Big day out today. We left at 10am and headed west along Namatjira Drive towards Palm Valley Track in the Finke Gorge National Park. The road was sealed for about 50km, but then unsealed for 20kms or so then sealed for a bit more, then unsealed for 43 kms - that was a little bumpy but nothing compared to the next section. The road into Palm Valley is 'severe 4WD driving' as per the sign, and indeed it was. It took us 90 mins to travel 22kms; the last 4km took 30 mins - it was great fun though, and the greenery and palms are amazing. We arrived at 1.15 pm and did the 1 hour ArankaiaWalk which took us along the base of the valley, and across the plateau on return.

The return drive was a bit quicker partially because we knew the track/road and also because we desperately wanted to get back to Redbank Gorge to use the inner tubes we'd hired to 'ride down' the gorge pools. It was about 4.15 when we arrived at Redbank, and we headed off with tubes, oars, towels, wetsuits, etc on the 1.2km (20 min) walk from the car park. The first half was okay as the track was obvious, but then we were just walking across boulders and there was no path to follow, so it became quite difficult. The light was fading and Mum made the call the stop: so the kids and Dad went on and took a photo of the gorge, and we traipsed back with all the gear: whilst it was a fail in terms of not doing the tubing, we probably needed to have arrived about 2 hours earlier to have had a go at it, and even then, this time of year there's not much water in the gorge anyway, and it's freezing water too! Highlight of Redbank was Eamon spotting another dingo!

So we made our way back to Glen Helen Resort and had a lovely dinner at the Restaurant - Mum & Dad had kangaroo, Renee had barramundi and Eamon had fish & chips. Mud Cake for dessert and everyone was happy.