With Kylie and Jim's friends still in Darwin with car trouble, we elected to camp on the Hugh River - a short drive from town, but well located to explore the West MacDonnel Ranges. We found ourselves criss-crossing the river bed as we wound our way into the foothills of the range. We found a great camp not far from the main road close to a waterhole. A good selection of seasoned timber nearby meant we were soon warding off the chill air.
Camping just the way I like it
We decided around the campfire that we would continue to travel together for the next few days while continuing on to Uluru, and hope that Kylie and Jim's friends could meet us there. The boy's were thrilled that George would be travelling with us for a a few more days.
The next morning Kylie and Jim headed into town to supplement their food and fuel supplies (as they had only planned to be out for a couple of days). As there is very limited phone reception out of Alice Springs, we planned to meet on the road at a designated time - with back up meeting points, and actions if we didn't make it to camp that night, just like we used to do in the days before mobile phones made us lazy. We took a bit more time to get going in the morning, but with three little boys in the back seat, everyone was looking forward to a day together. Just as we pulled out of camp we came across a magnificent Dingo sitting in the sun, quite happy to pose for photographs. No doubt he intended checking out our camp after we left.
Our first stop of the morning was Ellery Creek. With the recent rain, the waterhole was full of water, which looked deep and cold. It was crystal clear, with not a ripple on the surface, and Jo tried to capture its beaty armed with Kylie's hot photography tips. I gave up trying with the iPhone, and instead took a couple of snaps of the kids having fun.
We stopped again at Serpentine Gorge. I took the walk to the lookout, whilst the kids and Jo walked into the base of the gorge. A natural waterhole at the entrance has created a natural barrier to brumbies, rabbits and other feral animals, meaning looking upstream is really like looking into a lost world. It was beautiful, and we decided we would like to explore it again - suitably equiped with lilos to enable us to cross the freezing waters of the waterhole.
We found ourselves again pulling off the road at the Ochre Pits. Ochre is essentially a coloured clay, used to create Aboriginal rock paintings, and when it is mixed with emu fat, it is used for body paint during ceremonies. What surprised me was the range of colour that was exposed. It was simply stunning that in such a short space the colours ranged from whites and yellows to deep reds and purples.
It was lunch time when we pulled into Ormiston Gorge, and after a quick bite to eat we set off into the gorge. The water looked decidedly on the chilly side, so we chose not to go for a swim, content to sit on the banks admiring the twisted buckled rock walls.
Ormiston Gorge was worthy of far more exploration, but our rendezvous with Kylie and Jim was fast approaching, so we sadly left and returned to the road.
Whilst refueling at Glen Helen the Little Fisherman overheard Jim calling us on the UHF radio. They were about to turn into Ormiston Gorge to find us, but instead we were able to meet at Glen Helen. Our little party reunited, we continued on the Mereenie Loop towards Kings Canyon.
Gosse Bluff, a crater formed when a comet struck the earth provided a stark range in the distance. The destruction that this impact must have caused can only be imagined.
Gosse Bluff
That night we camped just north of Kings Canyon at Jump Up Lookout. We settled in for the night around another great fire. The boys loved dancing around the fire, and kept us entertained well after their regular bed-time.
The following morning dawned cold and windy. We had been keen to walk the Rim Walk at Kings Canyon, however the strong winds coupled with the youthful exuberance shown by the three young boys caused us to err on the side of caution. We met several other people walking in the canyon itself who had also taken the cautious approach. We wandered up to the lookout point, dwarfed by the sheer massive sandstone cliffs that set Kings Canyon apart from many others.
A short walk downstream from the lookout, we spied a delightful pool in the rocks. It was a wonderful spot to pause and enjoy a morning tea. No doubt the rocks we were sitting on were smoothed not only be waters running through the valley, but by the hands and feet of people who had also sat and shared a meal here over several thousands of years. It was timeless and beautiful.
The colours and textures in the sandstone were incredible with a new feature at every turn. It was great to wander through the valley, but we knew we would be back.
With the weather still ordinary we made a decision to cut our loses and make ground towards Uluru. We figured that if the weather improved, we could come back here and do the Rim Walk another day.
Mount Conner
So after lunch we started to close the gap to Uluru. We didn't make it that afternoon, but we did pause at the lookout towards Mount Conner. Mount Conner is in the unfortunate position of being on the road to arguably the most iconic rock in Australia. Otherwise it would be quite an impressive flat topped mesa rising out of the plains.
We pulled into the free campground at Curtin Springs for the evening. Curtin Springs is a cattle station of a million acres. It runs around 3500 Murray Grey cattle - growing them out to around the 800kg mark before trucking them south for processing. Compared to Waterloo Station, running around 25 000 head on a station half that size - it is easy to see how difficult it is to run cattle here. Curtin Springs has almost 200 bores providing water for the cattle, and the mustering is relatively simple. Bores are turned off, forcing the cattle to make their way to watering points inside yards fitted with turnstyle gates. The outward turning turnstyle is locked shut, essentially trapping the cattle in the yards at the water.
We spent the equivalent of a camping fee on a couple of plates of hot chips for the kids and a couple of drinks for the big people before retiring to our camp.
Curtin Springs Campground
With only 100km to go to the big rock, we were all excited. There was no problem in motivating the boys to get up in the morning and help pack up and hit the road.
I was a little worried that Uluru would be over commercialised, over hyped and over priced. As iconic as it is, I was worried that we would come away disappointed or let down by the way it is managed and presented. I need not have worried - it far exceeded my expectations in every way.
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