alice springs to ormiston gorge

Today saw us heading out into the west macdonnell ranges for a spot of camping. As it was only 135km west of alice, we had a fairly slow start and were on the road by 10.30.

We were heading west to our first stop of standly chasm on a gently undulating road which was a nice change from the emense flatness of previous days. The road ran through a narrow valley flanked by incredibly rugged and beautiful mountains that looked, to me, like the spine of a giant, sleeping dragon.

Riding in to standly chasm i got a really strange sensation of the place being haunted. The way the mountains look and feel it is easy to see why they form an important part of indigenous culture. The walk to the chasm is through a gradualy narrowing valley of beautiful red rock,ghost gums and some kind of spikey palm. The chasm itself is a narrow fissure in the rich, red rock which is probably about 3 metres wide at the narrowest piont and about 50 metres deep. Looking up you see the intensely red and textured rock juxtaposed against an impossibly blue sky.

standley chasm in full sunFrom there we went to ellery creek big hole which is an incrdibly deep and diabolically cold water hole at the base of two, very steep cliffs of the same red rock that seems to make up the west macdonnells. It is a very beautiful spot and would be a haven for wildlife.

ellery creek big hole

Leaving ellery creek we made our way ormiston gorge where we planned to camp for the evening. The ormiston camp site was bigger than the others we had seen and quite busy, so we claimed ouselves some space and went for a walk down to the gorge. The gorge has been carved out of the mountains and is probably a couple of hundren metres deep. You can follow the path of the river bed past several water holes that are filled with the same diabolially cold water as at ellery creek. We also did a walk the winds its way up the cliff and affords some spectacular views both of the gorge and the campsite and surrounding mountains.

evening at ormiston gorge

one of our camping companions

After that it was back to camp for our fist meal of boil-in-a-bag, which pretty tasty and very filling, followed by a wander aorund in the dark to be totally gobsmacked by mindsnappinlgy beautiful night sky. This is the first time on the tour where we have really seen the night sky properly and it was worth the wait.

dinner anyone?

An early night tonight as there is bugger all else to do and we have an early start. Tomorrow we will head back into alice for fuel and water then off to curtain springs for the night.

our exact location: http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&q=-23.6331,132.7274&ll=-23.6331,132.7274&ie=UTF8&z=12&om=1

Comments

[the wife]

wow you two - the photos are stunning - nice one! sounds like you make a great team out there