Alice Springs 8th - 12th September

Drove into Alice Springs mid-afternoon with no solid plans about where to stay. We made a quick visit to the information centre and decided to set up camp at the Big 4. All children quickly made friends around the swimming pool and the jumping pillow.

On our first morning we went to Desert Park. It’s a large flora and fauna park set up in the desert. There was a great talk given by a local Aboriginal about survival in the desert. We went to a talk and display  of local birdlife. We sat in aviaries, walked amongst kangaroos and viewed night wildlife in a large nocturnal exhibit. By late morning it was getting hot so we headed into town for a quick shop, some lunch, bought new shoes for the boys and walked through some indigenous art galleries.

The next day we drove to the West Macdonell  Ranges. It was about an hour drive to Ormiston Gorge. The scenery on the drive was magnificent. Red, black and orange dotted with ghost gums. At Ormiston Gorge we swam in a large waterhole and played on the rocks and sand.  On the drive back to Alice Springs we stopped at Ellery Big Hole Creek. Here there was another great waterhole to swim in. This was a bit bigger than the one at Ormiston Gorge. Boyd and Imogen swam across the waterhole to a narrow section with towering rock walls on either side.  The water was cold and the flies, in their thousands, were close to unbearable.

On day four we visited some more art galleries and Lisa found a painting she particularly liked. It is now rolled and packaged in the back seat of the tarago. We sat in a hands on didgeridoo workshop. Imogen is a natural, Boyd’s attempts are very airy, and the boys tried their best.

After three days of cleaning up in Alice Springs we headed for Uluru.