West MacDonnell Ranges
The West Macs was a surprising change, in stark contrast to the flat plains we had seen for the past few days. They were filled with dramatic scenery, awesome geology, birds and animals, and waterholes with WATER in them!!! Our first stop was at Standley Chasm because we wanted to be there around midday to see the sunlight on the chasm floor, and as a bonus we saw a dingo on the drive in. We made it with plenty of time so spent about 2 hours there, watching the colours change and had a picnic lunch. It was a beautiful place to just relax. Then we drove onto Ellery Creek Big Hole, which was a nice spot too but it was too cold for a swim. We also stopped at the Ochre Pits, where the aboriginals gathered red, orange and white ochre to use in ceremonies and to trade. Then our final stop for the first day was the camping ground at Ormistone Gorge. In the morning we walked to the Ghost Gun Lookout (which was quite a hike carrying Callen!) and we were blown away by the views of the gorge and surrounding cliffs. We completed the loop "walk" back past the waterhole, that turned out to be more of a "bouldering" experience picking our way through the boulders in the creek bed. This is also quite difficult with a 10 kilo child strapped to your front!!! But it was all worth it because we both agreed that Ormistone Gorge was the best place we had visited in the West Macs (and was way better than Kings Canyon!). We then drove on to Glen Helen Gorge but couldn't walk into the gorge because of the river level. But Callen had lots of fun spotting the "ducks" (waterfowl) and this place seemed like a paradise for birds. At this point we turned around and headed back towards Alice Springs, stopping at a couple of lookouts along the way, and also visited Simpsons Gap. As it was late in the afternoon we were hopeful of seeing one of the Black-footed Rock Wallabies that live there, and met a couple of guys along the track who were watching a few of them with binoculars. They were kind enough to let us look through the binoculars too and although the wallabies were hard to spot at first, it was great to see them sunning themselves on the rocks. A bit later on, we saw one wallaby even come down closer of the waterhole but it was still wary of all the tourists. So that was another awesome experience, to see such a special and rare animal in the wild. We finished our West Macs experience by stopping by Flynn's Grave, the memorial to Reverend John Flynn who established the Royal Flying Doctors Service and brought much needed medical help to outback areas. We really enjoyed ourselves in the ranges but will remember the stunning landscapes most of all.