We had a leisurely breakfast and then went to look at the Glen Helen Gorge. After our marathon effort yesterday none of us were too keen to walk very far. Luckily for us it was under 10 minutes away and we made our way there across a mainly dry river bed. It was a very pretty spot and the Finke River was quite chilly. We took a couple of pics and then went back to camp. Along the track, Col spotted a small patch of the Sturt Desert Pea. So impressed!! These only appear after a good rainfall and we had been hoping to see some.

We left camp around 9:40am heading for Alice Springs. We stopped in to look at the Ochre Pits that are apparently still used today and then at Ellery Creek Bighole. This was a spectacular swimming hole. If we had more time we may have stayed a night or two.

Continued along to Alice Springs and went into the Botanical Gardens to have lunch. After a quick bite to eat and the necessary phone calls and messages we got back in the cars just in time before the sky opened up and dumped a heap of rain. The streets were flooding within minutes it was so heavy. We drove to the supermarket and with the rain having eased made our way inside through the flooded streets to stock up.

We decided that as it was only early we would make a start on the Tanami, so after filling the vehicles with every drop of fuel they could hold we made our way out of town. We drove for about an hour on bitumen roads before pulling in to Charley Creek Rest area for the night. This was where we had our first camp fire for the trip. It was only small due to the lack of wood but was so good.