Alice Springs, September 2002

The flight from Darwin was uneventful and I was met at the airport by an impossibly cheerful man from Toddy's, the place I was staying. I'd booked a 5 day camping trip with Sahara Tours to see a bit of the Red Centre. The accommodation at Toddy's was reasonably priced and comfortable. They've got a swimming pool, which was only for the brave or foolish at that time of year, and a quiet bar. The tour was due to leave at 6am, so after a couple of beers, I went to bed reasonably early.

Olga Gorge

The next morning, I packed a small bag, left my main rucksack behind and met the tour bus outside the hostel. I was relieved to see that it was a proper 4wd bus, rather than a Landcruiser. I had been dreading spending 5 days crushed in the back of a small vehicle.

We then set off for Ayer's Rock, stopping at a camel farm and a roadhouse along the way. It's a fair distance, so it was lunchtime by the time we got to our campsite. On the trip, all the tents were permanently pitched and there were camp beds inside. It was a camping trip, but we weren't exactly roughing it.

After lunch, we headed out towards the Olgas. This is a rock formation, similar to Ayer's Rock, but more eroded. Unlike Ayer's Rock, the Olgas are actually an amalgam rather than a single rock itself, but the two formations are both part of the same ancient alluvial fan. I was hoping that we would get to do the Valley of the Winds tour, but there wasn't time, so we went to Olga Gorge instead, which I'd already visited.

After the walk, we made our way to the sunset viewing area to watch the colours of Ayer's Rock change as the sun set. The place was packed and some of the more expensive tours were serving meals with champagne. We made do with some complimentary glasses of wine out of a box. The colour changes quite slowly, so it's only when you get the pictures back, that you notice how much it has changed. We then went back to the campsite and had a reasonably early night. We had to be up by 5am the next morning.

Sunset over Ayers Rock

The next morning, we had three choices. We could either do the long base walk, the short base walk or the climb to the top. I'd already climbed it when I was younger, fitter and more foolish, so I decided to give it a miss. However, it was quite windy, so the climb was closed anyway. Everyone else except me opted to do the longer base walk. I stuck to the short one which was still 5.5 km. It was a cool morning in the desert and I didn't see a soul for the first hour or so. The walk is interesting because of the rock formations caused by thousands of years of wind and rain erosion.

After lunch, we went to the Aboriginal cultural centre. There are signs everywhere saying that you're not allowed to take photographs inside because of their spiritual beliefs, so it was somewhat ironic that the first thing you see as you walk in is a television screen showing a video featuring Aboriginal people. Even more amusing was the sign on the gift shop/cafe door warning you that the premises are under video surveillance.

We then left and drove to our next campsite near to King's Canyon. The next morning started bright and early at 5am again and we were at the canyon by about 7am. The walk was quite strenuous but well worth it. The canyon itself is an impressive sheer drop and there were also beehive structure reminiscent of the Bungle Bungles further north. Our walk finished about 11am before the sun started to get really hot and we piled back on the bus again.

The edge of King's Canyon

This leg of the journey was quite long and we made our way to a place called Glen Helen in the western MacDonnell ranges. Not all the roads were sealed either, and we stopped at one point when the tour guide announced we had a “puncture” on one of the wheels of the trailer. The tyre wasn't just punctured, it was in shreds. On the way we stopped at a couple of scenic lookouts, and we could see Haast's Bluff in the distance. This was formed when a large meteorite crashed in the earth and it looked worth a visit, though we didn't have time.

At Glen Helen was a campsite, a bar/restaurant and some motel style units. The whole site is under a big cliff and there's a river which at the time has plenty of water in it. There was a verandah at the back and there are certainly worse places in the world to watch the sun go down over a beer. Later on in the evening, there was a live band.

That morning, we had a lie in. We only had to get up at 6am. It was even light. Luxury ! Our first stop of the day was Ormiston Gorge where we went for a short walk, and then lazed by a billabong for a while. After that, we visited the ochre pits, which are still used by the Aboriginals today as a source of body paints for their various ceremonies. Next was the Ellery Creek Big Hole, which was an opportunity to go swimming in a largish billabong. They don't have crocodiles in this part of the world for one very good reason. It's too cold for them. The water was freezing and even after ten minutes it didn't seem to get any warmer. I think I lasted about quarter of an hour before getting out.

Our next stop was Standley Chasm, which is a very narrow gap through the red sandstone hills. It wasn't very exciting, though there was an opportunity to see Rock Wallabies. They're so used to visitors there, that they ignore you. Then we went onto our final destination, Wallace Rock Hole, a small Aboriginal community with a campsite. As we drove into town, the first thing we noticed was a big notice board containing all their awards for Tidy Towns awards. It was obviously something they took seriously and it was a tidy place.

Ormiston Gorge

The owner of the local store, who wasn't Aboriginal himself, took as on a quick tour up to the rock hole itself. Normally he shows people the various types of trees he's got there and talks about bush tucker. However, a bush fire had been through about for days earlier and burnt a lot of it. So a lot of the trees were just blackened twigs, which was a pity. There are some rock carvings which are so old no-one understands them. I thought this was a shame, because the whole point of the carvings is that they help tell a story, and no-one knows what the story is anymore. Taken out of context, they were just some old grooves dug in the rocks. They're actually quite crude and certainly aren't artistic in any way.

Our final day took us to Palm Valley. On the way, we stopped in Hermansburg, another Aboriginal community, but this one is unlikely to win any Tidy Towns awards. Entering Palm Valley was the only part of the trip where we left the roads and went onto 4wd-only tracks along the bed of the Finke River. At one point, the bus did get bogged down and we all had to get out and push.

A long time ago, Australia was covered with rainforest. As the continent dried out and fires became more common, most of it died out. Some of the plants live on as remnants in places like Palm Valley. So you find cyclads, which are one of the most ancient types of plant, and palm trees. The palms here are a type of cabbage palm but they are only found in this area. Their nearest relatives are found hundreds of miles away in Queensland.

Don't drink unless you're a goalkeeper

Then it was time to head back to Alice Springs. On the way we stopped at John Flynn's grave. He was the founder of the Royal Flying Doctors. That night we agreed to meet at a pub called Bojangles in town. Alice Springs is where the Aboriginal drunks congregate because the communities are all dry. So as I used the ATM, a red-eyed woman tried to beg two dollars off of me. She looked so pathetic, but I figured she was only going to spend it on drink, and if anyone was going to spend my money on drink, it was me. The pub was a strange mixture of the usual NT locals in one corner who looked like they were going to a ZZ Top convention, and life sized figures of Ned Kelly, presumably for the tourists. The food was a bit pricey, but good. Everyone on the trip turned up, except the tour guide who arranged it all. After that a couple of us moved onto one of the backpackers' bars before I walked back to Toddy's. It's about a quarter of an hour walk. During this time, no fewer than three police cars slowly cruised past me.

The next day, I walked into town for breakfast before my flight in the early afternoon. In the shopping precinct, I saw a small Aboriginal man. He was about 5 foot nothing, white haired and was all skin and bone. He was showing a police woman lumps on his leg and head where someone had beaten him up. It was a truly depressing sight.

Toddy's courtesy bus took me back to the airport. It's not the biggest airport, but they did have a gift shop with Steve Irwin dolls in it. When you pressed its stomach, it spoke. Outstanding! Sadly, I didn't have enough room in my luggage. It was already 25 kgs, though the Qantas staff didn't say anything about it. My next stop was Cairns in the far north of Queensland.

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