Colin warmer, Rose still cold, both of us wore our beanies in bed which helped a bit. doesn't take long for the sun to come up. Packed up and left camp heading towards Redbank Gorge, the raod to the gorge is sandy/rocky/corrugated/twisty and uppydowny, a bit rough in places, Colin enjoyed it. Just walked to the lookout, back onto main road and stopped at Tylers Pass lookout,, the views are stunning there is a big red rock
sat in the flat landscape in the distance to the south of us. as we continue along the main road we found a dirt road which led us to that rock, it's called Gosse Bluff. A meteorite crashed into the earth over 140 million years ago on this site causing the underlying rocks to lift up to what we see today. We walked to the edge of the crater.
The impact was said to be larger than the Hiroshima bomb. Amazing scenery. Back to the bitumen tto the junctionn with Larapinta Drive where we turned east towards Hermannsberg and the campsite at Palm Valley in the Finke Gorge National Park, 43 kms of dirt road. We drove into Hermannsberg but everythign closed for lunch so drove back to main road to fine road to Palm vally. Colin let the tyre pressures down. scenery going in is stunning along 21kms of gravel, sand, river bed
,and the biggest corrugations we've driven yet, more challenging than the Gibb River Road, the sign at the start of the track says allow 3 hours but we didi it in less than 1 hour. Lovely campground with hot solar showers. a family came in driving a D4 with camper trailer, Colin and the dad had a long chat about landrovers, we then had a walk down to the river. Cooked on camp BBQ as did everyone else, which then gets everyone talking to each other. After dinner joined 2 other couples round campfire, toasty before the cold night.
1 July Sunday
Blanket on top of mattress loast night, definitely warmer, still cold when we got up and we have a chilly wind. Just never expected to be this cold in Oz. spent morning warming up and talking to fellow campers, after lunch walked up to Kalangarra lookout,
good walk and wonderful views, nice to get out of the wind at times, we gathered some firewood for campfire. got cold very quickly and had a big soup with veggies for dinner followed by hot rice pudding with weetabix and jam, comfort food, then round campfire till bed. Dingos howling in the night.
2 July Monday
Very cold when we got up, just above freezing. Nothing folded or packed away well. Had hot milk on weetabix for breakfast to try and warm us up. Left site just before 9.30 for Alice, back along the 4WD track, it didn't seem as rough going back. Back on the bitumen we heard a bang, the solar shower bag went pop and water went up the windscreen, we think all the bouncing around was too much for it, just have to buy another. Uneventful drive back to Alice, arrived at G'Day Mate Caravan Park just before noon, set up tent and went into town for silicone spray (for tent zip) diff oil, on the way in we stopped at railway crossing for the Ghan train
to pass. whilst in town Rose bought some UGG boots
as feet constantly cold, even the men wear them. Back at camp to sit in the sum and try and keep warm. After dinner Colin spoke to Laurie then bed to keep warm.
3 July Tuesday
-5 degrees overnight, so cold. Rose put on 2 pairs of trousers when got up, till the sun came round and warmed her up. All the vehicles were iced over. A bloke called Jason stopped by for a chat with Colin, appears he saw us in Brisbane at the SLOW group, they chatted for 2 hours, eventually had breakfast and then to the Truckers Hall of Fame Museum, had a great time looking at all the trucks,
even found 3 old Land Rovers.
Saw a photo taken in 2000 of a truck pulling 79 trailers,
and a film of a pioneer trucker in the outback by the name of Tom Kruse, in the 1950s a film was made with the cameras following his everyday life, showing him digging his truck out of sand, climbing dunes, the film won and award at an international film festival, the early truckers were tough practical men. Back at camp bumped into Bob and Sarah, who we hadn't seen since Gladstone camp in WA, they broke down on the Tanami and were waiting for it to be repaired, it was good to catch up. Late dinner, it didn't seem as cold tonight. Spoke to Dee, she thinks it's hilarious it is freezing at night she thinks Rose should where her UGGS in bed as they are keeping her feet toasty warm.
4 July Wednesday
Woke up to hear someone scarping the ice off their windscreen, the frost is heaqvier this morning. Colin went to get some sugar and it's a solid block. Some fellow campers left their chairs out and they are covered in ice!! England is definitely warmer than Oz at the moment, when the sun comes up and you can get out of the wind it isw nearly hot. Spent day updating blog and sorting stuff in LRover ready to leave tomorrow. Rang Robyn she has a completion date of the house of 31 August, which is perfect as they will move out as we get home. She says the weather at home is warm but keeps raining. Had Kangaroo burgers for dinner, they were good and tasty. Axel and family invited us to watch the footie later with them but we were heading for the warmth of bed.
5 July Thursday
Another -4 deg night. Packed away slowly and after our goodbyes left site at 10 am. Took Ross Highway towards the East MacDonnell Ranges. First stop was Emily Gap, which is an Aborigine registed sacred site, it has a large roack painting depicting the Caterpillar dreaming.
At Jessie Gap the roakc painting is of Emu dreaming. Back onto Hway for 70 kms towards Trephina Gorge. The landscape isn't as sharp as the West Macs. Arrived at Trephina gorge about noon, the last 5 km on a dirt track, decided to set up camp here for the night, we were told it is warmer than Alice at night. After lunch and setting up camp, we walked up the edge of Trephina Gorge to the rim,
along the top for a while before descending into the gorge to walk back along the riverbed.
Hard work at timesw but the views were great, some of the rocks in the riverbed sand are a lovely pink colour. Both knackerd when we got back to camp. after dinner went to a campfire talk given by the Ranger Dan. He told us about the discovery of the gorge in the 1890s and how in 1966 it became a Nature Park under the care of the state. He talked about his role in the Park such as fire management, weed contral and pest control (they have problems with rabbits and feral cats). It was a good evening.
6 July Friday
FRIDAY FACT - NORTHERN TERRITORY IS AUSTRALIA'S LEAST SETTLED STATE
No frost - yippee. we've camped in shade so sun taking a while to get to us, stood in the sunshine to eat breakfast. Left camp and back on the bitumen towards Arltunga, after 12km onto dirt road, after follwing someone else's dust for 20km we stopped and Colin put tryre pressures down to 30psi, road is gravelly, corrugated and bit rocky in places. Road was twisty but where we stopped was very open with the wind cutting through you. Eventually reached to Cattlewater Pass Track, the book says allow 3 hours for the 55kms. The road constantly changed from gravel to sand, corrugations, roaks and small ditches, then there are the flat bits and twisty steep climbs,
very challegin 2hrs 20 mins, we saw one other vehicle towards the end. Finally reached the Plenty HWay, another dirt road, our route to Queensland. The Plenty is very wide with corrugations but we only had to do 50 km till our camp for the night at Spotted Tiger campground. We drove to local community store to pay for camp and permit but closed so just drove to campground, 8km south of the Hway. It is basic and rundown, no water just pit toilets. Set up tent and sat down by 4pm, a late finish for us. Sunny with very little wind. Colin had noticed temp guage went down , topped up rad and notice dripping under vehicle, looks like we need a new water pump, but we can get to where we are going ok. Sorted photos for blog then bed.
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