Frosty's Family Adventures: Kings Canyon and the Gorges of West McDonald Ranges

It was a four hours drive to Kings Canyon from Yulara. It was a fairly easy drive on bitumen and some dirt road.

We found KC, not as commercialised at Uluru. A nice camping area, which overlooked the ranges.

It was a little disconcerting seeing two cats playing about 50 metres from our camps sight and about 30 minutes later a Dingo walked straight between our camper trailers, into the caravan park.

Next morning, we had bacon and eggs, before we set off on the Kings Creek walk, which was an easy walk following Kings Creek up into Kings Canyon. A great morning was had by all.

This little lizard was found beside the track, quite happy for us to take photographs of him.

After the walk, we chilled out at camp and discussed what was going to happen next. It was suggested we move on, from here to Palm Valley, which is about 3 hours drive away, into Gorge Country.

That night, we hit the local and only restaurant. I tried the Kangaroo, which was very tender and flavoursome. Deb had a pumpkin falafel dish, which wasn’t too bad either.

Back to camp and we all started to get ready for the following morning, where we would head to Palm Valley.

The next morning, we were all up early as usual and started the pack up, which didn’t take too long. Camper trailers hitched up and off to Kings Canyon Servo for fuel. Diesel 2.33/L. The most expensive fuel thus far, but we needed it.

We also got our permit to travel the Mereenie Road, which takes us across Aboriginal Land. The permit was $5.50 for a days travel.

We have noticed, since leaving Uluru and travelling towards Kings Canyon and then onto Palm Valley, there is more and more vegetation, which is green. There are many wild flowers out, from Yellows, whites, blues and purples.

We stopped on the side of the road for a rest, on our way to Palm valley. I looked around to find a paddock full of yellow flowers, but on feeling them, they had a waxy, almost straw feel to them. This waxy feel, allows them to survive in this harsh environment and to minimise their moisture loss.

We arrived at Palm Valley about lunch time, setting up camp. The drive into Palm Valley was very beautiful, crossing the Finke River many times and driving between red ochre coloured cliffs. There was no water in the river, except for a few small water holes.

After camp was set up, we drove up to Cycad Valley, which incorporates Palm Valley as well. The Red Cabbage Palms are the only ones in the world. There are a number of stands of Palms and get their water from the sandstone, they grown in. The gorges in which these palms and cycads grow, allow for a climate, where the plants don’t get dry, due to the ground water.

After the hour walk among the Palms, we headed back to camp and the kids went straight down to the small water hole behind us. They played there, whilst the adults had a cold beer or three.

The camp ground has two communal fire pits. On the way in we all collected some wood and now it was time for a fire. It’s been several days since our last fire.

Around the fire were three German’s, who were over here on a holiday for 10 months. They had already travelled the West coast from Perth to Darwin and were driving south to Adelaide. It was interesting chatting to them about their travels in Australia.

There was also another couple from South Eastern Victoria and filled us in on their adventures over the last few weeks.

I decided to cook a damper for the first time on this trip. So the usual, self-rising flour, salt, sugar and beer went into the mixture. The camp over was warmed and in only 20 minutes we were all eating hot damper with golden syrup. Yummo.

The following day, we hit the road, this time without the trailers, to enter the Finke River Gorge, but prior to a bit of 4WD, we went into Hermansberg, which is an Aboriginal Community about 125 km from Alice Springs. We went to the local shopping centre, where Deb and the girls picked up some fruit and veg, as we were all running out. The store reminded me much of the Aboriginal Store at Bamaga, when we did the Cape York two years ago. The people were nice and friendly, with kids running everywhere.

We drove a short distance to the track to read the sign, which indicated, extreme 4WD, which lit Dazza’s, Paul’s and my eye’s up. Again it was another picturesque drive in, following the Finke River, which the track criss- crossed every few hundred metres. We were headed for a place called Boggy Hole, which we heard was renowned for that reason, but it couldn’t be far from the truth. On this trip, there was some soft sand and sharp rocks, but nothing the Patrols and the cruiser couldn’t handle.

We had lunch overlooking the Finke River and then moved down to Boggy Hole, which was a 300 metre permanent stretch of water. There were flocks of ducks as well as three black Swans swimming around. We were also going to have a swim, but though better of it, as the water was murky and had a strange smell.

We spotted this crashed car just off the track. I would like a 1$ for every burnt out/crashed/dumped vehicle we saw in SA or NT. I would have made a lot of money.

I had also read there were the ruins of an old police station somewhere around Boggy Hole, so we set out to find it, only to find it was on the other side of the river, with water in between us. We could only sit and look at it from afar, as the track into the old police station was closed. It would have been a harsh place to work back in the days.

We headed back to camp. It was a very warm day and everybody was tired, with many having a little afternoon nap, with the other reading a book. As the day got cooler, it was back down to the local water hole where the kids played in the waist deep water.

We moved on from Palm Valley to Ormiston Gorge, on the way we stopped at Gosse’s Bluff, which was a crater left by a meteor that struck the earth million years ago. The colours in the hills made by the meteor were spectacular.

Thais is a crater thought to have been formed by the impact of an asteroid or comet approximately 142.5 million years ago

Picture of West McDonald Ranges, showing the different layers of rock, formed many millions of years ago.

We continued on and found ourselves at Ormiston Gorge. As we drove through the small camping ground, we all realised there was not enough large spots for Camper trailers. We were not sure if we were going to stay the night here, or move on somewhere else.

Ormiston Gorge has a kiosk, which managers the camping area, as well as supplying coffee, cold drinks etc. The gentleman behind the counter spotted us and our vehicles. Before we could say much more, he indicated there was a secret camping spot up behind the kiosk, away from the main camp ground. This sounded promising, so we walked up to inspect the area. It was just a rocky and dusty as the main camp ground, but a lot bigger. It was actually the school camping area. We decided to stay and quickly set up camp, before walking the short distance down to Ormiston Gorge for a swim.

The water in the gorge looking very inviting, with the lids jumping in first. After a short standoff, I got in. Let me tell you, it was quite cold, but very refreshing, considering the temperatures were getting to the mid to high 30’s

We all spent the afternoon at the gorge having a great time, chilling out, and people watching.

That afternoon an Alice Springs arcapulla group were singing in the gorge. The group comprised about 30 singers, with a conductor. The music sound mainly African, with some Austrian thrown in. There were 200-300 people watching from the river bed.

The conductor, above, was a character really enjoyed watching his emotions and facial expressions.

This was the group of singers.

This guy played along with the group and was fantastic.

The following day, we packed up and headed for Ellery Gorge – Big hole, which we were going to camp at. Once again, we found the camp ground very small and this time no camps spots for us, so we decide to have a swim in the gorge and then head to Alice Springs for two nights, to charge the batteries on 240 volt power.

Ellery Gorge is a great spot. A large round gorge, with a narrow corridor constructed of towering stone walls running towards the back of the gorge into a smaller water hole.

The kids didn’t want to get in this time as it was very cold, but Dazza, Paul and myself just ran and jumped. It was really cold. There was a large sand bank in the middle, which we swam out to. My ankles and legs were numb. We stood there for a short time, before Melissa and the other kids joined us, before they turned around and swam back because it was so cold.

Ellery Gorge - Big hole.

Bec and Nat swam out to the sand bank and we then all swam through the narrows to the other end. It was freezing. We (Dazza, Paul, Bec, Nat, Melissa and I) all got to the other end wondering how we got there and we had to swim back.