Three days in Alice Springs isn’t nearly enough particularly when we really needed to clean the motorhome, restock, refuel, carry out some repairs, and finally relax. Alice is a lovely town. Its isolation means everything you might need is conveniently clustered within a small area — hardware stores, hiking and camping supplies, well-stocked supermarkets (though eggs were in short supply!), and mechanical services. We even found two restaurants that turned out to be gems – an Indonesian and a Vietnamese. Thankfully we’ve had no mechanical issues, but will need to replace the filter on the drinking water tap.
Alice Springs from Anzac Hill, looking over the town to the West MacDonnell Ranges. For those not in the know, the flags are the Australian flag, the Northern Territory flag, the Aboriginal flag and the Torres Strait Islander flag.
Thursday, Friday, Saturday
Palm Valley, another highly recommended destination, is 123km SW of Alice in Finke National Park. To get there you travel through Hermannsburg and Namatjira country. Albert Namatjira (1902–1959), an Arrernte landscape artist born in Hermannsburg, captured the breathtaking beauty of this region in his distinctive paintings.
A monument to the great artist.This is the home Albert built for his family after he was granted Australian citizenship — the first Aboriginal person to receive it. (Pause a moment to consider the irony of this.) Despite achieving significant success and international recognition as an artist, restrictions placed on Aboriginal people at the time meant the government controlled his finances, preventing him from leaving the legacy he intended for his family.Finke National Park is named after the Finke River, the oldest river in the world based on studies of its geology. Now it only runs a few times a year. Our drive into Palm Valley necessitated us driving along its very rocky bed.After settling in to camp we walked back here to do the Mpaara Walk amongst all these amazing landforms.We decided this rock looked like a grouper (the fish!)The views just kept coming. Incredible country.Back at camp, we enjoyed a cold drink while admiring the brilliant colours of the mountain as the sun set. Next morning we embarked on the 13.5km moderately hard Palm Valley and Mpulungkinya Track. It is possible to drive 4 km closer, but the road is in very poor condition and 4K just isn’t worth damaging our motorhome for.Steve doing some arty photography. Palm CreekPalm Valley is named after the rare Red Cabbage Palm, a species found nowhere else but this valley. This photo shows a young plant, while the palms in the following images are fully grown, showcasing the mature form of this unique species.I took this photo after a lot of climbing got us to the top, then the arrow just pointed down, seemingly over the cliff edge! Yikes! It was a lovely walk alongside Palm Creek, then up and over the hill and back down again to follow the creek back to the trailhead. One tricky section had me balancing on a very narrow ledge clinging to the rock face by my fingertips while Steve put pressure on my back to prevent me falling. What one does, hey!
Next morning we headed back to Alice Springs to restock and prepare to head north.
