Between Alice Springs and Daly Waters, July 31-August 6

We stayed a few more days back in Alice and this time caught up with our travelmates Joe and Leanne (both teachers).
We were keen on hearing about their work experience at a school near Tennant Creek.
I went with them to N'Dhala gorge and Trephina gorge on the east Mac Donnell ranges and liked it so much that I convinced Manfred to stay an extra night in Alice and go and see those 2 gorges again. The drive to N'Dhala gorge was a 9 km 4WD track but it was well worth. We saw some aboriginal rock carvings all along the walk.

After we left Alice and on our way north, we stopped at the Ebenezer roadhouse to look at some local aboriginal craft.
We spent the night at a UFO place called Wycliff Well. Nina and Annabelle enjoyed feeding the rabbits and watching the emus and its chicks, but no sign of UFOs that night!

The next day we stopped at Devils Marbles again and spent a bit more time there to look at the amazing granite stone formation.

Someone recommended the Mary-Ann dam just passed Tennant Creek to us so we decided to have a picnic there.

After one night at Banka Banka homestead, we drove to Daly waters, village famous for its historic pub. We had a nice BBQ barramundi dinner there with country music entertainment.

Kings Canyon, July 26-31

 
The 7kms rim walk of Kings Canyon and the scenery were fantastic. Manfred and I liked the walk so much that we both did it twice.



We took turns to mind the kids as we didn't take them on the walk with us.























We caught up with our Canadian traveling mates Lisa and Shaun who stayed at the same caravan park. It was great to see them again but also sad to see them go as it was our last catch up. They were heading to Adelaide next and back to Canada in September.

Ayers Rock (Uluru), July 21-26

Our stay at Yulara campgrounds was very enjoyable although very cold.
I liked Ayers Rock (Uluru) a lot and Manfred found it amazing again (it was his second visit). Nina and Annabelle liked it too; Annabelle kept on repeating "I can see a big rock".
Manfred and I took turns to walk around the rock (9 kms).
I went on a sunset tour and learnt about some of the stories about the rock and bushtuckers. Nina and I joined a little lesson about aboriginal painting and each of us created a little painting on canvas. Nina enjoyed it.

Sunsets at the rock are amazing. It changes colour depending on the time of the day.







We also visited the Olgas, another amazing rock formation and did a nice walk.

Between Barkley's Homestead and Alice Springs, July 13-21

On our way to Tennant Creek we stayed at Barkley homestead roadhouse.


At the caravan park in Tennant Creek, there was a bushtucker man who entertained a little crowd around a fire: he told stories, poems and showed a few bushtuckers (lemongrass and others). We warmed up with some lemongrass tea and had some yummy damper he had cooked in a camp oven. The next day I was very proud as I managed to find some lemongrass in the bush and made some tea with it.

After a nice picnic at Devils Marbles we drove as far as the Ti Tree roadhouse. The girls were quickly surrounded by peacocks: they loved it.

 

We spent the next few days at Alice Springs. We liked our visit at the Desert park where we learnt about the flora and fauna of the outback.
It's worth a stroll at the Todd Mall (pedestrian zone) as there are many aboriginal paintings to look at in the galleries and shops.We had a look at the west Mac Donnell ranges (Simpsons gap, Standley chasm, Ormiston gorge, Ochre pits, Ellery creek big hole).
Those ranges are great. A must See if you visit Alice!