Alice Springs and on north

After viewing the whales we headed back east to Port Augusta and turned north up the centre of the continent to Alice Springs in the Northern Territory. (Often referred to as travelling “up the guts”)This was ground we had covered on previous trips but at Alice we ventured out into the West McDonnell Ranges in the Moke, an area we had previously overlooked. 

This was a round trip of 280km for the day visiting some spectacular gorges and gaps in the ranges caused by rivers eroding weak faults in the rock to force their way through over millions of years. 

The ranges themselves were formed when there was a major upheaval in the land so that the layers of rock tilted upwards. Over time the softer layers have eroded away in places leaving narrow walls of stone standing straight vertical as if man made. We would like to spend more time in this area as there are good camp spots and more to see.

 

Another day we visited the Alice Springs Telegraph Station (one of many on the old telegraph line) on the one week in the year that morse code operators were available and we were able to send a telegram to a young friend in Melbourne via Adelaide – messaging the old fashioned way!

From Alice we moved north where the gaps between tiny patches of civilisation grew further and further apart. From Alice Springs to Katherine it is 1542km with only the township of Tennant Creek of any size between. Anything else is just a fuel stop, store and pub (all in one) with a caravan park behind and perhaps a few of houses.

Tennant Creek is near the famous Devil’s Marbles rock formations.

 

Although there are no townships, the isolated roadhouses try to offer something to attract tourists, like Aileron not far from Alice Springs where a giant aboriginal warrior stands on the hill behind the buildings along with the town name in Hollywood style letters. They all have their own logos – bulls, eagles, frogs etc and have their own souvenir items for sale.

There is always something to see along the way in this vast land under blue skies - changing vegetation, landscapes and rock formations, and we were amazed to see how green the roadsides were after some recent unseasonal rainfalls.