Busy day today with our aim to visit some of the gorges of the West MacDonnell Ranges.

First stop was the Ormiston Gorge where we chose to do the 2.5 km Ghost Gum walk: it took us up high in the gorge at a lovely lookout directly above the main waterhole. We then descended down into the base of the gorge where the waterholes were. The water was freezing, but nice and refreshing on the face. Coffees and drinks at the kiosk were a nice ending to that experience. On our drive out of the gorge, Dad spotted our first dingo in the wild - he was just jogging along the side of the road - not bothered about us, and going about his business - it was exciting for us though!

Further up the Namatijira Drive were the Ochre Pits where the aborigines continue to use the area for body paint for ceremonies. The colours of the rocks were amazing - the pits are actually rock faces in the creek bed (dry at this time of year).

Our lunch stop was at Ellery Creek Big Hole, which has high red cliffs, a large waterhole and a sandy creek surrounded by gums - it was a beaut spot for our picnic lunch. The water was absolutely freezing, but many people braved it - we just went in to our knees - that was enough.

On the way back to Glen Helen Resort, we dropped into Serpentine Gorge. The walk was 1.3km from the car park but it's amazing what's at the end of a dry, dusty, fly ridden service track - a beautiful cool oasis! Renee and I then took on the challenging 15 min lookout walk which was basically taking steps directly uphill with not a lot of options if you fell - the higher we rose the more concerned I became at how we would descend - the lookout was fantastic but I was glad to get back to the service track and rejoin Dad & Eamon.

We got back to the Resort, and went out again immediately for some firewood - last night our neighbours invited us to share a campfire with them, so tonight we thought we'd do something similar with our new neighbours - the wood wasn't too hard to find, and it burnt for a few hours into the evening and we shared travel tales with some people from Adelaide.