10 Oct - Travel back to Alice

Over with the tourist stuff, returned to Alice to restock and head for the East MacDonnell ranges and QLD. A few nice camp sites along the way...

Henbury meteor craters - a cluster of small craters, very interesting but the flies were horrible

Rainbow Valley, great camping and spectacular sunsets

and dawns

Owen spring nature reserve, excellent bush camping

7 Oct - Uluru

Finally make it to Uluru - Can't camp in National Park but the camp facility in the Yulara resort is pretty good and not that crowded.

Checked out Uluru and the Olgas and had dinner in the desert.

Uluru

Much bigger than it looks

Steep climb up

and while signs ask you not to climb it, the climb is still open... go figure

and it's well worth doing

 Olgas

Sounds of Silence

Nice sunset dinner in the deset with views of the rocks

6 Oct - King's Canyon

Very busy place but well worth the effort. Spectacular cliffs and "Bungle" like formations.

Had to take a photo of this fire warning sign - check out the label on the matches. I'm surprised National Parks can still get away with that - very politically incorrect - Good on 'hem!

5 Oct - Travel to King's Canyon via Mereenie Loop

Travel day to King's Canyon, with short visit to Gosse Bluff (a Comet impact crater) and a great bush camp on the top of the escarpment.

Crater rim from the distance (shame about the haze)

Inside of crater

Good place to camp

and to have dinner

2 Oct - Finke NP and Palm Valley

3 days at Palm Valley in the most amazing "Flinstone" landscape. Unfortunately, Boggy Hole road was closed but Palm Valley was excellent.

Got treated to the best storm!

The storm cleaned the air for better photoes for a couple of days

Palm Valley

30 Sep - Central Australia - West Macdonnell ranges

Nice week visiting the West MacDonnell ranges, with some great sites (and not so great ones, typically the ones with the tourist busses)

Simpsons Gap - Nice in between busses

Stantley's chasm - Single file of people from the continous stream of busses - didn't even bother with a picture but climbed to the very top and the view was excellent.

Elliry Big Hole - very nice, but we moved on

Orminston Gorge - Excellent place, great walks and swimming hole, and far enough from Alice to avoid the crowds. Great camping site also.

Orminston Gorge



Orminston pound, very similar to Wilpena pound in the Finder's ranges, but smaller

Gorge from the pound end

Glen Helen Gorge -  Don't bother



Serpentine Gorge - another nice spot with lookout walk

Redbank Gorge - Beautiful little place with freezing cold water hole. Great camp site but overun by bees, luckly not agressive but uncomfortable.

28 Sep - Down Tanami track to Alice

Too hot for Lea so we're heading south. We'll have to come back and finish off the Duncan road loop some other time.

Long drive down the Tanami track, stopping at the Wolf Creek crater for an overnight stay and fossicing for bits of backpackers (no luck).

Actually very impressive, glad we popped in

Aside from crater, everything is flat

From rim looking down at the camp

Tanami Track - 1100km of corrugation and dust