Sept
8, Saturday & Sept 9, Sunday
The drive along the MacDonnell Range
The first part of the ride is on a paved highway
Beautiful colours along the way.
And there are huge wide open spaces and a lot of flat scrubland
As we arrived near Herrmansburg there was a gas station that posted this huge sign saying "If you drink and drive, you're a bloody idiot". I just love the Aussies; they tell it like it is.
The Hermannsburg Mission
This was to be our first stop of the day, an old mission site where we would be served breakfast tea: a delicious apple straddle with clotted cream and a selection of teas. Again I must apologize because I forgot to take a picture before eating it all up. In my defence, we only had half an hour and there were a lot of buildings to visit on site. The mission was founded in 1877; a school for aboriginal children.
The school bell
One of the homes in the mission
Some of the school groups
and it was also an area where camel routes came through
Not much left, but beautifully preserved
From here, we were leaving the paved roads and driving on a road that REQUIRES a 4wd vehicle; preferably a very sturdy, high clearance one like a jeep, or the “bus” we were on. The first part of the road was bumpy, but still looked like a road
The red earth is all around us
and in the high cliffs above us
The area was covered by a huge sea at some point (just like the most of Canada) and you can see where some cliffs have been eroded and rounded out.
There is still water in one of the rivers, though the water is not deep at all.
Gorgeous views
But we soon left that to drive along and on the dry river bed
and the stone outcropings are quite spectacular
we are even driving on huge stone bolders which have been flattened by the water
And then there was no road and we were going over huge rocks, boulders and smooth rock surfaces left by raging rivers. Raging rivers in the semi desert you ask? Yes, when the rains do come, the land cannot absorb it all and you can see the effects this has had over the thousands of years, creating this breathtaking landscape.
Actually part of it had no trail at all, so I had to be quick at taking my picutres so that I would not lose sight of the group.
Stunning
and looking down into the valley below we spotted the palm trees. Red Cabbage Palms (strange name and no explanation why).
Thankfully there was a staircase to get down to the bottom of the valley, and we followed the dry river bed to get back to the bus. We are walking on huge smooth bolders.
There were little ponds of water left on the rocks
Amazing to see palm trees in this setting.
And high up on the rock face the erosion has left beautiful patterns that look like sculptures
As we near the area where we left the bus, we can see round holes which have been worn into the rock by whirlpools when the river was high. OK, check out how grey the rock is where we are walking
and how red it is on the rock face.
And the water has eaten away at the cliffs. We were walking on that 1/2 an hour ago, now knowing that there was empty space beneath the rocks we were standing on.
Almost back at the bus
I just love the worn patterns in the bolders we are walking on
On our ride back out, we stopped at one area where we could get a closer look at the cycads. This one has to be at least 10 feet tall. The oldest plants on earth, dating back to the jurasic period when the dinosaurs roamed.
They look small on this picture, by they are 10 feet tall !
And this was our Emu Run Tours bus, a 4 wheel drive vehicle. There is absolutely NO WAY a regular car or truck would have made it up here.
A last look at the palm trees as we drive away.
· Cattle are too great in numbers in many areas and are often left on fields too long — stripping grasses to the root and causing erosion. Large herds churn up and spoil delicate rivers and wetlands.
· Invasive species are crowding out native plants and animals. Feral animals are gobbling up defenceless native species, contributing to the worst rate of mammal extinction in the world. Birds and small marsupials are particularly vulnerable to invasive species like foxes.
· Mining operations are bringing roads and other infrastructure that destroys or fragments habitat.
· Agriculture that is heavily dependent on irrigation is expanding and drought-stricken areas in the south are looking northward for water.
· Fire suppression is enabling woody species to move into grasslands and causing vegetation to accumulate to dangerous levels. Australia is a country that burns, and when fires inevitably come, they are now larger, more intense and more destructive.
· Climate change is driving up temperatures and worsening a catastrophic drought that has gripped Australia for close to a decade — the worst in living memory. The burden on finite water resources is rapidly approaching a breaking point.”
All this to say that during the train ride, from Darwin all the way to Adelaide, most of the scenery was grasslands, or scrublands.
My first excursion was to Palm Valley. I was in the hotel lobby at 7:30 am for my
scheduled pick-up and the bus showed up at 8:10. There were already 8 people in the bus and it
took another half hour to pick up the other 6 passengers before we were finally
driving west out of Alice Springs on Larapinta Drive towards Hermannsburg.
Another site in Alice Springs.... the flying doctors who service all the areas in the outback.
The drive along the MacDonnell Range
The first part of the ride is on a paved highway
Beautiful colours along the way.
And there are huge wide open spaces and a lot of flat scrubland
As we arrived near Herrmansburg there was a gas station that posted this huge sign saying "If you drink and drive, you're a bloody idiot". I just love the Aussies; they tell it like it is.
The Hermannsburg Mission
This was to be our first stop of the day, an old mission site where we would be served breakfast tea: a delicious apple straddle with clotted cream and a selection of teas. Again I must apologize because I forgot to take a picture before eating it all up. In my defence, we only had half an hour and there were a lot of buildings to visit on site. The mission was founded in 1877; a school for aboriginal children.
The school bell
One of the homes in the mission
Some of the school groups
and it was also an area where camel routes came through
Not much left, but beautifully preserved
From here, we were leaving the paved roads and driving on a road that REQUIRES a 4wd vehicle; preferably a very sturdy, high clearance one like a jeep, or the “bus” we were on. The first part of the road was bumpy, but still looked like a road
The red earth is all around us
and in the high cliffs above us
The area was covered by a huge sea at some point (just like the most of Canada) and you can see where some cliffs have been eroded and rounded out.
There is still water in one of the rivers, though the water is not deep at all.
Gorgeous views
But we soon left that to drive along and on the dry river bed
and the stone outcropings are quite spectacular
we are even driving on huge stone bolders which have been flattened by the water
And then there was no road and we were going over huge rocks, boulders and smooth rock surfaces left by raging rivers. Raging rivers in the semi desert you ask? Yes, when the rains do come, the land cannot absorb it all and you can see the effects this has had over the thousands of years, creating this breathtaking landscape.
It was only a 16 km ride but it took us about an hour to
cover it. We were now within the
confines of Finke Gorge National Park which
“covers an area of 46,000 hectares, and includes the impressive Palm
Valley. Palm Valley is home to a diverse range of plant species many of which
are rare and unique to the area, including the Red Cabbage Palm for which the
Park is well known. This species of Palm is restricted to this area, having a population of
around 3,000 adult plants.”
“4WD vehicles only: Heavy rains may cause this
section of the road to be impassable.”
We had a one hour trek / hike on one of the paths. The climb up to the top of the ridge was a bit steep, but we were at the top walking along the trail within a few minutes.
Actually part of it had no trail at all, so I had to be quick at taking my picutres so that I would not lose sight of the group.
Stunning
and looking down into the valley below we spotted the palm trees. Red Cabbage Palms (strange name and no explanation why).
Thankfully there was a staircase to get down to the bottom of the valley, and we followed the dry river bed to get back to the bus. We are walking on huge smooth bolders.
There were little ponds of water left on the rocks
Amazing to see palm trees in this setting.
And high up on the rock face the erosion has left beautiful patterns that look like sculptures
As we near the area where we left the bus, we can see round holes which have been worn into the rock by whirlpools when the river was high. OK, check out how grey the rock is where we are walking
and how red it is on the rock face.
And the water has eaten away at the cliffs. We were walking on that 1/2 an hour ago, now knowing that there was empty space beneath the rocks we were standing on.
Almost back at the bus
I just love the worn patterns in the bolders we are walking on
On our ride back out, we stopped at one area where we could get a closer look at the cycads. This one has to be at least 10 feet tall. The oldest plants on earth, dating back to the jurasic period when the dinosaurs roamed.
They look small on this picture, by they are 10 feet tall !
And this was our Emu Run Tours bus, a 4 wheel drive vehicle. There is absolutely NO WAY a regular car or truck would have made it up here.
A last look at the palm trees as we drive away.
We stopped for a picnic lunch at one of the park
sites: nice sandwiches, plenty of fruit,
and a few types of sweets; orange juice and plenty of water to rehydrate our
parched throats. Our 125 km drive back
to Alice Springs was fairly quiet, with many people snoozing on the bus. Not me of course, I’m too busy taking
pictures! I don’t want to miss anything.
I'm adding notes from my research on the internet about related subjects.
Camels / Dromedaries: “Thousands of the two main
species of Australian feral camels, mostly dromedaries but also some Bactrian
camels, were imported into
Australia during the 19th century for transport and construction as part of the
colonization of the central and western parts of Australia. Motorized transport replaced the camels' role in the
early 20th century and many were released into the wild. As of 2009, the feral population numbered about one million, with a
doubling time of about nine years. These camels are being culled because they
are now causing trouble for the native species.”
I was hoping to
get to see some along the way, but it was not to be. One of the guides (can’t remember where) even
said that Australia now exported camels/dromedaries to the Moroccan army! Another reason they are a pest is that they
poop in the watering holes (other native animals do not).
I did spot a dingo
crossing the road ahead of us, but by the time we reached that spot, he was
hidden in the tall grass.
? Buffo grass
? I asked the driver/guide on the bus to
repeat because I thought he might be saying buffalo, but no he clearly repeated
buffo. These Australians eat their
words, like we do with our French in Canada.
They skip some syllables all together.
When I searched the internet all I could find was “buffalo grass” but it
referred to a type of grass used in lawns; no results for “buffo grass”. Whatever it’s called, the Northern Australian
grasslands or scrublands are full of it.
So it appears that the use of the terms buffo or buffalo are in fact a
misnomer.
“When Captain Cook landed, a carpet of native grasses and colourful flowering
herbs covered much of south-eastern Australia. Temperate native grasslands
extended from south-eastern Queensland, through eastern New South Wales,
Victoria, and into South Australia and Tasmania. Grassy ecosystems, including
native grasslands and grassy woodlands, were the dominant vegetation
communities of the sub-humid zone, between the high rainfall coastal strip and
the arid inland. Since European
settlement most of the area of native grassland has been removed or modified by
agriculture and other development. Grasslands were very attractive for
agriculture are now considered one of the most depleted Australian ecosystems.
Many of their component plant and animal species have become extinct and many
more are now rare or threatened with extinction.
Today, heavy pressure from ranching and poor
land management on some of Northern Australia’s most significant conservation
areas continues:· Cattle are too great in numbers in many areas and are often left on fields too long — stripping grasses to the root and causing erosion. Large herds churn up and spoil delicate rivers and wetlands.
· Invasive species are crowding out native plants and animals. Feral animals are gobbling up defenceless native species, contributing to the worst rate of mammal extinction in the world. Birds and small marsupials are particularly vulnerable to invasive species like foxes.
· Mining operations are bringing roads and other infrastructure that destroys or fragments habitat.
· Agriculture that is heavily dependent on irrigation is expanding and drought-stricken areas in the south are looking northward for water.
· Fire suppression is enabling woody species to move into grasslands and causing vegetation to accumulate to dangerous levels. Australia is a country that burns, and when fires inevitably come, they are now larger, more intense and more destructive.
· Climate change is driving up temperatures and worsening a catastrophic drought that has gripped Australia for close to a decade — the worst in living memory. The burden on finite water resources is rapidly approaching a breaking point.”
All this to say that during the train ride, from Darwin all the way to Adelaide, most of the scenery was grasslands, or scrublands.
It was a long day but a very nice one.
The setting sun gives the scenery a completely different look
Sunday: I rested
at the hotel.
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