Our first stop on the road to Alice was the servo at the corner of Lasserters and Stuart Highway. The servo’s undergoing a refit and there are temporary bowsers set up for diesel and unleaded. There was a conga line of campervans and utes waiting for one pump and a B Treble at the other. So I’m thinking, he couldn’t be THAT long and I’ll be next. So, for 15 minutes, I watch the conga line move through and I’m still stuck behind the truck. Hmmmm…I wander up to see what’s goin’ on and he’s up to $2100 and still filling those big round tanks. Doh!! Eventually he moved on, so I fuelled up, refilled those two tyres and we were on our way.
It was another hot day and we needed to find somewhere for the night. The Finke River Rest Area had chutzpah but it was already taken. We eventually pulled in around 2pm at Stuarts Well, another roadhouse come pub with a free camping area out the back. Beer, hot chips and air con – a nice way to spend a couple of hours. One more steamy night made bearable by the imagining of our stay at a caravan park with all the trimmings.
We timed our run into Alice to perfection, picking up some groceries and arriving at the G’day Mate Caravan Park bang on 11am. For the curious, towing a 25′ van around town is not as fraught as you would imagine. You just have to be realistic with your expectations about parking. Carparks as you know them are not an option, so it’s usually a side street and some legwork. After we had set up, it was time to play catch-up. It was Monday and we had to move on by Thursday. Ten days of laundry, sheets, towels had to be put through. Phone calls to organise repairs and somewhere in the middle of all that, some sightseeing.
We had abandoned Kings Canyon but the next two best swimming holes were within 100 klm of Alice Springs, Ellery Creek Big Hole and Orminston Gorge. An early lunch on the Wednesday and we headed out towards Namatjira Drive with the Tjortija/MacDonnell Ranges showing the way. I’ve never seen a mountain range like this one. They would just be hills except they are capped with a mantle of ancient rock, a remnant of eons of wearing down of a much bigger mountain range. The drive out to Ellery Creek Big Hole was beautiful. The legacy of Albert Namtjira’s paintings, the vague purple hues and impassive landscapes are everywhere. Before our eyes was the actualization of how he saw his land.
Both gorges are only a short drive from the highway with plenty of parking. Ellery Creek Big Hole has a reputation for being deep and cold, but I’ll say on a hot day, nippy and refreshing. There was a steady stream of tourists, some just content to look and take happy snaps, others would herd their reluctant partners or children into the water to make sure hypothermia and crocodiles posed no immediate threat (yes, you Tamika).
Having now both been immersed in the cooling waters, we jumped back into the Jeep and headed to Orminston Gorge. Now with any kind of real estate it’s location, location, location. Ellery Creek was all about the water. Orminston Gorge is all about the gorge. It certainly has the ‘wow’ factor. Cool water, a beach, towering ochre cliffs, oh, did I mention, a CAFE adjacent to the car park. There are a couple of other lesser frequented gorges along this road, but we had spent longer than we thought we would and Tamika was ‘gorged out’.
The next day had been organised to make those repairs. Second hand rim and tyre located, puncture repaired. One tyre had a sidewall puncture that was terminal but we were given a second hand tyre with the promise it would get us to Darwin. Yes, well, more about THAT later. Big shout-out to KC Electrics who got all our electrics back to operation and fitted our two new Clearview side mirrors, acquired incidentally from a wizened ancient nomad staying at the caravan park for only $300 (normally $1000). Unlike many, these are integrated into the door, so no more high speed blow-offs. A fellow Jeep lover and ex-diesel mechanic, he was full of useful tips, like those two paddles are NOT volume controls for the stereo but actually connect to the automatic transmission allowing you access the EIGHT gears manually. Hey, how was I to know – they were shiny…….
It was nearly 5pm, before we saw Alice Springs in the side mirrors for the last time. We crossed the Tropic of Capricorn just before sunset and spent the night at a rest stop. We were only half-way to Darwin and it had been quite an adventure already.
