Life in a Humpback

Day 30: Karlu Karlu / Devils Marbles to Larrimah

The kids and I were up early today to catch the sun rising over the "marbles". Then it was back into the ute for a very long drive. We covered 627km (10% of our total millage so far!) in 7 hours and 45 minutes with stops at Elliot, for lunch, and Daly Waters, for a quick drink, before camping on the Gorrie WWII Airfield just north of the town of Larrimah.

This was a pretty cool free camp. It was a ~1.8km long dirt runway that everyone had just pulled over to one side or the other to camp for the night.

Day 27: Tjoritja / West MacDonnell Ranges (Day 2)

I got up early today for my turn to do the Ghost Gum walk. It was gorgeous to watch the sunrise into the gorge. I found lots of wildflowers and rocks to soak in with the track all to myself. Once back down to the river I decided to wade through the water rather than returning the same way. This meant there was a bit of rock hopping but there were a lot more birds down by the water than on the walk in.

Back at camp we all loaded into the car to go check out the Ochre Cliffs. This was a much better view of the ochre outcrop then we saw in South Australia, as we got to walk along the base of the cliffs and could see the different colours (all due to the amount of iron - or not - in the mudstone and siltstone). It was pretty cool to see the near vertical layers of ochre deposits.

Next stop was Ellery Creek Big Hole for a freezing cold swim and lunch. This time, although Theo was the first one in, all of us went for a "swim" (more like quick submersion then out again). While drying off we watched the zebra finches flit around the waters edge.

After returning to camp we headed off in the late afternoon to go on the Ghost Gum walk as a family. Once again taking the gorge floor route to return to camp. I really enjoyed seeing the gorge at both sunrise and sunset!

Day 26: Tjoritja / West MacDonnell Ranges (Day 1)

Today we explored a few of the western highlights of the Tjoritja / West MacDonnell Ranges Park. After seeing the Tnorala Conservation Reserve (Gosse Bluff) from the lookout the previous night we decided to backtrack and drive out to have a proper look inside the crater itself. This is the site of an impact crater from a 600m wide meteorite, that crashed here 142 million years ago. We went on a short walk to a lookout for a good view from just above the crater floor to the surrounding rocks.

Next we headed back into the National Park stopping at Larapinta / Finke River for lunch and to hang out next to the river. Theo was the only one brave enough to go for a swim in the very cold water.

Back at camp John went for a walk up to the Ghost Gum lookout and down into Ormiston Gorge before dinner. He manged to see a Euro (small wallaby) amongst the rocks.

Day 25: Watarrka / Kings Canyon to Ormiston Gorge

We hooked up once again this morning and headed west through the Watarrka National Park until we reached the rather bumpy dirt roads of Larapinta Drive (formally the Mereenie Loop and now the Red Centre Way). From here we headed north than east through a few smaller ranges and even found our first field of wildflowers. Eventually we hit the bitumen again at the western end of Tjoritja / West MacDonnell Ranges. We stopped at the Tylers Pass lookout for a 360 view of the ranges and the Tnorala / Gosse Bluff.

We pulled into camp at Ormiston Gorge just before sunset with enough time to have a quick look at the gorge before dinner.

Day 24: Watarrka / Kings Canyon

Today we headed out on the Kings Canyon Rim Walk, which was a 7.3km walk (3-4 hours). It started with a steep climb up some very impressive rock steps. Then continued along the northern wall of Kings Canyon, through bee hive rock formations, some great examples of cross-bedded alluvial sandstone formations, and paleo river ripples. There were also lots of flowering plants that I'm still learning the names of! We then dropped down into the Garden of Eden, which is a small oasis at the head of the canyon. We were lucky enough to get about 10 minutes at the large pool at the end of the canyon to ourselves, despite how busy the track was. Once we climbed back out of the head of the canyon we headed along the southern rim back to the car park.

Then it was back to camp for the afternoon. The kids spent the rest of the day at the playground until we collected them to walk up to the local lookout and watch the sunset. We then treated ourselves to dinner at the Kings Creek Station Cafe (beef burgers for the kids and camel burgers for the parents).

We finished off the day with a campfire and marshmallows as the full moon rose over camp.

Day 23: Yulara to Watarrka / Kings Canyon

Another travel day today as we headed from Yulara to Kings Creek Station (just outside Watarrka / Kings Canyon National Park).

We arrived at camp early afternoon. The kids quickly headed off to the playground - the first one we have had at our camp site since Halls Gap. They made more friends in one afternoon than in awhile. Lots of time was spent on the zip line and swings.

In the late afternoon we hopped back in the car and headed down the road to the Discovery Caravan Park to watch the sunset from their sunset bar.

Day 22: Yulara

This morning we got up at 5:15am to catch the bus to our Sunrise Journeys tour. We were taken out to a lookout of Uluru and greeted with warm muffins, hot chocolates and chai tea. All of which were much appreciated as it was very cold!! We then sat down to watch a sound and light show created by three female indigenous artists that was projected onto the trees and landscape with the backdrop of Uluru and the sun rising. We all really loved this. It was beautifully done. After the light show we stayed in the area to watch the sunrise over Uluru while having breakfast - lots more hot chocolates, pastries (including cheese and kangaroo croissants), egg and bacon rolls, and so much more. I think by the end we rolled back to the bus we were so full!

Back at camp the boys laid down for a nap, while the girls headed back to another dot painting session and a walk through the "town square". John and the kids headed back into the park again to pick up a boomerang for Theo. While at the visitors centre they got to watch some local dances in celebration of NAIDOC (National Aboriginal and Islands Day Observance Committee) week.

Later that afternoon we went along to a didgeridoo workshop followed by a talk on women's tools and how they are used.

Day 20: Uluru

Today was our first full day in the Uluru & Kata Tjuka National Park. Our first stop was the Ranger guided Mala walk around part of the base of Uluru. We learned about the rock art "classroom black board", the geology of the area, and about some of the medicinal plants.

After lunch we headed to the Uluru visitor centre to rent bikes and ride the 10km around the rock. This was a lot of fun even if it was rather warm doing it in the late afternoon.

To finish off the day we headed out to the Field of Lights for the night time viewing (around 8pm). It was pretty cool to see all the lights spreading out in front of us when we first arrived. But as we walked through the display we all thought that it would have been even more interesting if there was more movement within the lights. Its only going to be here for another 2 years so glad we got to see it while it was here.

Day 19: Ghan to Yulara

Despite the road trains we had a restful sleep and were up early to continue our travels. We arrived at the Ayers Rock Campground in Yulara (just outside the Uluru and Kata Tjuta National Parks) before midday. We spend the afternoon taking our first showers in a week and doing a hundred loads of washing.

To wrap up the day we headed out to the Uluru sunset viewing point to watch the rock change colours for the first time. We arrived early which allowed the boys to play their daily chess game in the tray of the Ute while the girls did their daily NY Times puzzles until it was time to watch the light fade.

Day 18: Coober Pedy to Ghan

Today we were up early and out of camp heading north towards Uluru. We made it as far as Ghan, NT which is near the centre point of the Australian continent (no matter which method is used it is somewhere near by). The campground was full so we found a lovely pull out behind a utility shed and camped on the side of the road for the night - letting the road trains lull us to sleep. This was our first night in the Northern Territory.