Day 153 Trephina National Park – Alice Springs - The Pebbles August 29th – August 30th

Today, was a long 600km driving day heading up north past Alice Springs, stopping at the excellent Milners Butchers to stock up on meat, including camel steak and crocodile - recommended by Nick & Brigid. 

Then it was onwards to Devils Marbles and ending up at their poorer cousin - The Pebbles at dusk. We lit a fire, ate a green curry produced in the camp oven and the kids caught up with their journals. We caught the sunrise in the morning before heading further north. 

Sunrise at the Pebbles

Lots of boulders as far as the eye can see

 

Recent art at the women's sacred site

 

Day 152 Rainbow Valley National Park – Trephina National Park August 28th – August 29th

Wanting to experience the East Mcdonald Ranges before heading further on to Queensland, we traveled south from Alice and spent the night at the Trephina National Park. 

We camped with time to finally have a pork spit-roast accompanied by roast vegetables - I'd live in hope for the last 5 months to use the spit I'd kept taking up valuable space in the toolbox.

Roughing it with pork spit roast

In the morning we walked along the gorge rim and valley, enjoying the secluded walk and taking in the tranquility of this beautiful place.

Trephina Gorge

Trephina Gorge Walk

Crossing the sandy river bed

Aboriginal rock art

Biggle and the BIG river gum

 

Day 151 Watarrka National Park – Rainbow Valley National Park August 27th – August 28th

We took the Mereenie Loop Road 4WD road back to Alice Springs stopping at Gosse Bluff – a comet impact site before finishing the drive at the beautiful Rainbow Valley National Park. The Loop Road claimed another Andersen Plug which I had to repair to ensure the fridge got power – how else am I to keep the drinks cold!

Plenty of camels on the drive

The facilities and 4WD road into Rainbow Valley were much better than suggested by our guide book and we had the place pretty much to ourselves. We watched the sun go down over a stunning rock formation, showcasing its golden hues. 

The beautiful rock formations at Rainbow Valley

Simply....

...stunning....

... formations

Clay-pans

Mushroom rock

The Ralh's cast a long shadow

Sunrise at Rainbow Valley

Cold mornings in NT

Presented without comment

Day 149-150 Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park – Watarrka National Park August 25th - 27th August

Kings Canyon is the highlight of Watarrka National Park. The campground was pleasant and green, with a cold swimming pool to invite the crazy – yes our children in. We spent a couple of easy days here with hikes to see both the bottom of the canyon as well as the breathtaking 5km ridge walk. The kids are now able to handle these longer walks with ease which is great to see. 

Creek walk

Gum-trees

Steps at the beginning of rim walk

Kings Canyon

Freezing rockpool at ed f Garden of Ede

Making rock-art

Taking a break

Jelly bean time

Snap happy

Driving back

 

Day 145-148 Alice Springs – Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park August 22nd - 25th August

Who cannot get excited about driving to this landmark sight that evokes emotion amongst the most cynical of us?

First we passed by the impressive Mount Connor, often mistaken by visiting tourists as the rock.

Mount Connor

We stayed at the large campground at Ayers Rock Resort and used it as the base to visit both Uluru (Ayers Rock) and Kata-Tjuta (Olgas).

We were in time to watch the sun go down on Uluru and watched as the rock change colours, seeming to take on the the power and the force of the sun as it set. The next day walked around the base in a 10km walk to inspect the sandstone monolith first-hand. The next morning Jasmine woke up early and kept me company as we watched the sun come up bathing the magical rock with light.

Uluru during the day

Sunset glow at Uluru

Uluru from campground

Beginning of steep walk up Uluru (we didn't climb)

Walking around Uluru

It's a long way round

Wave rock

Jasmine & Uluru at sunrise

The Olgas were equally impressive. We surprised ourselves and were all comfortable to do the, what is marked difficult, 5km walk through the Olgas. Again we watched the sun-set over the rocks, providing yet another memorable display.

Olgas at sunset

Olgas and the Ralhs

Walking around Olgas

Finding ourselves with a bit of time to spare, Ben practiced You Say Nothing at All by Ronan Keating on the piano with Jordan's instruction and Adam strummed away learning American Pie. Ben and Jasmine made a pretty garden for their toys.

Creating a garden in the desert