Flora River - A Flying Visit

Karen had a couple of days work to do down in Katherine so I went along with her just for something to do and while she was busily working away in the office I took myself off to visit the Flora River Nature Reserve - a place I had been promising myself I would visit for ages.

It was probably the worst time of year to visit - November this year has been one of the hottest build ups ever and daytime temps were up around the 41/42 mark with some high humidity (for Katherine anyway) to make it even harder. We have had a few showers, but the wet has not yet kicked in.

The turn off to Flora River is nearly 90 klms down the Victoria Highway out of Katherine (heading to Kununurra), but at the posted 130kph speed limit this is not a long trip and the road is good.

The turnoff is well marked and the road in is only lightly corrugated.

The drive in is about another 40 klms, but the road remains good for the most part with only a couple of rocky parts to upset the steering (I really don't like unladen utes - I was driving a Navara D40) and a couple of bulldust patches that are remarkable only for the way the dust explodes into the air behind you.  Normal speed down this road is around the 100kph mark.

You need to take a right turn at one point, but again, this is well signposted and the track continues in good condition.

Along this track is the only thing to slow you down - a water crossing.

The base is firm and at this time of year the water level is low - no more that 200mm at the most.

Keep driving along and you'll end up at the camping area - today, this was deserted except for a few wallabies that thumped off into the bush as I approached.The camping area was dry and dusty, but there are lots of shade trees and the amenities block (showers, flushing toilets and a rainwater tank) were in good condition and obviously well serviced.

There are two walks marked from the camp site, each of them leading to Tufa dams on the river.  A Tufa dam is where the mineral rich spring flows over an obstacles and deposits some of its mineral load onto that object. This eventually builds the whole thing into a dam across the river that will gradually build up over time, but they always make for a pretty view.

 The first walk is signposted at 30 minutes return and takes you past some BBQ spots (fireplaces and BBQ plates set up ready for you) and into the denser riverside woodland.

The eventual sight is really beautiful - I only had my phone with me so the pictures are not that good, but I think you'll get the idea.

You just have to be careful of the water's edge as this is home to saltwater crocs!

The second walk is marked as 50 minutes return and takes you further downstream to the second Tufa dam. The flora around here is spectacular and some of the fauna less than friendly. I accidentally elbowed a wasp nest and a few of them gave me the good news about it! 

No sign of crocs, but at 42 degrees they were probably cooling off in the water. 

I returned to the 4WD and refilled my water bottle. There was a sign pointing the way to the boat ramp so off I set to walk to the boat ramp. 

The thing that the sign didn't say was how far it was and as it took me a bit over an hour to get there (and closer to 90 minutes to get back) I reckon it was at least 5 or 6 klms each way.

Let me remind you - out there it was 42 degrees and humid. I am one of the few people who actively like the climate here in the Top End, but even for me this was a bit of a trial. More than a bit stupid too as the one litre of water I was carrying just isn't enough and I could have come out of it a lot worse than I did.

Anyway, I eventually reached the boat ramp and this is what I found:

This is the view across the river. Pretty eh, and the water, while blue/green to look through because of the mineral content, was crystal clear and looked SO inviting.

However, it is the boat ramp that struck me as most unusual. The picture above shows the slides that you drop your boat down and into the water - just like a lifeboat back in the UK.

How do you get it back up? Well they provide this small winch for that. Just hook your boat up and crank away to drag it up the slides. 

After that little excursion I was pretty stuffed and sweating profusely so I hopped (well, crawled) back into the 4WD and drove back to Katherine with the A/C cranked up. 

Is Flora River worth seeing? Well yes, it is. I scratched the surface and while I didn't see any other walks to do I would certainly come back to stay for a night and to see it all again.

Just at a cooler time of year I think! 

Lorella Springs - Wow!

I thought I’d add a few notes about Lorella Springs for anyone searching the InterWeb for info – it might save them the effort of reading the story of our holiday and just cut to the chase with the important bits.

1) Lorella Springs is a fantastic place that we loved and we will be going back there at some point.

2) It is NOT for the likes of people who want smooth roads and all the trappings of civilisation. Grumpy grey nomads go elsewhere please – one woman was heard to complain bitterly to the staff about the state of the road coming in and the fact that they hadn’t warned her that she’d need her walking boots to just get across to the toilets.

3) This is a 4WDing destination. You need to drive a 4WD to get anywhere on the station and if that is not your thing then don’t go. You could get in there in a normal car, but the road in is not good and it isn’t recommended.

4) $20 per person per night for an unpowered site. It may seem expensive, but when you consider that this includes access to all that this place offers it is actually pretty cheap.  They offer flushing toilets, hot showers (donkey boilers but wood is provided) and shady camp sites.

Now – read on! 

Well Karen and I took advantage of the Territory’s public holidays - Friday 25^th July was Show Day and Monday 4^th August was Picnic Day (a holiday for the running of the Darwin Cup) - which meant that taking the 5 working days in between as holiday allowed us to organise an 11 day break and get away to Lorella Springs.

We also had our brand new 4WD, a Mitsubishi Pajero, to test out and to see if it doe sthe job as well as our Nissan Patrol. With only 250 klms on the odometer when we left it was certainly a new vehicle!

And here it is:

As you can see, we have fitted a bull bar in case of any errant ‘roos, a dual battery system to run the car fridge, and also we have transferred the roof rack from the Patrol across to the Pajero. 

There remains a lot more work to be done on this vehicle including a storage drawer system for the rear, together with a drop down fridge slide, a winch, a long range fuel tank, a water tank (to be fitted in the conveniently large space left once we remove the third row seats), spotlights, a snorkel and a heavier duty suspension with a 50mm lift.

We set off from home on the Saturday which gave us the Friday to pack and make sure we had all the food and everything sorted out.

We were trundling down the Stuart Highway happily, having stopped for coffee at Katherine, when all of a sudden I realised that while I had packed my rods and my tackle box I had forgotten to pack my reels. Damn! No fishing for me this week. 

First stop was at the Daly waters pub. As we were tenting it for this week we booked a room in the pub - $70 a night for a clean and tidy room. Great value. This is the front of the pub with its trademark bougainvillea and Karen sitting down waiting for brekky to be served. 

This pub is one of our favourites and even when swamped by southern tourists it still manages to do everything well and with good humour. Dinner was my usual threadfin salmon which was up to its usual very high standard, but the best meal was breakfast which was the best Eggs Benedict I have ever had. The eggs were perfect, the ham was superb and the unexpected sides of wilted spinach, mushrooms and tomatoes were excellent. 

Highly recommended!

We set off from Daly Waters and turned onto the Carpentaria Highway to Cape Crawford where we topped up the tank and then went north along the old Savannah Way to Lorella Springs.

The road was generally pretty good and the Pajero handled the corrugations like a champion. We are both impressed with the way it soaks them up and the comfort improvement over the Patrol. 

However, the road off the Savannah Way and into the property is much more demanding. The owners have a sign up just off the Savannah Way that says "Yippee! We have had the road graded!", but I can tell you that they are either joking or that sign is more than a couple of years old! 

It has corrugations to shake the car and you risk losing the fillings out of your teeth, there are bull dust holes that simply explode dust around you as you drop into them - it is worth slowing right down too as some of these holes are a drop into them and then a sharp edge to climb over to get out again. 

We arrived at Lorella and checked in and then found ourselves a spot next to the creek.

It is probably worth putting in a little information about Lorella Springs that people might find useful:

• Size - Lorella Springs is a million acre cattle property although they don't run many cattle now.
• Cost - they charge $20 per person per night and there are only unpowered sites available. Expensive? Not when you consider what else is on offer for the money.
• Facilities - There are flush toilets and donkey** heated showers (wood provided) all over the place.
• Bar/Restaurant - Yes, they have one. The grog is expensive ($9 a can for VB or Tooheys New and $9 a glass for wine), but at least it is there. The bar provides a focal point for people to gather and chat as well. They serve food, but the selection is limited and the skills of the cook are . . . . limited. Steak and chips and salad are $29. 
• Tracks - They have miles and miles of tracks that run all over the property. They provide you with some excellent mud maps of the tracks and the various sights and destinations around the property. You could spend a month here and not see it all! 
• Billabongs, Creeks and Rivers - There are lots of small creeks and a couple of decent rivers around the place and catching a wild fish should not be a major ask. As long as you remember to bring all the relevant tackle. 

 ** For the Poms reading this, a donkey boiler is a simple way of heating water. The cold water pipe is run through something that will allow you to build a fire underneath it. Simple, but effective, way of heating water.

Monday

Well after just about the best night's sleep we have had for what seems like years we woke up and had a leisurely breakfast before checking out the mud maps and deciding upon the destinations of the day.

As it turned out, we decided to hit some of the closer destinations and not over do things. Well, we did have happy hour to look forward to down at the bar! 

So, we trundled off, with Karen opening and closing the gates, and wandered off around what they called the Crocodile Springs Loop. First port of call on this track was the Crocodile Springs themselves where the park provides a small boat for anyone wanting to paddle themselves up and down the billabong.

Given the name of the place, Karen was a little nervous and besides, the boat looked a bit on the small side for two so I jumped in (well, grunted and carefully heaved myself in) and set off for a paddle up and down the place while Karen took lots of embarrassing photos.

These are a few!

The billabong does have a fair old growth of weed and mosses, but the water is crystal clear and it was fun messing about in the boat, but not so much for Karen who was waiting on shore, half certain that I was going to be attacked by some large lizard and end up as its lunch.

Not to be I'm glad to say. 

The next stop along the track was a spot known as Tristan Pool. There is a bit of a car park under some trees and a rough old track down towards the water. It is easy enough to follow though - they have orange streamers tied in the trees to show you the way.

You follow the rocky creek bed until you hit the pool and this is what you see:

Again, there is a fair bit of weed growth but clear, cool water. We weren't looking for a swim just yet though as we wanted to walk on, around Tristan Pool, and on towards the romantically named Wildfire Gorge.

Yep - they have signs like this at most places - a nice touch.

Wildfire Gorge is a clear, open stretch of water that looked very inviting, but we wanted to get on and see a few more places so we headed off to wards Emerald Pool and Fossil Fern.

Emerald pool was a bit TOO green (no surprise with a name like that) and the track to Fossil Fern started to get a bit too overgrown for a brand new car's paintwork.

I don't mind getting bush pinstripes myself (after all, i am going to get them some time) but it was too much for Karen to bear so we turned back and headed off back on the Loop track until we reached Inkspot Pool where decided that we'd get into our togs and take a dip. 

And yes, that's Joe taking a dip. Karen had spent her time in there but wanted to get out before the sun bit too hard while Joe wore his Akubra to keep the UV off his thinning locks and fooled himself that he'd be OK.

The views up and down the pool are below. It isn't an Olympic sized pool, but it is crystal clear and a beaut temperature.

Beautiful isn't it? taking a swim there was also just magical.

<sigh>

So we ended the day by heading home, collecting some firewood on the way, and having a beer at our tent before heading over to the bar for the happy hour and chatting to some nice, friendly people there.

Back to the tent for a delicious meal and another beer around the camp fire before crawling into bed, happy but tired, for another fantastic night's sleep.

Tuesday

Having sat on our butts in the car for most of the previous days we thought we'd take in one of the walks - this one was called the Bower Bird Walk.

it winds alongside one of the creeks and is shaded by lots of trees so it is a pleasant and easy bit of exercise to take in and one that we enjoyed. No pics though - someone forgot to carry the camera!

Eagle's Nest Billabong was the next destination - yet more gates for Karen to open and close - but again this was a beautiful spot to while away a few hours and maybe catch a fish or two. if you have fishing gear that is.

We took advantage of the boat that the owners have tied up there to row up and down the billabong in a leisurely fashion and to check out the eagle's nest itself.

Here are a few images to give you the idea of what it was like:

After being soothed by the time honoured practice of messing about on the river we headed off to see Snapping Handbag Billabong - a place whose name suggests more activity.

As it turns out, there wasn't a croc in sight which was a shame. this bit of water is permanent and as the dry season progresses it becomes home to all the freshwater crocs in the surrounding river systems and apparently you get to see hundreds of them lined up everywhere, just waiting for the wet season to kick in.

It must be quite a sight!

The owners have a boat secured here as well and you are encouraged to head off out on the water to explore, but it was a bit too hot out there for rowing, so Karen and I contented ourselves with sitting in some shade with a beer from the fridge and just drinking it all in. 

We headed off after that and wandered back to the camp site, collecting firewood and chucking it on top of the roof rack, where another couple of pleasant experiences awaited us.

First of all, we ducked down to the hot springs and wallowed around in the warm water (water was about 32 degrees) until we wrinkled up, just chatting to the other campers in there and relaxing.

The second joy was heading off to the bar afterwards and meeting up with Ingrid and Lothar - a very pleasant couple from the Blue Mountains west of Sydney. We compared notes on all sorts of things and found that we had a great deal of interests in common and that's always a great start to any friendship. 

I hope we get to catch up again.

Wednesday

Well, after the water borne joys of the previous days we just had to head off to a place called The Waterslide. After the drive there we were faced with a half hour walk up some broken country to get to this place and it was fun.

The slide is basically a section of water smoothed rock where a small section is continually fed by a small spring and provides a very slippery, smooth surface that you can slide down into the pool at the bottom - just like a water slide in an amusement park. We were accompanied by a few other people and it all added to the atmosphere.

I'm not allowed to show you a picture of Karen sliding down the slippery slope, but this is one of her in the small top pool just above the waterslide itself.

And this is Karen in the bottom pool after she screamed her way down the slippery slope.

We climbed up the slopes behind the waterslide, just to get an idea of the panorama from up there:

And here are the obligatory pictures of the two of us as well.

From the Waterslide we headed off to see Musters Cave and then The Arches.

As you can see, it was pretty hard country, but when we got to The Arches they were really special.

Here's Karen enjoying the shade under one of the arches.

After that we headed back to camp, collecting firewood along the way, and met up with Ingrid and Lothar for a very pleasant couple of ales before having the staff there cook dinner for us (steak, chips and salad), chatting to the staff and the owners and then heading off to sit around the campfire (yes, again!) 

Thursday

Today was going to be our last full day at Lorella (sob, sob) so we decided to take it pretty easy all round and just do some splashing around in somewhere pretty  - Nudie Hot Springs was the name of the place we chose.

Before we got there we explored a side track at the camp site where we found this sign.  Hmmm, intriguing eh?

We, of course, drove past the sign and went in to have a look expecting to find a place chock full of fat German blokes of a "certain age" and small, skinny and wrinkly women of a similar or older age.

What we actually found was an empty camp site with a whole heap of ready cut firewood and open air toilets and showers - yes, the nudism extended to no walls around the showers and no doors on the toilets. 

No people there though, so I nicked half the ready cut firewood and took it back to our camp before we trundled off to Nudie Hot Springs.

Which looked like this:

The water emerges from the ground at over 50 degrees, but by the time it gets to this pool it has cooled to 38 to 40 degrees so it is just like wallowing in a hot bath. Quite a weird experience really, all that hot water and surrounded by tropical forest, but very pleasant. 

As you can see, I stayed in the water a while to soak it all up. 

And while I was in the water  we were visited by a number of birds called Rainbow Bee Eaters. We used to watch these flying around in the back yard of our last apartment, but seeing them out here was even more spectacular and when they started dropping into the water and then flying back to land on a branch and fluff their feathers out - basically having a wash in the warm water, it was a really wonderful sight.

You can see where they get their name can't you?  They flare their wings like this all the time - it must be something to do with the way they hunt insects on the wing. Perhaps the brightly coloured wing and body appearing in front of an insect drives it one way and the bird can catch it more easily? 

So, after lounging around in the pool and being enthralled by the bee eaters we headed back to camp where we cooked dinner and shared our camp fire (great logs from the nudist camp!) with a couple of old soldiers before off to bed and another great night's sleep.

Friday

Heading home, we left Lorella with heavy hearts, but I am sure we'll be back - we have only scratched the surface of the places to see there and it is just so relaxing a place we'll always remember it.

We headed off, north up the Savannah Way and the first stop off was called the Southern Lost City. The turn off took us down a 4km long track that dropped us off at a camp ground with views of this lost city. Like so many others in the area, this lost city is comprised of sandstone spires that have been weathered into unusual shapes. 

Check them out:

The Lost City looked pretty spectacular and there is a walk that takes you all the way around it, but we were on a mission – we wanted to get to Mataranka before it got too late in the day so we left this walk for a future visit and continued on.

The next stop was in Butterfly Springs – the place is a camp ground located near a virtually permanent water source – a spring that is fed by rain collected in a range of hills and filtered through the sandstone. Being a permanent water source it has developed its own local ecology and birds and butterflies dominate. At least during the day. Time pressures meant we left this one for the future as well, but it should be a fun time exploring it. 

The Savannah Way from this point turned into a bit of a dirt super highway and we were able to cruise along at 90 to 100kph easily enough. There are half a dozen river crossings, but they all have early warning signs, to negotiate but at this time of year the water levels are low with the deepest ones having concrete causeways that kept the water depth to maybe 20cm. There were a number of well marked “Dips” as well and most of these would hold flowing water in the wet season but were dry for our journey. 

Unfortunately, the road deteriorated after the first hundred klms and became much rougher. Not anything like a challenge, but corrugations (especially those you find just before and after corners where the peak to trough measurement was up to about 12 to 15cm) are uncomfortable and annoying. The ‘jero handled it all very well although the dash started to dance around a bit. It did slow us down a fair bit though and it was getting on for 3:00pm by the time we rolled into the Roper Bar store for a rest and a coffee.

I added air to the tyres as the road from Roper Bar to Mataranka is bitumen (of the single central strip variety) and I expected to go a bit faster. I considered buying fuel, but the ‘jero seems to be quite economical and the $2.20 a litre price turned me off a bit so we left it alone and headed off to Mataranka, hoping for a cabin or motel room for the night.

The road was OK heading that way and I was able to cruise at 110kph comfortably enough although knocking off the speed and going two wheels onto the dirt was a regular enough feature of the drive as we met people coming the other way. The odd road train forcing us all the way off the road and to a stop as they thundered by.  Still, we hit Mataranka just before 5:00pm and got on the phone looking for somewhere to stay. Bear in mind that this was a long weekend in the Territory (Monday being the Picnic Day holiday) and it was no surprise that everywhere seemed to be booked solid. We did eventually find a cabin on a van park down near Bitter Springs that had a last vacancy - $120 for the night in a cabin – so we grabbed it and flaked out for a while. Dinner on the small deck area was good and afterwards we flopped onto the bed and fell asleep watching the first TV we had seen for over a week. 

We tried to extend our stay for another night, but they were booked solid so after a flop into the hot spring waters of Bitter Springs (so much nicer and so much less crowded than the Mataranka Homestead hot springs) we got back into the car and drove north.

We stopped at Katherine to fill up and found that the ‘jero was using about 10.4 litres per 100 klms since we last filled up and as that included days of 4WDing followed by 370km of dirt road driving (soft tyres) with a full roof rack followed by some reasonably high speed cruising with a full roof rack and all done on a brand new and very tight engine I have to say that I am very happy with that indeed. For the Poms reading this, that figure equates to about 27mpg.

I also stopped at the car wash in Katherine and used the jet wash to remove what seemed like a cubic metre of dust from the ‘jero. It still wasn’t clean, but at least I won’t be wading through a metre of dust and sand down in the car park each time we want to use it! 

Then home and tired, but very happy.

The East Macs - An Easter Adventure

Yeah -we decided to take advantage of the three public holidays (Good Friday, Easter Monday and ANZAC Day) and took a two week break and travelled down to the East MacDonnells down in Central Australia.

An additional incentive was to catch up with our daughter Laura who lives in Alice Springs.

We were really lucky that the whole of Central Australia had received a whole heap of rain in the weeks leading up to our trip so the place was green and fresh and the cattle looked fat and healthy (and tasty!) as we travelled through.

The trip down to Alice is 1,500 klms so we decided to make it a three day trip south and headed off on the Saturday morning. The basic storyline is:-

Saturday 12th April
An easy day's drive - filling up with fuel in Katherine we carried on to the Daly Waters Pub and spent the night there.

Let me tell you, this pub could easily have become a spoof of a bush pub, but we had a hell of a good time with a great feed, cold drinks and fantastic entertainment and all for a reasonable price.

It is highly recommended.

Sunday 13th April
We trundled on for another few hundred kilometers, refuelling in Tennant Creek, and ending up - oh, is this getting to be a habit? - at another pub! This one is just south of the Devil's Marbles at a place called Wauchope. Another nice pub and also recommended.

This pic was taken over the fence and shows a flock of pigeons facing into the wind. Cute eh?

The Marbles were bypassed this time round - we were thirsty and the flies at the Marbles are usually pretty bad. Still, even just driving past them, they are an amazing sight.

Monday 14th April
Alice Springs - we arrived early enough and booked into the Big 4 van park there. Not just because we wanted a van park, but mostly because the town still seems to be a hotbed of petty theft and we just wanted to avoid the pain.

We caught up with Laura after she finished work and went out to the Outback Steakhouse for dinner. Rather a disappointment really with poor quality food and poor service. The fact that they have a selection of flags and will put one on your table representing your origins - we got one with the NT flag on it as we are from Darwin - does not really add anything to the experience.

Tuesday 15th April
After picking up supplies and Laura we headed off out along the Ross Highway and landed up at the Ross River Resort.

This place is a true diamond and I can't praise it enough. The camping area is clean and grassed (well, at least it is after the rain they have had) and we had lots of space to spread out in.

The homestead, with the hosts Jodie and Shane, is rustic but the bar/restaurant is big and spacious and once the get to know us they did things like tell us to help ourselves from behind the bar and just mark it up on a tab. How friendly is that? 

Camp fires were the order of each evening there, as was gazing off into the starry sky at night (and there were SO many stars!) waiting to catch a shooting star as it flicked across over our heads.

The camping ground has toilets and showers and is surrounded by bluffs like the one shown in the pic above. Check out the blue of the sky and the green of the grass! 

Wednesday 16th April

Now it should come as no real surprise to anyone that knows us to find that the Binns Track runs right alongside the camping ground and we were forced to take this route to get up to N'Dhala Gorge which was the first of the gorges we were planning on walking through. 

Now isn't this a sign that all 4WDers love to see ahead of them?  Heh heh heh. Follow this track to N'Dhala Gorge. 

We drove off to the gorge and parked up - what bliss to be the only people at a place like this! This was something that would be repeated time and again and we loved the solitude.

As you can see from these photos, the gorge holds water for some time after rain and as a result is an absolute haven for wildlife.

The cultural side of this place is that it holds a recorded 5,900 petroglyphs that date between 2,000 and 10,000 years old although dating petroglyphs is not easy. We found a few of them and (with the aid of the explanatory notes provided by the Parks Department) were able to follow some of the stories they portrayed.

Interesting stuff!

For the ignorati out there, a petroglyph is an image chipped into a rock surface.

Heading back to the camp site we gathered some firewood. I know that a roof rack increases fuel consumption through the additional drag, but it also makes a great platform for carrying wood! 

We gathered much of it from the dry parts of river beds but the bottom was firm and easy to drive on and there was plenty of wood to pick up. I have always said that you don't need a chainsaw if you can wield an axe (and I always carry an axe), but perhaps I am getting lazy as a chainsaw would indeed make the task a fair bit easier, especially when you are dealing with trees that have been washed down the river and are not a simple axing proposition.

One thing I neglected to mention earlier is the fact that you need to cross the Ross River a number of times and the first three crossings held water.

This picture shows Laura driving across one of the crossings - she just loved doing it!  The water rose up to half way up the headlights at the deepest point (yeah - I missed it with the camera) so it generates some excitement and a test of the door seals, but it isn't a hard drive.

That night we had a clear sky with a perfect moon and a perfect camp fire. Gotta love a night like that! 

Thursday 17th April

Ruby Gap was the destination for the day and we set off fairly early as we were told it was a rough track into the place.

We bypassed Arltunga on the way in as we were keen to get into Ruby Gap and see what the place looked like and also to see if we could pick up any rubies (well garnets) from the sands there.

Well, as promised, the track was indeed rough and as an added attraction we found that the rain had cut quite a lot of deep channels and undercut the river banks we needed to climb as we drove through. Nothing that fazed the mighty Patrol but it slowed us down and made the ride uncomfortable.

Pics below show the countryside on the way in and some views of the gorge itself.

Once again we were the only people there - oh joy!

The pic above shows the track as it has descended to the river bed. Driving along this place was the only time we ever got close to bogging the Patrol as the coarse sand shifted all too readily under the wheels. 

We are facing one of the gorge walls here, having stopped for a bit of morning tea.  This pic, and the others below, struggle to convey just how majestic the whole place is. Some people don't like the feeling of being dwarfed by landscapes like this which is why the more human scaled gorges of the West Macs are so much more popular, but I love the feeling and the grandeur.

You just have to work a little harder to get to know the place.

Karen and Laura

Karen and me - I must do something about those man boobs though! 

I suppose I should show you a pic of the track in/out having said how rough it is. If you take a look at the trees either side you can see how steep the track is. Nothing challenging to drive, but you have to go slow. 

We had a late lunch at Arltunga and a wander around the information centre. We met a family of people who were just leaving the centre and heading off up the Binns Track and these were the only people we saw all day. Nice people too.

The info centre was a real mine of information, but there was nobody else there - no rangers or anything. 

We reached the home camp later that day and set up for a lamb roast in the camp oven. Could anyone possibly have a better day?

Friday 18th April

Well either too much grog was consumed last night or Laura really did have a head cold as she just wanted to stick around the camp and blow her nose all day.

Poos lass, she really did suffer with that cold.

Anyway, that left Karen and me to head off to Trephina Gorge to explore the place and then take on the Panorama Walk.

Just before we got there though we followed a signpost to the "Ghost Gum". Now, ghost gums are not exactly rare out here, but this one is the biggest example found in the East Macs and it is spectacular. At 35 metres tall and 300+ years old it deserves a little respect.

These are beautiful trees and with their China white bark that is so cool to the touch and so glassy smooth they are amazing to be near. Love them.

The Panorama walk was excellent although we really should learn to set off on these walks in cooler hours of the day.

The initial climb is very steep and takes you up a goat track on the gorge wall before you pop out on the top and take in the view.

Magnificent isn't it?

As I said before, it was the hottest part of the day and we felt the heat. Got to love Karen's hat though!   :) 

The walk down from the rim was a much gentler affair and lead down to the river bed some way up the gorge. The walk back to the car was shady and level enough and very, very enjoyable.

Saturday 19th April

Today, Laura felt much better so we returned with her to Trephina Gorge and drove out to the John Hayes Rock Hole side of Trephina Gorge and did the Chain of Ponds Walk.

Once again we had to climb the steep sides of the gorge wall to get to the rim and we then walked around to the beginning of one of the gorge arms before descending down the gorge as it stepped down to the bottom of the main gorge.

Small ponds were to be found at each step down and were beautiful to see.

Check out the pics!

This one is of the John Hayes Rock Hole itself and it is found before you head off up the gorge wall. It isn't very pretty or remarkable, but it is important as it holds water for many months of the year.

Yep - this is my shadow and is my entry into the "Wanky Photo of the Year" competition.

Time for a rest! 

It is at this point that you get a surprise as the only way forward is to climb up the gorge wall (literally climbing up the cliff wall) to get to the top so you can walk around to the end.

Surprising, but fun. Of course, I wouldn't be saying that if I fell and broke a leg! 

And so, back to the car park where we pulled a beer out of the fridge and sat in the shade chatting and recovering before Laura drove us back out, testing her skills on the undercut creek banks. 

Sunday 20th April

This was a Nothing Day where we did nothing except rest and read and relax all day while Laura took the car into Alice to pick up a few supplies and to contact her boyfriend.

It's a dirty job, but . . . .

Monday 21st April

This morning was indulgent and lazy and we headed down to the homestead to watch the Footy as Geelong were playing Hawthorn.

A really good game to watch, the result went well for us too as we beat the Hawks by 19 points. Happy days.

We are Geelong, the greatest team of all!

Tuesday 22nd April

We packed the Patrol with tents and camping gear and headed off to see Chambers Pillar some 150 klms south of Alice.

The plan was to stay there the night and see what the Pillar looks like at dawn and dusk - it is such an icon that we couldn't miss the chance.

Then again, we missed the dawn view just through being rather lazy and sleeping in.

Anyway - the pictures tell the story . . . . .

Yep - it's a red dirt drive to get there.

This is our camp site at the Pillar. What more can I add? Well, I could tell you what was provided I suppose. As you can see, they provide fire pits (each one with a BBQ plate) at each camp spot as well as a few gas BBQs. You can see one just in front of the Patrol - they not only have a BBQ plate (stainless steel) but also two gas burners and they are free to use.

We brought our own wood in with us, but there is plenty to pick up on the way into the reserve.

There are a couple of long drop toilets which are pretty good for remote areas dunnies - no complaints there.

Oh yeah - we were the only people there until late in the afternoon when a convoy of six vehicles belonging to a 4WD club from Sydney rolled in. It was almost a shame really as it destroyed the solitude, but they were nice and friendly people so all was good.

The only other remarkable thing is that Laura wanted me to bake some damper so I knocked up some dough (self raising flour, salt and a can of beer) and baked what is the best damper I have ever managed to produce. A huge success!

During the day we did the walk up to the Pillar and around the base and checked out the graphitti.

Plants found all around the place and in beautiful flower!

There were some names or initials from 1870 too and there are supposed to be some from 1860 but we didn't see those. They are records of the early explorers who used the Pillar as a landmark and recorded their visits in this way. 

It is, of course, illegal to add to these marks these days.

The local indigenous people have an explanation for the landscape. Apparently there was a great warrior who, taking advantage of his fighting prowess, used to romance and cajole lots of the ladies into being his partner for the hight and bully the men into not interfering. Then one day the woman he took was from the wrong skin group and was a woman forbidden to him (presumably a close relative) but he ran away with her anyway and in running away he took the form of a giant gecko. When they stopped to lie down the spirits were offended and turned him into Chambers Pillar and the girl was turned into Castle Rock as punishment and a warning to all people to not mess with women forbidden to them! 

Castle Rock

The Pillar during the day

The Pillar as dusk approaches - the way it glows is uncanny.

Sunset! 

Wednesday 23rd April

We left the Pillar quite late in the morning, back down the track to the junction with the Finke road and drove off to see Lambert's Geographical Centre of Australia.

This involved driving south towards Finke along the old Ghan railway line. Much of the time this was simple enough as the old raised line bed is level enough (albeit corrugated in places) and straight enough to allow safe cruising at 60 to 80 kph. But then you come on a section where the line bed has washed away and you have to drive down  the washout slope, across the bottom and back up onto the line bed. Often this is not quite that simple if it is an old washout as you have to consider the trees and boulders and, as I have said before, the recent rains have left it more cut up than it would normally be.

The scenery was intriguing and natural with only the sun glinting off the occasional green can or the back bumper of a Commodore at the side of the track to spoil it.

Still, it adds entertainment to the drive which is long enough - some 150+klms and it was amazing just how many Commodore rear bumpers there were decorating the track - certainly more than there were wrecked cars (90% on their roof for some reason) which were also a regular enough sight.

Heading back out from Chambers Pillar - as you can see, I am in the passenger seat now. Yep, Laura wanted to drive!

She loved driving over the sand dunes (which are all capped with roadbase and are not a problem to drive over although a sand flag would be a good idea) and roller-coasting our way out.

Taken from the top of the steep ridge that you need to traverse on the way in and out. The picture does not show quite how steep it is, but for instance, Laura dropped it Troll into low range to make the drive up (and back down) easier. Yep - steep! 

Can you see Chambers Pillar on the horizon? 

Driving back down the other side of the ridge. You can just see where the track simply drops away.

It's a big, wide land isn't it?

You can see here how the rainwater has cut a channel in the track - you don't want to drop a wheel in there! 

Further down the track, and you can see how it has widened and leveled off as well as the corrugations forming, I spotted something in the distance - what is it?

Well, we got to drive (slowly) right next to this mystery and it was a feral camel. Magnificent beast looking fat and healthy (or is that "pregnant and healthy"?) and completely at home here. There are reputed to be over a million feral camels around central Australia - they certainly are comfortable.

This is typical of the old Ghan railway line - straight and easy with the major dangers being the occasional washout and the large number of old railway spikes left lying around. These things can rip a tyre to shreds very easily indeed.

The track runs next to the western edge of the Simpson Desert and the red dunes and spinifex are all along it.

This was one of the railway sidings found all long the track. Called Bundooma, it was one of the best preserved and a great spot for a rest.

We didn't take any photos of Finke itself, nor (and this surprised me) of the Finke race track that runs alongside the 4WD track for pretty much the whole way. Interesting to see though.

However, we eventually got to the Lambert's Geographical Centre of Australia, driving up the access track which turned into a maze of roughly parallel tracks, but they all seem to lead to the same place so you can't get lost.

The Centre has the obvious marker (see the pics below), but it also has some camping facilities including toilets that are amusingly labelled "Flick Dry" and "Drip Dry" instead of the usual Gents and Ladies.

Me at the middle

Karen at the middle.

Why is there a fire extinguisher mounted there?

Laura at the middle.

From this point we drove off to the Stuart Highway, pumped the tyres back up and headed for Ross river on the bitumen.

Thursday 24th April

Heading home today, with many happy memories and lots of regrets at leaving the Centre and the East Macs in particular. We have had a great time there and we have been very fortunate with the weather. The rain earlier left it green and beautiful and while we were there the days topping at 26 degrees and the nights at 13 degrees were just beaut.

We will be back, and when we do we hope Jodie and Shane are still running Ross River - they have been fantastic hosts.

The journey home was much the same as the trip down although we stopped at Wycliffe Well instead of at the Wauchope Hotel, just for a change.

The next night we stayed at Daly Waters again, but what a difference two weeks makes!

Two weeks ago the place was moderately patronised with maybe ten rigs in the camping grounds. This time it was jammed full and people were camping in the overflow area. Almost all of them being NSW and Victorian grey nomads all heading north to rape the rivers of cherubim and complain about the price of everything.

Still, that was our Easter trip this year and it was great.