Is a warm Tuesday afternoon, bees are buzzing around us and in particular our water desperately in search for fluid( one has climbed in and blocked our campers water pipe!) Dave and Di have driven off to camp at Serpentine Gorge, and to do some walks. Jennifer and I are relaxing in the warm haze of a Larapinta afternoon, enjoying the first of the cool breezes that will build up overnight. 

Yesterday we spent the night camped at Ormiston Gorge. There are excellent camping facilities. The Seaton’s tent ( minus fly) was on the site adjacent to ours. David, Di and I did the Ormiston Pound walk on Tuesday afternoon. I had done it with Jen about six weeks ago but I was keen to do it again. We began early, at first light, to minimise the time in the daytime hot weather. We walked along the river, then followed the outside of the pound to a Gap, one of three gaps in this pound. It’s a nine kilometre walk but the last two involve a lot of boulder scrambling. Poor Jen has been suffering with a knee problem and so had to miss out on this walk. It really is a terrific walk, wonderful views of the edge of the pound, the headwaters of Ormiston creek which when they join the waters of Redbank Gorge, are the beginning of the journey for the Finke River. Now there is no flowing water but there are several rock pools. They are green in colour due to a naturally occurring algae. It does not look very savoury for swimming but the cafe owners assured Jen it was safe. The rock pools vary from small to Olympic pool sized. They provide artistic reflections of the surrounds. Within the gorge itself, ghost gums and cliffs provide the source of these reflections. The rich colours and hues combine as precise reflections in these dark, still mirrors. The second part of the walk occurs after entering the pound, and the track is an easy one that undulates gently through plains and over udry rivers, until you enter the gorge itself. There is an abundance of wildflowers despite the dryness of the current winter. There are white, yellow, purple and blue ones to discover. Entering the gorge, the path is crowded with boulders and rocks, shattered off the cliff walls; there are an incredible variety of colours in these stones including purple, blue, grey and cream. Sometimes the colours are mixed together in the same platform of rock. Two herons hunt in the rock pools. When one sensed my presence it took to the air in long languid strokes , flew briefly then alighted, balanced with supreme poise, on a ghost gum branch.
When we got back to the campsite, Jen told us about her walk to Ghost gum Lookout. This walk provides aerial views of the gorge. After lunch, we showered, packed up the camper and drove to Redbank Gorge.

The Redbank Gorge “Woodland” campsites are large, with tables, a gas cooker already installed, and all this for five dollars per adult per night. Jennifer cooked a terrific dinner of chicken and bok choi, followed up by teddy bear biscuits. We had an early night as the three walkers planned to do the hike up Mt Sonder. At 3:30 am the alarm went off, I grabbed my bag, water, apples and my very powerful head torch. David, Di and I drove the four kilometres to the start of the walk. It was very dark, the stars were glorious as not even the moon had woken up. Mars sat low in the sky, so low I thought the light was another walker on the track. It’s 8 kilometres to the summit. Well, sort of. There is actually another summit but that involves hours of extra walking, dropping down to a saddle then clambering up a trackless peak. We are all quite happy with the standard peak as used by 99% of hikers and all sensible ones. The early start was to skip the heat of the day, and enjoy the sunrise. I did not turn off my headlight until meters from the end of the climb. The track is easy to follow, it’s clearly defined and track markers are abundant and well located at any sudden turns. The stiffest, steepest, roughest part of the track is the first two and a half kilometres to the lookout. It was not much of a look out on the way up. All any of us could see was that bright puddle of light at our feet. Yet, we often stopped, turned off our lights and looked up. There was Orion, and eastwards there was the faint orange glow on the distant hills presaging dawn. There are some steep pinches with sharp drop offs I did not see coming up. I think this is for the best. We arrived at the summit at sunrise. David boiled water for coffee and tea for me. We spent about forty minutes there, with no one else in sight, taking photographs, sipping our drinks, and rugging up against the wind. Then we began the eight kilometre descent. The trip up took two and half hours, the descent took an hour longer. There were some wonderful things to record on our cameras. Mt Zeil in the distance. The ranges on both sides of Sonder. The interesting geology of this quartzite mountain. The paths were rough, consisting of broken rock, sand, and occasional platforms of stone. It was a very pleasant walk and only got too warm for the last kilometre when at last, I could take my jumper off. 

Jennifer cooked up a storm, a brunch of eggs, spinach, tomatoes. It did go down well. After lunch, Di and Dave went to do the short walk into Redbank Gorge while Jen and I drove to Glen Helen Station, basically to use their wi fi to check how Hilary is going. We will catch up with the Seaton’s tomorrow at Rainbow Valley for more walking and photography and laughs.