West MacDonnell Ranges

20 May 2012

May 04th.

The usual drill is: wake up with the sun, enjoy a couple of hours in bed (it’s freezing outside, might as well stay in bed), have breakfast, do last night’s dishes, pack up everything, take a shower and go.
Well, not this morning it’s not. Key in the ignition, nothing happens. I have no lights on the dash, yet the radio, GPS, UHF, fridge and headlight work. So it’s electrical but it’s not the battery. The gauge says both batteries are fully charged anyways. What the f***?

A quick look at the wiring under the bonnet, all fuses are good, but we spot a wire which has snapped. It’s a fusible link; which explains why the engine does not start. Well, there is no way I can find a fusible link here, nor at the resort, so we’ll have to do some bush-mechanic trick to get us started. A coiled wire kindly gathered from the resort staff does the trick, the engine is running, we just have to pray the wire does not melt. Or of it does, close to a town would be nice… Yay McGuyver !

The original plan was to drive the Ernst Giles Road then the Boggy Hole Road, but everyone we ask tells us it’s a bad idea. Apparently it takes thirteen hours to drive the 100k road, it’s full of quicksand and it should not be driven with just one vehicle… Right, all that with a fried fusible-link….

So, plan B: Larapinta Drive to Finke Gorge National Park, and camp at Palms Gorge, then Namatjira Drive to Alice. The campsite is 18km south of the main road and only 4wd access. Yeppee, a bit of fun for Troopy !!

The drive takes us along the riverbed, through the gorge, and criss-crosses the river six or seven times, on sandy then rocky parts. Great fun, and again, some more spectacular views.

Distance today: 195km, total: 16133km.

May 05th

Our friendly next door neighbour comes to introduce himself and have a chat. Patrick is Swiss and heard us talk in French, and his lovely wife Lia (New Zealand but speaks fluently French) joins the conversation. Their two sons and the four of us decide to go bushwalking through Palms Gorge together. It’s a great walk, mostly through the dry riverbed, though a few ponds bring some freshness to the place. Quickly we reach the palms which seem completely out of place in this dry environment. They’re survivors from a distant era, when most of Australia was covered by the sea.

The six of us enjoy each other’s company, while the boys do what boys do (splashing, throwing things to see if it breaks, punching each other, boys stuff), we learn Lia is actually a published writer (check out www.liahills.com) and both of them have spent more time travelling than actually working. From Africa with a Lada Niva and the Maghreb by motorcycle, to the Middle East, Lia has even been to Pakistan on her own. A true inspiration for Claire and I.

I must admit though, Patrick seems as inspired by Troopy as his two sons who reckon the car is “really awesome”. Still, I’m amazed his little Subaru made it all the way to here.

Since we’ve spent all day walking around, it’s too late to go camping elsewhere, so we re-pitch the tent at the same campspot, and spend one last night at Palms Gorge.

Distance today: 9km, total: 16142km.

May 6th.

Pancake for brekkie, YAY !!!

We say goodbye to the “Swiss Family” and drive off to Hermannsburg, where we meet them again. After a quick visit at the local supermarket then the heritage village (Hermannsburg is known for its German missionaries in the 19th century. Some of the old building have been restored and are open for public viewing), we then all meet again at the oval for some local footy. The communities in the area all gathered today for a day of games. We watch the first game (first footy experience for Claire, by Aboriginal people, how cool is that) then drive off East.

Tonight we camp at the Redbank Gorge, after a disappointing visit at Gross Bluff, yet another meteorite crashsite. We’ll be driving the Namatjira Drive till Alice, a nice ending for our outback adventures.

Distance today: 130km, total: 16272km.

May 7th.

We walk to the actual gorge, with the firm intention of going for a swim… Well, after the toes and maybe one foot into the water, we decide against it. Let’s just say we’ve had warmer waters…

Sitting on the riverbank, a couple from Melbourne warns us about the violence in Alice Springs. Well it may be rumours, it may be true. All we know is, so far, after a month in the presence of Aboriginal People, we’ve never felt in danger. We’ll see for ourselves.

Further along the road, yet another gorge: Ormiston. Well the water is just a tad warmer so I gather all my courage and jump in. F** me it’s cold ! It’s beyond refreshing, it’s bloody freezing. The waters actually get so little sunshine that it’s not uncommon for small animals such as lizards and snake to fall in from the overhanging cliffs, get lethargic and drown then get eaten by a passing bird of prey such as a falcon or a kite.

Bushcamp at Serpentine gorge, yet another superb sunset. Why on earth would you pay for a campground when you have a choice to go bush, it’s beyond me…

Distance today: 73km, total: 16345km.

May 08th.

We left Serpentine for another ice cold swim at the next gorge, colder than yesterday actually. This time Claire is a lot braver and she gets into it. We meet another Swiss couple with their little girl, they’ve been around the world for the past six months and will have another six months between here, South America and some other exotic place. They indicate us a “nice and quiet caravan park” in Alice Springs… We’ll discover later that it’s not so nice, and not so quiet.

The freezing swim left us a bit weary so we decide to bypass the last two gorges in the West Macs and make our way to Alice.

The city welcomes us, with traffic, noise, crowd, pollution, all the things we’ve dearly missed. Well, we also go to the bottle shop, the supermarket and get our first hot shower since we’ve left Kings Creek. Cities aren’t all that bad I suppose.

The “nice and quiet caravan park” turns out to be loud and rather dodgy, but at least it’s cheap.

Distance today: 80km, total: 16425km.