Paj and Heather's Big Adventure 2008
Part Eleven - Centre
We got back up to Alice Springs on 20th October. It was hot and dusty. The air was full of dust cloud. It looked just like smog. Everything you left outside had a coating of dust on it.
We started off with the Alice Springs Desert Park. This is a wildlife park with a difference. It is set up in different desert habitat sections each with its own aviaries with birds and some wildlife appropriate to that habitat. There were also a lot of birds flying free. We saw a Bird of Prey show and also went to an Aboriginal culture talk which was really interesting.
The reptile farm was another
interesting place. They had lots of different snakes and lizards, some
in side behind glass and some in enclosures outside. They also had a
saltwater crocodile enclosure. There was a very interesting talk on
reptiles of the local area and we were able to hold some of the snakes
and lizards afterwards.
We did a trip to the East
MacDonnell Range. The main stops we had were at Corroboree Rock, Trephina Gorge and up to Ross River. From there we took a 4x4 track
through to N’Dhala National Park and back round to Alice Springs. It
was a lovely drive. The Rock formations round the N’Dhala area were
amazing.
The West MacDonnell Range was different again. We walked the Ormiston Gorge which was pretty. The Ochre Pitts were interesting. It is where the local aborigines get the ochre colouring for the body painting at their traditional ceremonies. We also walked some of the Serpentine Gorge. There was a little pool of water at Ormiston and some at Trephina in the eastern range but in most places the water had dried up so the gorges were bare. They would be lovely with water in them.
My eyes were not coping well with the dusty air, they were very red and dry even after using eye drops so we didn’t stay in town as long as we would have liked to. On 28th October we decided to move on and we set off round the Mereenie loop to Kings Canyon. We had a few issues with the caravan on the dirt road but nothing that couldn’t be fixed. We saw our first group of wild camels sheltering under some trees.
We did the lower Kings Canyon
walk which was lovely. It would have been great to see the canyon from
the top walk but we didn’t think we could cope with the climb up.
Alice Springs was an interesting place and there is so much we didn’t see and do. We will be stopping there again and exploring further.
Next Stop Uluru (Ayers Rock)
