Week 18: Alice Springs NT - Daly Waters NT

 Stats Overview

Km's Travelled: 1638

Km's Hiked: 20

No. of Campsites: 3

The Adventures

We have survived our biggest week of driving to date, and are coming to terms with the fact that our diesel bill is only going to get bigger the more we travel throughout the NT. We are now 1000kms north of where we started the week and are very happy to report that the temperatures are much more hospitable here. No more 0 degree starts for us for a while! 

We started off the week in Alice Springs which we both really enjoyed. Our only regret during our time in Alice is that we didn't stay long enough - there really is so much to see and do! On a side note, while there is certainly a lot of crime in Alice Springs, we didn't run into any issues during our time here and would highly recommend a visit if it is a place you want to see. A highlight of our time in Alice Springs was visiting their School of the Air base. The original School of the Air was started in Alice Springs back in 1951 by Adelaide Miethke, who had the idea that the radios used by the Royal Flying Doctor Service could also be used to teach students on remote properties. It was really interesting to learn some of the history of the school and also how it operates today. The facilities and technology that the teachers have access to is quite amazing - it is definitely nothing like the ill-equipped online teaching we had to endure during COVID! We also went and visited the RFDS base and got to have some fun experiencing being onboard a flight using their Virtual Reality (VR) goggles.  

We also used Alice Springs as a base to go and explore some of the nearby national parks. Our first stop was the West MacDonnell Ranges, which has a number of beautiful gorges and hikes. Our favourite hike was at Ormiston Gorge, where we ended up having to do a bit of a detour down a cliff-face to avoid crossing the chest-height, freezing cold water in the gorge, in order to get back to the carpark. We could have turned around and retraced our steps but where is the fun in that! We also went out to Finke Gorge NP which is nearby to Hermannsburg, home of the famous painter Albert Namatjira whose paintings were often inspired by the landscapes of the park. The highlight of Finke Gorge is visiting Palm Valley where, after a pretty wild 4WD track in, you come to an oasis filled with Red Cabbage palms. It is still an unsolved mystery as to how the palms came to be in this area. However, they certainly make for a spectacular view and make you feel like you have stepped into the tropics, not the arid lands of central Australia!

  After Alice Springs we started our journey north stopping along the way to visit the Devils Marbles and Tennant Creek before arriving in Daly Waters. We are now making our way to the much more "densely populated" areas of the NT and are enjoying seeing how much closer everything on the map is to each other. However, this week will still have some big driving days ahead of us as we have been fortunate enough to secure a campsite and permits to be able to make our way to Nhulunbuy in East Arnhem land.

Kodak Moments

Found the grave of Rev John Flynn (founder of the RFDS) - Alice Springs

Unique version of "quilting" done by students of the School of the Air - Alice Springs

I wonder where they got the name of "Redbank Gorge" from? - West MacDonnell Ranges

View over Ormiston Gorge - West MacDonnell Ranges

The inviting but freezing water we avoided - Ormiston Gorge

This place is even bigger in real life! - Standley Chasm

The ghost gums are so beautiful against the red rocks - Finke Gorge NP

The hidden tropical oasis of Palm Valley - Finke Gorge NP

A big rock is always for climbing! - Finke Gorge NP

No wonder Albert Namatjira took inspiration from these views - Finke Gorge NP

Can you tell Will didn't want to do this hike? - Finke Gorge NP

Glad these weren't the marbles we played with as kids! - Devils Marbles

Enjoying the sunset after a hard day of working - Tennant Creek

Nothing beats an outback sunset - Tennant Creek

Mandatory tourist shot at the NT's most iconic pub - Daly Waters