Around Alice Springs

We came to Alice Springs six years ago and loved it.  It is a vibrant and cool town with nice cafes serving excellent food.  The MacDonnell Ranges provide a wonderful and picturesque backdrop for Alice Springs.  The ranges stretch 400 kms from east to west on either side of the town and this partof Alice is called The Gap where the road passes through the gap in the ranges between east and west.

The same massive earth movement that gave shape to much of Central Australia and created Uluru and Katja Tutja, also created the ranges between 310 to 340 million years ago.

We revisited the bridge club where 6 years ago we attended a marvelous party to celebrate the royal wedding of Prince William and Kate Middleton.  This time, it was a much more subdued session.

Afterwards, we drove out eastwards first, visiting the Emily and Jesse Gaps which are small gorges through the East MacDonnells.

 

Aboriginal drawings of the three caterpillars, special to this region.

Jesse Gap.

Corroboree Rock.

Then came the jewel of the East MacDonnells, Trephina Gorge where we did the gorge rim walk of 2kms which was really spectacular.  The gorge is know for its sheer quartzite cliffs, red river gums and sandy creek bed.

The gorge does not normally have water in it except for one waterhole which is at the base of a cliff and is quite deep.  On a warmer day we may have had a dip in it.










We stayed a couple of days at the Ross River campground and had dinner at the homestead, celebrating Rob's birthday.

Another roaring fire in the dining room.

Walking from the campground to the homestead for a swim.  The climate here involves pretty damn cold nights and mornings around this time of the year but swimming weather during the day.

John Flynn's memorial just 10 kms out of Alice towards the west.  Flynn of the Outback founded the Flying Doctor Service and his memory is revered right through the outback.  We also visited the John Flynn Centre at Mt Isa.