Very excited about today's exhibition. Have been hearing a lot of great things about this awesome place just out the road called Palm Valley.
So after yet another pancake Sunday here at the caravan park, we packed our lunch and snacks and piled into the Nissan and headed off on our Sunday drive. We headed out on Larapinta Drive marveling at the West MacDonald Ranges on our left side. When l say we are going just out the road, l mean we are heading to Hermannsburg about 126kms away, a measly 2.5hrs! The scenery of the desert country is magic! Love the desert flowers scattered everywhere and the rolling ranges with their deep red sandstone cliffs, breathtaking! Anyway, we get to the Palm Valley turn off and start our dirt road drive which is only 22kms, but it would take us 45 mins to reach our destination! The track itself was great, a little corrugated with some sandy and rocky sections. We follow the Finke riverbed, the girls hoping to do some water crossings. No such luck until we get with 5 kms of Palm Valley where we approach a deepish water crossing with a rock base. The girls squealed with excitement and Marty's face said it all, thrilled to be going some 4X4 action again. We pulled up to the car park to be greeted with this beautiful, spectacular vision of high red cliffs with palm trees scattered underneath. Couldn't believe that such a thing would exist in the middle of the desert.
We were all starving so thought we should have our trusty peanut butter sanga's before setting out on our two hour walk. The weather was perfect, the sun was shining with a little breeze. It was so good to be out doing something again after working and not being able to spend family time like we're used to. Amazing how our old life seems to creep back when we have to stop and work. It is so clear that we all need to be together more when we don't see each other, we are at our happiest.
After lunch, we grab our water and slap on our hats and head up some step rock steps until we reach the top of the cliffs. The view below is amazing with this dense foliage and trees set in the creek bed, with the Red Cabbage Palms standing out as the prize beauty's. We get to the t-junction and decide to tackle the Mpulungkinya Walk, which was the five kms circuit walk which would take us around two hours to complete. Our walk wasn't too hard, which allowed the girls to enjoy themselves a little more than usual. We walked along the top of the red stone cliff to the other side, where we were greeted with the most amazing views stretching out to the horizon. We say and soaked up the beauty whilst replenishing our thirst. Then we followed the markers down the rock face, eventually getting to the bottom. We walked through the sandy creek bed, the girls most wanting to take their shoes off to splash in some small pools of water. When we got round the corner we were amazed to find this dense, lush tropical paradise right in the middle of this sandy creek. We were gob smacked. We meandered thru taking as many happy snaps as we could. We reached a part of the walk where we had to walk thru some knee length water, the girls were totally thrilled. Off the shoes went and up the pants were rolled, and in the water we wadded thru. It got a tad deep for the girls so we got then to walk along the rock cliff at the end. When we made it thru the water we sat and took in our surrounds, while our feet dried off. Again, I'd anyone is out this way, Palm Valley is a must do! Totally unbelievable to find this tropic oasis in the middle of red rock cliffs and desert. Amazing to find that this place has existed for thousands of years in the harshest of weather extremes.
Eventually we made our way along the creek bed thru more surrounds of palms and got back to the car park. We all had a great arvo, even the girls said they had a great time on the walk!
We got back in the car and headed back thru the water crossings and down the dirt track, eventually getting back to the bitumen.
We decided we were in need of a treat after all that walking, so weasel a left hand turn and drove into Hermannsburg, an aboriginal community. We did a drive by past the old mission there and decided not to go in as we were a tad beat. Had heard mixed reports about it, some good, some disappointing. Instead we pulled up at the little supermarket where some aboriginal kids were put front with their pet cats and dogs playing. We brought our ice creams and devoured them in no time. The girls thought it was Christmas! In the town, their is only opal petrol available which is a low aromatic petrol which was developed to combat the rising use of petrol as an inhalant in remote indigenous Australian communities. Apparently, the introduction of Opal in 106 communities across remote and regional Australia had led to a 70% drop in petrol sniffing in those communities. On this trip this is the first time we have encountered opal petrol and at first we had no idea what it was, after some research obviously, found that its a great thing.
After our ice cream we made our way back to Alice Springs having had the most surprisingly best day!
Bell Xxx