Gorges a the MacDonnell ranges

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Two things you need to know about this trip

1) After the Alice trip I got a bit sunburnt on my neck. I decided to get a better hat, and when I realised I could match my hero Russell Coight (youtube him!) well it was an easy decision. You are unlikely to see camping trips of me on here without that glorious hat

2) Claire was supposed to book us on a tour of these ranges. She didn’t. Initially we were really dissapointed when it was booked out… but it turned out to be the best thing ever! We hired a landcruiser and had a lot more fun together than we ever would have in a group of stranges. Amazingly, the cost including everything was about $10 more… extremely good value. I recommend Hertz in Alice Springs, nice people.

I didn’t expect much of this trip. You go to Alice to see the rock, right? Wrong!


I don’t know what is better, the gorge or the hat

Simpson’s Gap was first and it was reasonable, sort of what I expected. A very striking Gap.
Standley Chasm was next, again an interesting walk, very nice and I was having fun.
Ellery Creek Big Hole was pictured. Amazing. One of the best gorges I have ever seen. The water was ice cold. But I could not believe how amazing it was.

We then drove to Redbank Gorge. It was a short distance walk across the riverbed. But so many massive rocks that it took for ages. Worth it, but we realised we wouldn’t have time for Serpentine Gorge, which was apparently very similar.


The exception to the hat rule – when my hat is being used as the stand for the self-timed camera

Then we went to Ormiston Gorge which was again beautiful. We then backtracked to Glen Helen Gorge which was accessible by the public and again just as nice as anything I’d seen.


Seriously how good is the hat?

We then moved on to the Orchre pits which was very interesting, before seeing the sunset back at Ellery Creek Big Hole, which I thought was the most exceptional.

Overall an amazing and unexpected day! Australia is beautiful.

 


Relaxing for lunch under a gumtree at Ormiston Gorge

Red Centre Trip – Day 3

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On our last day we took a long hike across King’s Canyon. It was a great walk and the canyon itself was amazing.

Us, right at the start.

Once again, I was really surprised by the amount of water that was present. Admittedly it had been raining recently, but you really got the idea that the desert wasn’t endless sand dunes, it was far more hospitable than you would think.

I am still awed about how indigenous people thrived out here though.

Claire at the main waterhole

Funnily enough, the clouds came racing at us, and we only just got back from the bus before a large deluge. From there it was 5 hours home, a pretty successful and enjoyable trip.

 


I wish I knew who this couple were, I would love to give them this photo.

Red Centre Trip – Day 2

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So we woke up super early and headed straight to Uluru. Our guide gave us the choice about either seeing Uluru at sunrise and taking a 5km around most of the base, or taking the full 8km around the base. Surprisingly we were the only people who opted for the sunrise, but how could you pass up this view?


Note Kata Tjuta to the left

The walk around Uluru was amazing. For whatever reason, I guess the timing, we basically had the walk to ourselves. Despite the photos everywhere else, tourists were everywhere. But around that walk, especially the first hour, we were all alone. It was amazing.

Amazingly, there was water all around the rock, and some great waterfalls and pools

Afterwards we headed all to the camp and King’s Canyon and we were treated for a great sunset across the ranges. Well, actually I did, Claire went to get a Diet Coke and it took a mite longer than she expected, and she managed to miss it! But it was still nice to hang out at the viewpoint. It was so nice that we came back to it hours later and saw the stars. Being so far away from natural light sources had them really come out. But I don’t know how to take good photos, so I guess they are for my memory only!

 


Sunset over King’s Canyon

 

Red Centre Trip – Day 1

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Claire is currently based in Alice Springs and her and I had a week off from classes. So I flew up to see her, and we took a prebooked trip to see the red centre. Day one was about 5 hours driving, a view of Mt Conner, to a walk to Kata Tjuta, and a sunset view of Uluru.

The bus ride was fairly ordinary, but that will happen, and Mt Connor (often referred to as the fake Uluru was alright). We got to the camp and there was way too much stuffing around, picking up people’s whose flights were late, and we missed half of Kata Tjuta. Pretty ordinary of the company I thought. But it was great:

Next we were hurried away to see the Uluru sunset, which was very impressive

Great fun and we retired for the night at camp. It was cold, and we got to sit around the fire – great fun!

Short Walks in Japan

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I haven’t been updating this site very much lately. I wish I could say I was fishing and camping so often that I haven’t had time. But the truth is that after living in the tropics for seven years, my first Melbourne winter hasn’t got me motivated to venture to the great outdoors.

However, across my wife’s birthday we were lucky enough to be able to spend a week in Japan. We got some nice warm weather, and I was able to get a few short walks in. Although I wouldn’t classify these as bushwalks, I thought I would update the site with some happy snaps.