West and East Macdonnell Ranges ….Awesome , Wow!!!!!!!!!!!!

We are now back from visiting the West and East Macdonnell Ranges. There has been no telephone signal which is why we have been unable to post for a while. I have not gone into the history and cultural significance of each place as you can easily google for further information. Anyway, back to the start of our visit.
On our last day in Alice Springs we spent time at the old Overland Telegraph Station and a reptile park.
The old telegraph station was built in 1871 and Australia joined a global telegraph network. Our first international telegram went to London in 1872. The line consisted of a single iron wire on 36,000 miles stretching 3,000 kilometres across Australia from Adelaide to Port Darwin and then via undersea cable to Java. What used to take 3-4 months to reach London now only took a few hours, Much of the site has been preserved and is a great eye opener to how communications have changed. Whilst we were there we observed school children and their teachers dressed in period clothing with the children learning how to do morse as well as cooking and washing methods of the 1870’s.

The Reptile Park was very interesting. We had a presentation by Ranger Jess whose talk was very interesting and humorous. They had a great display of reptiles some of which you would not normally see.

Thorny Devil

The next day we left the”Alice” and travelled into the West Macdonnell Ranges. This National Park is 161 km west of Alice Springs and is known for cool scenic gorges and majestic scenery. Many of the places are sacred to the local Aranda Aboriginal culture.
We decided to make Ormiston Gorge our base for 3 days and were fortunate to get the last available campsite.
Ormiston Gorge has towering sides and a permanent waterhole.

Ormiston Gorge

Gosse Bluff to the south is a ring of hills rising from the plains.

The view of Mt Sonder was great.

Redbank Gorge was 4wd only and was a series of waterholes. We did not go right to the end of the gorge.

The 29th of May is my brother Adrian’s birthday so I tried to ring him from the only place in the ranges that has reception. I was able to make contact and could hear him but he could not hear me.

We visited The Ochre Pits. They are a registered sacred site and protected. In the culture of the Western Aranda men women and children are not permitted to visit the ochre pits nor know the stories associated with it. The ochre is used for decoration and painting.

Serpentine Gorge is another stunning gorge with idyllic semi-permanent waterholes amongst red gums. You can do long or short walks and there is a lookout.

Ellery Creek Big Hole was a lovely walk in and held a bit of water.

Our next visit was to the well known Standley Chasm. The track from the carpark to the Chasm provides an entirely different experience as it follows a creek where spring-fed pools attract a great amount of wildlife, particularly birds. There is lots of vegetation due to the spring-fed pools.

The final visitation in the West Macdonnell Ranges was Simpsons Gap

Simpsons 1, 8, 11

We then headed into “Alice” to stock up on food and headed east to Trephena Gorge Campground. At Trephena Gorge I walked the scenic rim.

We were unable to stay at Ross River Homestead and so headed back into “Alice” visiting Jessie and Emily Gap on the way.

We are now in the “Alice” for two nights then we go north