Alice Springs

Alice Springs

17/1/2011

We had a lazy start this morning Colin slept in to around 8.30 am exhausted after the big drive and rim walk yesterday.

Looking over Alice from Anzac Hill

Anzac Memorial

Standley Chasm

Standley River bed dry

Rev John Flynn's Grave



Todd River dry



We set off to explore around 9.30 am.  We went up to Anzac Hill which towers over the town and the Anzac memorial is situated there. The town is surrounded by steep rocky hills which is a surprise. Majestic river gums line the wide sandy Todd River which is completely dry, a compete contrast to the other side of Australia, Queensland which has way too much water.

We then went out to Standley Chasm, 50 kms from Alice; it is a large gap at the tail end of the spectacular West McDonnell Ranges. It has been gouged into the sandstone over millions of years and is surrounded by craggy slopes rising up for 80 metres. It is the main attraction in an aboriginal owned flora and fauna reserve with abundant bird life, wallabies and many rare plants including cycad palms and ferns. The sun was overhead and the chasm lit up with reflected colours. It was spectacular, well worth the visit.  At the end of the chasm there was a little water hole, very refreshing to splash in after a very hot walk in. We then called into Simpsons Gap which is located 26km west of Alice Springs, the Ghost Gum lined track lead to an amazing Gorge which had a lovely water hole at the base. The midday sun reflected on the rugged sides of the gap which showed up all the different shades in the rock. On the way back we called into the grave of Rev John Flynn, he was the founder of the Royal Flying Doctor Service. Then home for a swim in the pool, cooked pizza for tea. We are going to go to the Alice Springs Casino tonight. We will head off early in the morning to make our way up the Stuart Highway.  We will check out Devil’s Marbles on the way and may stop just before Tennant Creek. Hoping all is well in your world.

The Travelling Wilsons

Kings Canyon

Kings Canyon

Saturday 15.1.2011

We set off at 6 am to make our way to our next destination Kings Canyon.

We witnessed a magnificent sunrise on the way; it was so bright it was rather distracting for Colin driving with the caravan in tow.

Kings Canyon lies within the Gorge Gill Range which is 300 km north of Uluru, which means the people aiming solely for Uluru don't make it here, which is a great shame.

On our arrival we booked the caravan into the Kings Canyon resort which was rather nice, which is owned by the same company that own the Ayres Rock Resort however this one is nowhere near as big.

We drove down to the Canyon, but at almost 40degrees we could not contemplate trying to do the walk.  We decided to leave it until very early the next morning.

The afternoon was spent in the van with the air conditioner going flat out, resting and catching up on bits and pieces that needed organising. We went down to the canyon to watch the sun set again absolutely magnificent! We then hit the pool and spent time chatting to some backpackers.

Sunday 16.1.2011

We set off at 5.15 with the caravan in tow, and arrived at the canyon to see the sun come up. We began the walk at 5.45 – the walk is rather challenging.

Kings Canyon is a narrow sliver of sandstone that plunges 328 feet into a valley of fern, water pools, and woodlands—a fertile, utterly surreal landscape that you'd be mistaken to overlook.

Firstly we had to tackle the trek up Cardiac Hill—the near-vertical ascent at the start of the Rim Walk—and stepped onto the expansive canyon rim. We then wandered along the meandering 6 km path, first stepping through a narrow pass between two boulders into the region dubbed "The Lost City"—Dali-esque mounds of sandstone that were once massive dunes, eroded to resemble enormous bee hives. Its ancient streets then led us further along the canyon surface, around wind-shorn rocks that looked like sandcastles pummeled by rainwater, to the edge of sheer 900-foot cliffs, and through rock formations.

Roughly halfway through the hike, we followed a series of wooden steps that took us down into an unexpected, lush realm known as the Garden of Eden. As we descended we saw a dense explosion of green ancient cycad fern, the spiny Spinifex, and the bone-white bark of ghost gum trees. Then a path leads to a permanent spring where we could take a swim but as we were on a strict time frame today wanting to get to Alice Springs, we decided not to swim although it looked very inviting.

The temperature started to really heat up once we were half way through the walk.

We then had to descend down the face of the canyon down rock steps which were not as steep as the climb up. The walk took us around 2.5 hours and was well worth the effort.

Back to the car around 8.30 am sore and exhausted and began our Journey to Alice Springs.

We arrived at Alice at around 2.30 pm and booked into the McDonnell Range Caravan Park.

Our campspot Kings Canyon Resort

The Trek up commonly known as Cardiac Hill!

The Garden of Eden

Going down into the Garden of Eden

The swimming hole

The garden of eden

The Travelling Wilsons.

More Photos of Uluru

Just a few more pics, sorry I can't resist too many beautiful images not to share some more.
Bloody hot here, too hot to go outside.

The Travelling Wilsons

Sunrise at Uluru and Uluru base walk

Sunrise at Uluru and Uluru base walk

14/1/2011

Once again a mass exit of the resort and everyone gathered at 6 am to see the sun rise at Uluru.  Absolutely breathe taking.  This place is most probably one of the best natural experiences we have ever had.  Nature at it’s very best! We experienced this from a different viewpoint than sunset last night and we will return tonight for sunset to get a different perspective and some different shots from last night.

Once the sun came up we headed down to the rock.  We decided we wouldn’t climb the rock, the aboriginal’s ask that you don’t and out of respect for their wishes we left that one alone. We decided to do the rock base walk instead.  This is an easy 10.4 km walk, or would be in the winter!  The temperature about an hour into the walk would have been mid 30’s.

There is not a grey nomad in sight here, only us! I think they know something Colin didn’t catch on to, or better still wouldn’t listen to.  Winter time would be the best time to visit Uluru, however we have had a great time not having to share with thousands of tourists and just so long as we get up at the crack of dawn and stay in air-conditioning or the swimming pool in the arvo, and then venture out at night again all is ok.  I don’t think we have missed out on anything. Most of the people visiting at the moment seem to be back packers and people hiring campervans all mainly from overseas.  I am not sure about the resort patrons.

Ayres rock resort is a wonderful place to say and caters for so many styles of travellers.

The base walk was absolutely fantastic!  Every metre we walked the view of the rock changed as you will see in the photos – I took hundreds of pictures it will be hard to know which ones to choose to share with you all. Lots of places I couldn’t take photo’s as there are signs to indicate that photo’s were not to be taken as that particular place had spiritual significance to a certain tribe. I kept wondering when we were ever going to reach the corner!  The corner was always in sight and it seemed a few hundred more metres we would make it but of course the rock being round it went on and on!  We were never so glad to see the land cruiser after the 10.4 km walk which took us around 2 ½ hours.  It is a 3 ½ hour walk so we did pretty well. I think they always over estimate to be on the safe side.

We then went to the cultural centre and learnt about the aboriginal customs and history.  We saw the sorry book also. Back to the van for a lunch, a sleep then a swim.

We intend to pack up later this afternoon, have an easy tea, see sunset and make an early exit in the morning for our next destination Kings Canyon.  I just spoke to Mum in Tasmania and they are ok with all the rain so that’s great.

I hope all is well in your world.

The Travelling Wilsons