Alice Springs, MacDonnell Ranges, Northwest Territory, Australia

MacDonnell Range, Northwest Territory, Australia    Wednesday-Thursday March 28-29, 2018

This morning the guide, Bluey, picked us up at 8:00am. He took us to John Flynn's Grave. John Flynn started the Royal Flying Doctors Brigade back  in the early 1900's providing  medical assistance to the vast outback. He also was instrumental in getting the pedaling open air radio school that allowed thousands of outback children to obtain an education . He was quite a hero for the bush people.

                         This is his and his wife's tombstone....their ashes were dispersed here.

                                                       Next we stopped at Simpsons Gap.

                                                     The scenery was quite spectacular.

                   We spotted several endangered black footed wallabies who just blend into the rocks.

Next we hiked to Stanley Chasm.

                                      The little flies were here too, so we broke out our nets.

              After our hike we had tea and biscuits....a midmorning  and midafternoon Aussie tradition.

 The Ochre Pits. Aboriginese take the ochre and add fat to it to make paints that they put on their bodies for ceremonies.

                                                    Lunchtime was at Glen Helen Resort.

                                                                       

MacDonnell Ranges

                                                         We hiked into Ellery Creek.

                                                                  It was quite lovely.

We took a dip. The water was cool and refreshing. Outback afternoons are much, much warmer than the mornings.

                                        Our final hike of the day was to Ormiston Gorge.

                                                                     What a sight!

Our guide had a treat of orange juice and lamingtons (an Aussie sponge cake dipped in powdered chocolate with  shredded coconut)when we arrived back to the coach.

We headed back to our hotel  arriving at 6:00pm with smiles and lots of good memories of the outback. Tomorrow we head for the Alice Springs Airport and fly into Sydney. The next part of our epic Australian adventure will be heading up the east coast.

Kings Canyon, Northwest Territory, Australia

Kings Canyon, Northwest Territory, Australia    Monday and Tuesday, March 25-26, 2018

We headed for the outback of the Northwest Territory right after lunch. Our coach took us down the two lane  highway for about two hours. Desert bush and red dirt as far as you could see. The driver could almost take a nap if he tied the steering wheel to something...the roads were straight as an arrow. You could see what was coming your way miles before it got to you. We stopped for a break at Kings Creek Station, an Aussie farm of camels and cattle.

The facilities took on  Aussie terms. Shelias was for the ladies and Blokes was for the guys.

                     Charlie, the yellow crested cockatoo, was the big entertainment here. He was  delightful to watch and pat.

We arrived at the Kings Canyon Resort at 6:00pm,  just in time to see a dingo crossing the highway.

                              Larry and I dropped our bags in the room and hurried our to the viewing stand to catch the sunset at 6:45. Kings Canyon was a beautiful purple color.

      The next morning we got up bright and early, 5:30am, to head out to the Kings Canyon in the Watarrka National Park. We had decided to take a three and a half hour hike up to the rim of the canyon.

So Up, Up, UP we went and then we went up some more. Whew! It was steep and really got our tickers going. You can see the it was rugged and we had to watch every step we took. What a hike!

The sun was barely up.

                                  What a sight when the morning sun shone on the rocks.

Unusual rock formations were everywhere.

                            We had to really watch every step; the steps along the path were uneven.

                            When we finally made it to the top, the scenery was spectacular.

                                       We climbed through several narrow passage ways.

                       Our guide gave us an explanation of many of the unusual plants in the area.

                                   The Garden of Eden...an oasis in between the rock canyon

                                                       We spotted this small fossel.

    After the hike we head back to Kings Canyon Station passing  the same flat desert of bush country.

                  Here we enjoyed a camel burger and a Coopers for lunch. The Camel burger had an egg, pineapple, lettuce, tomato, onion, cheese, camel meat and a special  sauce. It was surprisingly tasty...but after that hike I think we would have devoured just about anything.

                             There was a  nice display of Aboriginese Art. These had a bee theme.

                                Our next stop was the Erldunda Roadhouse for a little stretch.

                     The entertainment here were the emus.   We enjoyed feeding the emus while there.

We arrived in Alice Springs just as the sun was setting at 7:00pm. What a day!