From Alice Springs to Uluru

Having a few days in Alice after the walk and today we did our first real tourist attraction by spending the day at the Desert Park.  Went to the session on ‘Aboriginal Survival in the Desert’, where we learnt a lot about tools and implements and how they were made, plus bush tucker and bush medicine and how to light a fire with kangaroo droppings (dried not fresh). Saw lots of birds and an excellant nocturnal house with birds, insects, snakes and animals.  Also went to a Free flying bird show which featured some well trained raptors including a wedge-tailed eagle.  A torrential downpour and hail storm hit us just at the end of the free flying bird show we were watching.  Didn’t realize we were in the middle of the worst June storm in Alice in 20 years- 163mm of rain fell in 24 hours and the average rainfall for the month of June is 13mm.  Driving back to the van park we saw a town covered with white hail stones, flooded main streets and most of the shops were shut due to storm damage.  Many roads were closed and the Todd River was flowing -unusual as it is generally dry.  The Desert Park is rated as the ‘must see’ attraction in Alice and we were impressed with the calibre of the displays and presentations and the overall layout of the park; very compatible with its stunning natural surroundings.

We departed Alice after a quick stop at the hospital to check my knee; decided to leave stitches in longer and I should try to keep my leg up (easier said than done!). Had a pleasant sunny drive heading for Uluru and ended up all alone in a deserted bush camp with a stunning view of Mt Connor, about 100k’s from Uluru.

Much against my ‘better judgement’ I agreed with Dick’s strong suggestion that we stay in our bush camp for one day and I sat with my leg up all day (being waited on), and never left the van.  Ankle is almost back to normal size, but not my idea of a fun day, especially with no internet or phone.

Back on the road today and set up in the Yulara Resort campground near Uluru for 4 nights.  Had a sunset viewing of Uluru/Ayers Rock, saw some aboriginal bush dancing and had our first dinner out since we left home.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A 5 day guided walk with ‘Life’s an Adventure’….

We are walking in a group of 11, which includes six doctors (3 couples who know each other) from Adelaide, a couple from Brisbane and a woman from Sydney.  All nice people plus two guides.  Our first stop was Standley Chasm, which is in an area controlled by the aborigines, so all need to buy a permit to walk there.  We all walked through the chasm but the bonus of this stop was that we were given a cultural discussion by an aboriginal woman called Dee.  It was excellant and most of us agreed we had never had access to the information she presented to us about aboriginal culture.  One area she explained was the skin system and the family systems.  She was insightful, well spoken and very intelligent.  She used meaningful analogies to explain how the cultural differences were behind so many of the societal problems we (aboriginal and whites) now have.  She used to have a good government job and saw how the lack of understanding lead to so many problems and misundstandings, so she started her own company running these cultural sessions.  Some concepts presented included: the aboriginal culture has no ‘please or thank you’ concept.  People have roles according to their skin sign and that means they have responsibilities that must be fulfilled.  It is a collective society with a different concept of family and auntie and uncle.  It seemed like the sort of material that should be taught in all primary schools, and would explain to us the background to much aboriginal behaviour.

After that we drove to Ormiston Pound and did the pound walk through spectacular Ormiston George.  It was about 12k’s and got us climbing straight away.  We also did a lot of boulder scrambling through the river bed, and crossed over the river a few times.  The scenery was so spectacular we hardly noticed the difficulty.  Because there has been an unusual amount of rain we had to do a tough river crossing, where some got wet up to their neck, some slipped on the rocks and went under.  Finally Dick  and I scored a benefit of being at the end, as the guide found an easier route and we only got wet up to our waists (lucky we changed into our swimmers).  Then we had our first night in the tents which one of the guides had already put up for us.  Dick and I missed the van that night, but it was ok.  I wore thermals and had two sleeping bags as it was quite cold.

The next day we climbed up Mount Sonder, a 700 metre vertical ascent climb and  7-8 hour walk.  We got to the top and enjoyed great views the whole way. All was going well until about 3 k’s down from the top I tripped and fell and badly gashed my left knee.  It was flat and I was marching along so fell really hard on some sharp rocks.  The gash is about 2″ long and 1″ wide and quite deep.  I was a bit dizzy and felt like passing out but managed not to.  After getting bandaged up by the guide, with extra instruction from both of us, taking two neurofens and resting a bit, I managed to walk the two hours down the mountain and we got out before dark. Then we drove in the bus half an hour back to camp. There are 6 doctors in our group, so they all had a look and did a group consult and said go to the hospital and get stitches.  They did clean the wound and bandage it up.  The guide had to drive us 2 hours into the Alice Springs hospital and then he had to drive back to camp, so it was a late night for him as we didn’t get to the hospital til 9:30pm. By then I needed a wheelchair as I couldn’t walk. We got a fabulous doctor who fixed me up, and also gave us tourist advice.  The needles for the anaesthetic hurt like crazy, and then the rest was ok as it was all numb.  Got about 6 or 8 stitches, didn’t look while he was doing it.  Fortunately we had the motorhome parked at a hotel close to the hospital, so as it was about midnight on Saturday night and the town is really full, we just went back and parked in the carpark of the hotel where we had been advised to leave the van during the walk. I felt like a squatter.

Actually it has worked out ok.  We rejoined the group at Glen Helen homestead, as this was the plan for the walk.  Dick only missed one day’s walking and I had a nice place to stay to rest up my leg.  The doctor said not to walk for a few days and keep it up so thats what I’m doing.  Stayed in bed sleeping or reading the whole day.  Dick enjoyed the walk from Serpentine Gorge to Serpentine Chalet  They followed the gorge for about 6k’s and got to Count’s Point where there was a spectacular view of Hidden Valley.  Its now the last day of the walk and the group are doing an 8 k walk near the Ochre Pits up to Inarlanga Pass, another beautiful gorge.  We have the van so I have a nice place to hang out while they walk. After that walk we drove to Ellery Creek Big Hole where a few of our group had a swim.  The last stop was Simpsons Gap where we saw lots of rock wallabies.  The cliffs, gorges, trees etc were beautiful in all these places.  Dick’s summation of the walk was that the Larapinta Trail was much more spectacular than he had anticipated and really awe inspiring.  Every day we saw really great stuff.  Hope you enjoy these pictures!

Pat and Dick