brought up as Lutherans but always lived a traditional aboriginal life. They lived off the land hunting and gathering. That was the beginning of the art school that still exists in the Hermannsburg community today.
There are 600 members if the Hermannsburg aboriginal community today. The community gets about 30% of its power from 8 solar dishes. After we left Hermannsburg we drove to see the little house where Albert Namatjira lived. It was a small house with 2 small rooms. The 21km dirt road then took us into the Finke Gorge National Park and onto Palm Valley at the end of the road. Part of the road ran along the Finke River river bed.
Once in the park we walked to the Amphitheatre and the Lookout. The colours and scenery were magnificent. The view from the top of the rock of the Kalarranga Lookout looked down over the Amphitheatre which actually looked like an old crater.
We walked back down to the car and continued to drive through Cycad Gorge which as the name suggests has many cycads hundreds of years old. The road after that really became a 4WD track and was great driving. The walk through Palm Valley was a loop. On the way into the valley we walked on the rocks next to the river bed and then climbed to the top of the valley for the return journey along the ridge. Palm Valley is the only place in the world that Red Cabbage Palms are found naturally. As always the colours are spectacular.
It was very cold again in the morning as we headed east to the East MacDonnell Range. The Ross highway was a bitumen road and our first stop was Emily Gap. It was a short walk into the creek worn gap to view the aboriginal paintings of caterpillars which are the dreaming creatures of the area. The morning sun made the red rock glow.
We drove the few kilometres to the Jessie Gap which was very similar and walked along the creek bed to see the caterpillar aboriginal paintings. We next stopped at the Corroboree Rock which is an Eastern Arrernte sacred site. We walked around the rock and enjoyed light falling on the red rock which was sitting higher than the eroded surrounded area.
We drove onto a dirt road to Trephina Gorge where we walked to the top of the ridge looking down the sheer quartzite cliffs to the sandy creek and then back along the creek bed with its beautiful river red gums. We walked back along the river bed but missed the carpark turnoff and continued walking until we saw a tent camped at the campsite at least 1km from where we parked the car. We then had to back track to the car. We really MUST take the little GPS with us whenever we go for a walk in the bush.
We took the 4WD track to the John Hayes Rockhole and just walked the 100m to the water hole. It was a great drive and the area around the waterhole was beautiful.
We had lunch at the Ross River Homestead where we had a fantastic homemade Ross River Pie each and had to have a glass of wine as we sat by the fire. What a great lunch we had.
Our last stop for the day was N’Dhala Gorge which again was accessed by a 4WD track. We saw some more aboriginal rock carvings and waterholes but also lots of beautiful green budgerigars. There were hundreds swooping around from tree to waterhole. It was truly beautiful.
posted by Mike and Carol at
10:38 AM
