Well we have done it. Jennifer drove the Oodnadatta track over three days beginning on Saturday morning and finishing today here at Marree. We began the trip from Marla which is on the Stuart Highway after driving south from Alice Springs on Friday. We have done quite a bit of preparation for this trip, it’s nothing hard, well nothing compared to the ultimate one which is the Canning Stock route but it was the first remote drive we have ever done. 
Marla is pretty basic. A fuel station to fill up. A minimart. And a Caravan park where we stayed overnight. We set off the next morning. We lowered the pressures in both car and trailer and we noticed immediately how much smoother the car was on corrugations. But the corrugations at Marla are nothing compared to the bone jarring at the south east end of the track. 
Our target destination for day one was Oodnadatta. The track is pretty good with dips and corrugations aplenty but not much sand to speak of. The scenery is not overwhelmingly beautiful but it’s tough, dry and plants and animals here have to struggle. The Sandhills are impressive , long lines of sand lying kilometre after kilometre in length, and generally lie east west due to prevailing winds. There are pale yellow ones just south of Oodnadatta, and then big red ones near William creek which to be honest, does not have a lot else going for it. 
Oodnadatta means myrtle flower. I don’t know if it’s a blossom pink but it should be, as Oodnadatta boasts the quirky Pink Roadhouse. This is a great place, the staff are terrific but the decor is Pink upon pink. They do meals, mostly burgers! The kitchen closes for meals at six so we visited the Transcontinental Hotel to see about dinner later in the evening. No luck there, as they are closed for renovations. So Jennifer cooked a meal for us. The caravan park is a bit sad, three trees, and yet the amenities were very clean, water was hot and there was a shelter to escape the wind. It’s been really windy all three days of our trip. Jennifer is feeling a bit troppo with it. Oodnadatta is well worth exploring. The terminus of the Old Ghan ended at Oodnadatta for fifty years before the extension was built to Alice Springs in 1929. That was a sad day for the town as up until then it had been a very busy place. There was lots of work for the cameleers, the shopkeepers and publicans. But somehow it carried on and how it did is documented in the museum ( previously the railway station) in the middle of town. The building is in excellent condition and each room has displays about different aspects of life here. There are photos and displays about the Aborigines, the Chinese, the Afghans, the farmers, the railway men and their wives and their families. There are other presentations on the Old Ghan, the natural history of the area and the present efforts of the local people to make a living in Oodnadatta. We spent an hour there looking at all these interesting photos and documents. 

After leaving Oodnadatta, we planned on stopping at Algebuckina Bridge. However we arrived there so early we were just too tempted not to carry on further. We visited many of the old Sidings and stations that used to provide the services and stopping points for the train. Some of them are piles of stone and rubble while others are substantial buildings and facilities. They are are all made of local stone, mortared in place, with timber lintels. Galvanised steel roofs are now often replaced by fresh air. The stone walls are in two layers. In the railway buildings which are intact , the temperature is a pleasant twenty degrees despite much warmer outside temperatures. The lintels are timber for the windows and doorways. Near the railway tracks are the bore, a tall steel chamber and pump that taps up water for the train, and the water storage tower, a huge rectangular steel box an outlet to go to the steam locomotive. There are three or more steel rails at right angles to the tracks which are the remnants of the coal loaders. There is often a lot of coal fragments on the ground. There are often overland telegraph poles, with their ceramic cream insulators standing askew nearby. The only glass is not in the windows but in the piles of broken bottles that litter the surrounds ( railway men were solid drinkers). One station has been well restored, its nearer Marree and it’s called Curdimurka Siding. Every two years there is a hugely attended outback ball at this station. Most of the left over sidings and stations are pretty sad spots, the sole grave was a suicide at the first one we visited. Hmmmm. They are incredibly isolated in many instances with little opportunity for the fetlers ( track maintenance) to see other people or even escape their hot dry dusty work.

After Oodnadatta we stopped at Algebuckina Bridge. There are many bridges on the Old Ghan and many are still there. The longest on the railway and it’s still the longest bridge in South Australia. It’s way off the ground, about thirty meters and it’s long, at least five hundred meters. You can walk a short distance on the bridge today. The engineering is in the finest nineteenth century traditions of solidity, strength and a hint of real daring. The solid steel spans are supported by a crisscrossing of steel girders, with huge rivets. The forest below growing up in the creek sits well below this fine span. We carried on through to William Creek. We did stop briefly at the hotel there. There is really not much there. Downed a can of xxxx each then drove. We decided to camp at Coward Springs. And we are so glad we made the effort!

Coward Springs still has a lot going for it. When the Old Ghan was operating, it was a destination in its own right. There was a hotel, which only closed in 1962 and there were hot springs. Coward Springs resulted from a mound spring, that when it punctured the artesian basin in 1879 made a huge outflow creating an instant oasis for birds and people. Now there was not only water enough for the thirsty steam engines but more than enough for dusty hot railway men, and holidaymakers from Port Augusta, to bathe in the hot (29 degree c) springs. The camping area / springs are nestled adjacent to the conservation park, and its on private land. The new owners have done a fabulous job, of getting the bore working again, reestablishing the wetlands, replanting the trees, bringing back the birds and creating a soaking pool for us ageing boomers to relax in. They have also restored the engine drivers cottage, which is now used as an excellent museum that tells the story of Coward Springs. They have restored the station masters cottage into their own home. And except for the bristling satellite dishes, it looks brand new and totally like it would have appeared in the springs heyday.

We went for a warm swim this morning, and a kite flew just above us, hovering as we floated in the water. 

We left Coward Springs and visited some other springs nearby. These are Mound Springs and the build up takes place over hundreds of years, forming a small hill, with a bubbling lake on the top. The water spills over, and as it is loaded in minerals, it coats and colours the mound. We saw Blanche Cap and the Bubbler. These springs are quite natural, and are simply areas where water under the heat and pressure of the artesian basin, bubbles to the surface. What I found truly amazing is that this water is millions of years old, it has percolated through rock for all of this time, before finally emerging in a rock fault to return to the surface but not as rain but as aquifer water. A notice board near Lake Eyre said there are 130,000 Sydney Harbours of water, in the Great Artesian Basin. How on earth can they know that?
Any way, I’m sure it’s a lot because all of central Australia is utterly dependent on this water. The route of the original Ghan was chosen because of the presence of reliable bores. Steam engines are very, very thirsty. All of the appalling problems in building and then maintaining the railway, were necessary because this is where the water was. Once diesel replaced steam, the game was over, and in only a few years, the Ghan was rerouted from Tarcoola well away from the difficulties of the old route. But for all that it was an incredible railway, full of stories, full of adventures and had far more charm than the smelly modern diesels that replaced these plucky narrow gauge steam engines.

We visited Lake Eyre today. We walked down from the lookout, to Lake Eyre South. The water is gone, at least for now. The soil was crusty and orange. The pure white salt filled the horizon. There is a blue mirage, a horizontal band that looks just like a vast lake but in truth, it’s not there, not today. In many spots along the Oodnadatta track we saw vast salt lakes, dried and flat with sand dunes abutting them. They are startlingly white, and not much will grow. Salt bush is the nearest inhabitant to a salt lake. Lake Eyre has a magical, perfect beauty, it tricks the eyes, and seems to abolish distance as you gaze over it.

We arrived at Marree, at 2:45 today and enjoyed some sparkling wine at the local Marree hotel. We drove around to the caravan park up the road and have settled in nicely. The owner, also called Jen, does dinner as well. So tonight, after sitting around the fire in a cradle, we had dinner of beef curry and then yummy trifle. Jen ( not JB) sang some songs and we all had a super evening. Tomorrow we are off to Arkaroola.

This morning we spent some time exploring Marree. The wide railway station platform has broad/ standard gauge on the right and narrow gauge on the left. Marree was the spot where goods, people and well just about everything, had to swap from the standard gauge train from Port Augusta to the narrow gauge train which took you to Oodnadatta till 1929’ then after this time, all the way to Alice Springs. There is a small museum in the old station office. A lovely Aboriginal lady showed us around. There are old posters for the Central Australia Railway, announcing holiday options. There are many old photographs showing the pitfalls of the Old Ghan. It was truly a modern adventure. 

The timetable was the roughest of estimates and could be weeks or as much as three months late getting to Alice. Trains were derailed. Sand hills covered the tracks. Trains crashed into each other. Rivers washed away the bridges. It was quite amazing it ran at all. The local Aboriginal people worked not only building the old Ghan but also worked as fetlers. It was an extraordinary time in Australia’s history with some rough customers working with no questions asked on the remote sidings isolated from their sometimes murky pasts. Afghan cameleers running hundreds of camels out of the main stations to supply pastoralists, but later the miners in the Kimberly Gold rush, and the scientists like Madigan who took off from Marree to cross and explore the Simpson desert. Wow! On the top it off we saw an actual emu chick wandering with his Mum in the streets at Marree.

Next stop is Arkaroola, the private sanctuary in the northern flinders region.

Jennifer and I are sitting in the shade of the tent. It’s about three thirty and I’m tired after a terrific walk that took most of the morning. We are camped in the Gorge Campground at Trephina Gorge. We arrived yesterday afternoon after an overnight stay at Rainbow Valley.

After leaving Redbank Gorge, Jen and I did not meet up with Dave and Di in Alice Springs. We did some shopping and had lunch at Red Sands, Todd Mall. Rob, the owner, thinks we must live there. We then did the short 68 km drive to Rainbow Valley. It’s south of Alice Springs and about 12 km north of Stuart’s well, roadhouse. We turned off into the 4WD track to the campground. It’s twenty km along a very sandy road. Jen had some fun, twisting and tailing along. We camped at the first, larger campground. Then walked over a hill to take in our first proper views of the rock formations for which Rainbow Valley is famous. A wall of orange capped rock, lies beyond a clay pan. Even this early in the afternoon, there is a rich glow to the formation. There are two short walks, the first was along the clay pan, to see the flowers and plants that lived here. The sand dunes and tracks are all a dusky red and yellow and show the markings of wind, repeated ripples, and also the trails of insects, snakes, dingos and lizards. Then we walked the Mushroom rock track. This is the prettier track, winding its way to near the base of the formation. It’s rugged prow resembles an old dreadnought. The track ends at Mushroom Rock, which is an eroded artefact that resembles, well, no surprises here, a Mushroom. Fairy martins have mud daub nests on the cave walls, it is a very beautiful area, and Jen and I spent an hour taking photos. After we walked back to the camp site for wine and biscuits, Jennifer said in a loud voice “it’s going red”. So I rushed up to the top if the hill, and took a few photos of the red glowing light on the formation. It only lasted a few moments, so Jen missed out, as she put things away while I just abandoned the camp site. David and Di had arrived only a half hour before sunset, so were able to get lots of photos too. 

That evening, we set up in adjacent tents. Dave and Di in their mesh tent, and we two in our camper. We’d spent the evening, looking at the stars, identifying constellations and features in our great southern sky. Dave indicated the Corona Borealis and Corona Australis, these rings of stars are clearly visible here in outback NT but I’ve never seen them before even in Tasmania. 

In the morning, we all did some more walking at Rainbow Valley, thoroughly enjoying our stay. It had been a very cold night. I will give a quick run down in the geology. Twenty to eighty million years ago, Rainbow Valley was tropical, and has a high rainfall that leached silica and iron to the surface. This made the surface stones, orange but very strong too. The underling rock became paler and more fragile, as water percolated down creating caves. As time went by, the caves caused collapses, tumblng the surface rock down,. The softer rock was quickly eroded, creating the sand we walk in today. This process us called laterisation.

We drove back to Alice, then took the Ross Highway to Trephina Gorge. This was the item dropped from our tour with a Mark. It actually deserves more than one day. It’s physically very beautiful, it’s quiet, it’s got splendid spacious camping areas, and the geology is truly fascinating. Where we camped there us a tap, and birds come to visit. Pied Butcher birds, honey eaters to name just two. 

This morning, Jennifer and Dave did a car shuffle, leaving his car near to John Hayes Rock Pools. The track was rough requiring a high clearance 4WD. As he drove back with Jennifer, Di and I set out on the Ridge Top walk. This begins with all the other walks at the start of Trephina Gorge, but then heads off, on and up along the ridge that leads to Turners lookout. The track is rated as difficult but the cool wind and early 8am start made the trip easier. The track is rough, but safe to follow with many signs a long the way. There are stupendous views of the East MacDonnells and Trephina Bluff in particular. We could see for many miles, across the repeating ranges. There must have been a considerable fire as there was a lot of damage to trees and spinifex plants. However, soon we walked steadily up. Turners look out is on the edge of a vertical bluff. We had morning tea here, enjoying the very elevated views of the hills and ranges to the west. The track de steeply just after we rejoined the main track, bringing us to another Gorge, called the Chain Of Pools. We opted for the easier descent here, and we were all very glad we did as the views of the gorge were excellent. It forms a huge horse shoe bend in the mountain. I’ve never seen anything as striking as this before in Australia. We had lunch in the gorge. The rock pool was not all that inviting, but it was cool and shady beside the rocks. Dave, Di and I walked a short distance on the road to find the parked car. We drove back the eight kilometres to the camp site to meet Jennifer at the tent. 

It’s 11am Sunday morning. A disturbed night from some Millennials playing music too loudly and too late. Anyway, we awoke to a peaceful morning and started packing up. We left for walk at 8 am, Panoroma walk. This goes steeply up from the gorge and offers terrific views of Trephina and the nearby hills. It’s only an hours walk. However, it’s very pretty. From the top it winds its way gently down, and back to the start. Di spotted some blue fuschias. After chai we folded the camper down, and began the drive back to Alice Springs. We stopped off to visit an immense three hundred year old ghost gum. It’s been a super stay here at Trephina, as was our short stay at Rainbow Valley. We bid adieu to the Seatons tonight as they will be flying back to Launceston early on Monday morning. It’s been really great to have them along to explore this beautiful part of the world.

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.

Elliott is a town on an ancient land, the Pre Cambrian Shield, this vast stable platform has meant that relatively little geological change has taken place compared to most other places on Earth. There have been three seperate seas, their sediment is the basis of the sandstone of the Ahburton Range that divides the Barkly Tablelands on the east from the Tanami to the west of the highway. The soils are generally very old, and infertile except for parts of the Barkly, where the ongoing pastoral heritage relies on those richer soils deposited from the retreating ancient seas.

Aboriginal people have been here since the Dreamtime, surviving on the native bush foods available. The spirit ancestors gave them rights and responsibilities for this region, over which they moved with little envonmental impact, farming the bush, studying the game hereabouts, and learning the stories of place and of lore. Newcastle creek and it’s headwaters are the country of the Jingili people. Nearby live the Wambaya, Yangman, Mangarrayi, Mudbara, Gurindji, Warlpiri, Warlmanpa, and Warramungu. Lake Woods and Woods Waterhole, were places of refuge in this dry land as well as the venue for meetings and ceremonies between the mobs. 
The first white man to visit the location of the future Elliott was John McDouall Stuart in 1861. It was not his first time in the future Northern Territory ( of South Australia), in 1860, he was forced back after a battle with local Aboriginals at Attack creek, that’s about 200km south of Elliott today. His third trip north was not to discover new pastoral areas but rather to establish a feasible route for the Overland Telegraph planned from Adelaide to northern Australia, which would then join the undersea cable crossing the Indian Ocean. It was Stuart who named Newcastle Waters after the Duke Of Newcastle, the Colonial Secretary in far off London. And it was here at Newcastle Waters, only 30 kilometres from Eliott that he turned south again, after four fruitless and exhausting trips north east and north west. On his return to Adelaide he learned that Burke and Wills had failed to return from their expedition. So. He began his fourth and final, and ultimately successful trip north. This time he discovered the waterholes that allowed his horses and men to get to Daly Waters from Newcastle Waters, then on to Mary River and then the sea. 

The rough route beside the new Telegraph line ( 1870-1872) was called “ The Track” and it guided men north, to look for gold, move stock, and then allowed entrepreneurs to set up pastoral leases along its length. In 1883, Newcastle Waters Station had its beginnings. Now Stuart had linked north and south, but little was known of the lands to the west and east of Newcastle Waters. The explorers Ernest Favenc and Nat Buchanan, rode into the Barkly and Tanami respectively. The Tanami was unsuitable for pastoralists but the Barkly was a possibility. Spin doctors of the time published glowing reports of this country. The Telegraph station at Powell Creek, 60 kilometres south of Elliott, was the connection to the world for this area. 

Overlanders regularly began moving stock, sheep and cattle, north using the reliable water holes of this area for their animals. Even though most were just passing through, there was still early conflict and deaths on both sides. But by 1885, Not only Newcastle Waters, but Brunette, Alexandria, Walhallow and Eva Downs stations were all established in the Barkly Tablelands. All of them still exist today, and you may visit them if you do the Barkly Run, our air plane ( RFDS) based clinics run about monthly.

Eliott is famous for being at the junction of two of the most famous stock routes, the Murranji track from the northwest , and the Barkly track which takes off just south of Elliott. Then as now, it was the availability of water which permitted a station to be established and allowed stock to travel thousands of kilometres. These routes were often desperate affairs, with scurvy and disease, death from injury, and dehydration. The Murranji track was the most brutal of all Australian stock routes, with waterless intervals of up to 115 miles! There is a terrific book on this track by Darrell Lewis that is well worth reading. Many Aboriginal men became legends on these stock routes, and their descendants still live in the Elliott community.
Newcastle Waters became the hub for many great stock routes and was a community long before Elliot or indeed even before the Stuart Highway (1943) was built. You can drive out to see the old buildings at Marlinja ( the settlement adjacent to Newcastle Waters station) and walk through the old pub ( Jones Hotel). Don’t  forget to check out the old petrol station and houses. It’s a fascinating study but the town withered and died as a commercial hub with the foundation of Elliott 35 kilometres south. The station still exists as does a small Aboriginal community called Marlinja. 

In 1940, War had come to Australia, Darwin was bombed, Japanese soldiers had captured the impregnable Singapore, and were moving south at a blistering speed. It was a military imperative that Darwin with its access to Indonesia, New Guinea and South East Asia, be accessible not just only by water (a route  too vulnerable to submarines and air attack) but by land. A highway was needed. The main roads only went to Alice Springs from Southern Australia. American Engineers built a Northern road in a matter of months. It was described as having an “all weather “ surface. Now there was access north but towns were needed along the way. Then in 1942, it rained, and rained, the “ all weather Road” was now 1500 kilometres of impassable quagmire. The road had to be sealed properly. By October 1943, the road was indeed sealed and all the way from Alice Springs to Darwin. Goods and personnel could be moved by rail to the Alice then to Larimah ( the nearest railhead) , then by truck from there, all the way to Darwin. Convoys of troops and supplies all stopped at Elliott. Every effort was made to make it a comfortable stop off. Soldiers could visit a cinema, go for a swim at Woods Waterhole, enjoy fresh meats and vegetables grown in Elliott or from one of the huge vegetable and fruit gardens established along the Stuart. Actually, it was not called Elliott then, it was called Number 8 bore. 

In 1941, Lord Gowrie, the Governor General at the time, was so impressed with the courtesies extended to him and indeed all the soldiers who stayed at number 8 bore by Captain Robert Elliott, that he decided the camp be called Elliott after his host. Captain Robert ( Snow) Elliott ran the camp for the war years and later was involved in rehabilitating returning prisoners of war. He gained a MBE for his efforts as early as 1942. He died tragically only a few years later.

Elliott had the Highway, the facilities, and it was inevitable the township at Newcastle Waters suffered. The drovers were gone by the 1950s, the stock routes now were rarely used as fast road transports ( 1949) thundered along the roads to the eastern markets. They no longer needed a pub at Newcastle Waters. Elliott had businesses and hotels for the passing trade, and to service the the many stations located “near” the town before reliable air travel.
In the first of May, 1966 things suddenly all changed. 19 Aboriginal workers on Newcastle Waters went on strike over pay and conditions, it was the first of the “ walk offs” that took place all over central and northern Australia. A hundred Aboriginal people moved onto land adjacent to Elliott, and set up camp. Wave hill is the most famous walk off but Newcastle Waters was the very first. Other Aboriginal people from seven other stations joined the original settlers in the camps. North camp and later South Camp were here to stay. Diverse tribes were thrown together by circumstance into camps and western style houses. Tribes that had rarely worked or lived together now had to do so, and it’s not always been easy.
 Until 1966 for the previous eighty years, stock had run wild, and it was Aboriginal musterers who gathered them together before passing them onto drovers. The musterers lived man and boy at the stations, and their families and dependents formed camps on the outskirts of the stations. Living conditions are described by present day historians as “appalling”. They scavenged offal for food, money was merely credit in the stations store and by the end of the year, there was nothing left. Even industrial awards as late as 1953 permitted lower rates of pay to an Aboriginal worker and many were not paid at all. An outcry from southern unions, lead to an epic decision to make equal pay for equal work, binding on all employers even the station owners. Then what set off the strike was that under pressure, the court ruled that the law would not come into affect for nearly three more years. Australia had to wake up to its somnolent racism in the 1960s and Elliott was a flashpoint.

This is merely the background of Elliott. I have used a beautifully presented book called “ the middle of everywhere” by Peter and Sheila Forrest which I can recommend. Another fine book is “Jones Store” written by a descendent of the hotels founder, his grandson, Peter Jones. This fine hardback book is all about the settlement at and around Newcastle Waters. 

Have a walk around while you here, and see the relics and memorials of WW2, visit the Golf course, and relax in the park. It’s a place with ongoing challenges surrounding work, education and health and is not immune to any of the problems affecting Australia including drugs, domestic violence and alcohol abuse but on the other hand you will meet many wonderful people here with generous smiles and abundant kindness. I’m sure you will enjoy your stay.

Imagine a primeval landscape, a forest all around you, but the trees are not the eucalypts and flowering plants of today but instead you are painfully brushing away the stiff fronds of brilliant green cycads, while ramrod straight palms tower over you and then suddenly there is the roar of a T REX. If you can picture this, you can pretty well visualise the scenery of Palm Valley. 
Mark of Sandrifter Safaris collected us at 6:45 this morning from outside our townhouse. The new moon was low in the pre dawn sky. It was chilly as we waited just off the road. Our first stop was on Larapinta drive, just as the sun rose over the gap, and the range before us immediately lit up into brilliant orange. While watching, we all enjoyed munching a fried egg and bacon rolls with some Australia Afternoon tea steaming away in our metal mugs. Yummy. Then we were on our way to Palm Valley. It’s about 120km from Alice and most of the trip is on bitumen but the last bit is a challenging 4WD including climbing over boulders, sand and river beds. There is precious little water around now but the Finke River is still very impressive. Firstly it’s wide, wider than the Sandover. Mmmm perhaps that doesn’t help. At least a 100 meters wide with immense red river gums scattered in the river bed. We cross confidently if not easily tailing briefly in sand before climbing up and out. The Land driver is a terrific car, comfortable, good take off angles, and air suspension which produces a prolonged fart when the car is stopped after a bumpy section.
We turn off from the road adjacent to the Finke , now along the road beside Palm Creek. There are some wonderful views to be had and we frequently pulled over to take photographs of the hills and river below us. The creek has carved out the granite, sandstone of this area into weird formations of abrupt stone, they stand stark and orange in the morning light. 

Mark dropped us of to walk along the beautiful Cycad Gorge. It is a space, silent and still, the cycads visible on the rock face. Pillars and immense blocks of rock, had split out from the cliff and lay shattered on the valley floor. 

We arrived at the parking area situated at Palm Creek.. There are four walks we could choose from. We opted for a five kilometre walk that went up onto the escarpment, along the cliff with views into Palm Creek , then turning southwards across the plateau, then dropping down along a narrow rocky track back down to the creek bed. We followed this circuit track with Mark, chatting as we do about all sorts of things. By now it was warmer so we had tucked away our jumpers as we walked along. It is a very beautiful walk but with slight squinting and a liberal dose of imagination, you can almost hear the dinosaurs that walked this same area, between the same species of palms and cycads we are seeing right now. The creek bed is rocky not sandy or of loose stone, it’s granite and then sandstone, the fine beds are twisted or more accurately tortured into swirls and folds by the geological forces that have made this place. Yet despite all this geological tom foolery, the Finke River and Palm Creek have had unaltered courses for 190 million years, simply eroding the rocks and even mountains that had the cheek to appear. 
After our walk we had a splendid lunch, sitting on the rock, smoothed by eons of water and tumbling stones, we each had a wrap of corn beef and salad, followed by carrot cake and monster strawberries. Above us, the palm trees, livistonias, shimmered in the sunlight. Magic.
After lunch, we drove back to the main highway, turning off to Owen Springs. This is a fascinating relic of early NT history and business enterprise. First built in 1869, it was the first homestead built in Central Australia. Early explorers had fired up the imagination of some men to become pastoralists. Gilbert built a timber structure on the Hugh River, just north of Laurence Gorge, and grew wheat on the rangelands hereabouts. He had three wonderful years, glowing reports from explorers such as Giles, seemed confirmed by the rain and resulting crops. Then ten years of drought. This was not a successful venture so the property was sold  to Thomas Elder. Yep, Elder of Real Estate fame. But is wasn’t real estate Elder was primarily interested in, it was transport. The Ghan train connected Port Augusta to Oodnadatta by 1891 but would not be extended to Alice Springs until 1929. So for nearly thirty years, here was  a situation when transport was up for grabs between Oodnadatta and virtually everywhere in the centre. The government was encouraging entrepreneurs to enter the field. South Australia still had a lot of camels left over from the ones used to explore the centre. Elder put it together, and bought a vast number of camels and used his properties to service transport needs. The camel trains went from Oodnadatta to Curtin Springs to Owen Springs, then on to Stuart ( Stuart was the name of nowadays Alice Springs until 1939)’ then everywhere else including Hermannsburg and Arltunga. There was absolutely no connection between Darwin and Alice till 1942 when American military Engineers constructed the modern extension of the Stuart Highway northwards for the relief of Darwin. 

Owen springs passed to various owners, including Kidman for a time, until in 1999, the property was acquired by the NT government. Though it was a ruin, it’s roof long gone, it remained of great interest to history buffs, and so by 2002, it was repaired and its walls resurfaced to protect them. And so it stands today, with the Hugh River behind it, and the range terminating briefly at Laurence Gorge. This route pioneered by McDouall Stuart, remained the main path for not only Elder and his camel trains, but motor cars beginning the journey in 1929. And in 1957, the first tourist bus to Alice Springs. This route to Alice via Owen Springs continued until the construction of the current Stuart highway.
Elders camels were instrumental in supplying the construction equipment and supplies for the original old Ghan railway. It was only in 1929 that the Ghan finally was extended to Alice Springs ( then Stuart…. Confusing isn’t it). The camels were also used for building the overland telegraph. No wonder Elder grew wealthy from his transport empire.  

After our exploration of the old homestead, we carried along the Owen Springs road all the way to Stuart Highway, then back to Alice. What a fabulous day, full of history, nature, landscapes and great company.

I am sitting in a camp chair beside the campfire, the immense octagonal tent that provides shelter and a place for lounging about and meals is behind me. This camp is the second one used on this Larapinta walk, it’s called Charlie’s camp after one of the first guides. But I should begin at the beginning.
On Wednesday morning we were collected at our overnight accommodation, Doubletree in Alice Springs bright and early at 7:30 am. There are sixteen walkers, and all of us have elected for the highlights version of the famous Larapinta trail. The full walk takes anything from twelve to sixteen days, and walkers have to be very well organised with food drops and equipment. We met two walkers, young men who had been walking for eight days or seven, they weren’t sure. Our little packs looked very diminutive beside their solar panel laden multi day packs, the road trains of the Larapinta trail. 

We grouped at Telegraph station on the outskirts of Alice Springs, made introductions. The walkers are from age fifty to sixty and all of them have done many interesting adventures both here and overseas. We were dressed in warm gear because of the cold. Little did we know, that it was going to get a lot colder. We skirted the old station, and commenced the first section of the trail. Cloudy, cool, mild fresh breeze and perfect weather for walking. A frizzle threatened, and over the day it grew into a drizzle, and finally rain overnight. Today, we aimed to complete the walk to Wallaby Gap. We travelled past Charles River, under the Stuart highway, then up along ridges of the ranges. The fall to the left is precipitate, a three hundred meter drop, with wonderful views of the Pattuca range to the south beyond the spinifex and mulga plains. There are many opportunities to see the orange cliffs. 

Lunches are under trees on the trail, a large black tarp is laid out, and a selection of ham, salami, salads, dips and garnishes are available for us. One does eat well on these walks. You need the energy, as the track undulates over ankle twisting rocks and gravel. I needed to stay alert despite my Scarpa boots and sticks, occasionally slipping but no harm done. I’d been bitten by a camp dog two weeks ago, and thankfully it’s well on the way to being healed, so it did not give me any problems on the walk. 
The World expeditions bus was waiting for us at Wallaby Gap, a bumpy ride to the highway, then a drive to Charlie’s camp. The tent sites are very organised and very discrete, invisible from the highway, but the orange roof of the main tent makes them very visible from higher altitudes. There are semi-permanently set up tents for sleeping, a large tent as I said before for meals and lounging. The showers are hot water, one fills a bucket with hot water from a “donkey” into a bucket in the shower cubicle , hoisted aloft then the handle is turned, allowing water to rain down. The cool breezes wafting up from the gap between floor and cubicle, means the two and half minutes shower time is ample. The soaps and shampoos used are biodegradable, to protect the environment. The lady before me, fished out a dead bird from the shower bucket, so I was pleased to be second for once.

 On this first evening, we had a real treat. Raelene, who runs and owns, a bush food cafe in Alice Springs called Kungku foods. She is an Arrente lady who has harnessed her people’s heritage of bush foods to create a business. The older ladies in communities such as Utopia, gather the bush tucker in traditional ways and get paid for what they gather. As far as cultivating these plants plantation style, this does not work, the plants and trees die after two seasons. In the desert diseases cannot easily spread. The two main challenges are the encroachment of buffel grass choking the native vegetation, and secondly, the fracturing of Aboriginal society that makes it difficult to pass on the bush food story and skills to the next generation.
The next morning we finished section one by walking to Simpson Gap. This hike followed the hills beneath cliffs and ultimately provided fine views of the gap. It was cloudy and cold but rays of sunlight struggled through illuminating the valley. Simpsons Gap is wide, beautiful and sacred. The inviting pool is not for swimming. River gums twisted by the rigours of summer floods sit in the sand and stones of the ancient waterway, a creek course that long precedes the range it breeches. Ghost gums with their bright green foliage and shimmering white bark grip the sandstone walls. After exploring the gap we bussed to Standley Chasm. This geological feature is named for Ida Standley, an early twentieth century educator who actually taught aboriginal kids. We waited for our guide, Dee, but she had been double booked so had to catch up with her after lunch. Ryan, one of our four guides took us into the chasm. It is a gorge with sheer walls of orange quartzite. The narrow passageway echoes any conversation. The air is still and cool. It is impossible not to feel a sense of awe. This chasm was made by the erosion of a layer of white dolerite, leaving the quartzite for us to see today. Or was it two euro brothers who had an argument and one split the hill apart with the downward lash of his tail? I guess we will never know for sure. On the walk, Ryan showed us spearwood. Spearwood looks like a group of thin canes but if you hold one over a fire and stretch it straight, you can create a very good spear. It’s light, and made deadly by tying on a shard of quartzite or the poisonous wood of the mulga. It’s thrown from the rear of the spear and with little practice, can prove very accurate.

Dee met us after lunch, by now the sun had come out and we were all sitting on the grass. Dee runs a business called Cultural Connection NT. This enterprise is about educating people like us about aboriginal culture and history, about things that might otherwise cause misunderstanding. Dee explained that there are hundreds of tribes, and most of these have unique languages as different as Japanese and French to us. They have different beliefs and different attitudes by which they live. So it is not surprising that it is going to be difficult to achieve a unified voice. Europe has twenty nations and they cannot work together. Skin names are separate from your family names. Different tribes have different numbers of skin names, four, eight or as many as sixteen. Only certain skin name pairs can marry. This system was invented to reduce inbreeding. A child’s skin name, and his siblings which include his first cousins, have the same skin name. This skin name is different to the parents. It sounds complex and only looks marginally more straightforward on a chart with lines going clockwise and anticlockwise depending on the mother’s and fathers skin name respectively.
Education is different from the western style we are used too. It’s a life long learning, beginning in childhood singing, chanting, dancing, and listening to stories, observing the elders, and seeing the land, skies and weather over many years. Aural traditions everywhere in the world cannot write information down so it is necessary to learn using all the senses and by repetition, and then apply it.
Most of the social problems including drug abuse, health issues, and violence, are new ones. For forty thousand plus years plus, tribal lore and community, relations between people and other tribes, were sorted out and codified. In the last two hundred years, all that has been thrown into disarray. This uncertainty about culture creates unease, it means many Aboriginal people struggle to understand who and what they are. There are no rules about drugs in Aboriginal culture because they drugs did not exist. Learning from television, books and writing is completely alien from the experiential style of Aboriginal learning. Understanding new concepts is difficult when English is your third or second language. In some schools in Alice Springs there are now textbooks in many subjects, with the majority of teaching and examinations done using Arrente language.
Many of the attitudes which are so useful living in semi-arid Australia prove problematic when interfacing with white society. White people are so obsessed with punctuality and time while Aboriginal people live in the now. If the passing of time is anything, it’s morning, noon, and afternoon based on the suns position. 

All this was done by Dee in her own style. She commented that Aboriginal people will not criticise, push eye contact or even ask questions because of their concern that by doing so, it would mean the other person lose face. This is the basis of the shyness and their reticence to ask questions.
At the conclusion of our talk with Dee, I think all of us had gained insights into Aboriginal culture and how it relates to us.
Afterwards we climbed back into the bus and were transported back to our new campsite, Charlie’s campsite. We skipped showers this evening. I played my guitar, sitting on my camp bed until it got too dark and too cold to play. The dinner was wonderful. Early to bed. I had my beanie on, thermal top and snuggled into my sleeping bag with only my nose sticking out. 
Up again in the morning, day three, up at six am for breakfast of muesli, yoghurt and tea. Today’s walk to Count point is spectacular. It’s an arduous hike along loose rocky tracks, and onward and upward to Counts junction, then after dropping packs, a short walk to the point. The walk commenced with a short walk to Serpentine Gorge which in my opinion is the most tranquil and inspiring of the many gorges on the Larapinta trail. This provides amazing views, Gosse Bluff ( old impact crater) in the distance, two long ranges below us with an almost glacial looking valley between them. The Chewing Range and the Heavitree Range. Then a three hundred meter drop to the camp site. Today’s walk was seventeen kilometres.

On day four, it had been again a very cold night, the ice in any outside bucket ample testimony of that. There are composting toilets with heavy plastic/nylon curtains and solar powered lights for necessary illumination. The washing up area, is nearby, a bucket full of fresh water, a steel cup with several holes is filled by dunking in the bucket, then suspended above the basin. 
Our walk this morning, commenced in the most magical of early morning light. You know on some special mornings, the crispness and toning of the light give a beautiful glow to the natural world. One of the guides said to look out for some unique natural rock formations on the walk. Some of us were a bit non plussed about where the artificial geological formations were. While our bags were being carried to our next campsite, we walked to serpentine chalets dam. This dam was built below a narrow Gorge and provided water for the shirt lived Serpentine Chalet. Only the ruins remain, it was constructed in the 1950s before the road was improved and the speed of travel meant stopping for a night was unnecessary. The walk to the dam involves some rock clambering. The Gorge here is very beautiful. Our guide took us on a vertical side trip, to see these formations. The layers of rock are curved, in near swirls of sandstone over a hundred meters. The forces would have been truly immense to create this amazing appearance. We walked to Inarlunga pass. The trees here can be heard, pressing my ears against the white trunk of a ghost gum, I can hear the glug glug of water moving upwards from the roots on the way to the leaves above.
We returned to collect our packs, then shed some thermal gear with the increasing warmth of the day, then carried on, meeting the Arrente track. This track connects the Inarlunga Pass (Echidna Pass) with the Ochre pits. It is only a nine kilometre walk but it’s not easy, the rolling rocks which make the track, discourage mindless walking. I needed to stop before taking photographs, repack the camera, survey where to put my next step before carrying on. The track provides wonderful views of the ranges on either side of the track. It weaves over and between the crests of a series of hills. There are occasional information stands. These describe the plants and how they were used in Arrente life. 
The Ochre pits have been mined for thousands of years, and the different colour Ochres gave been traded along song lines throughout central Australia. The ochre consists of kaolin with varying amounts of iron oxide and other minerals. Today, it is still mined by local Arrente men and used in ceremony and art. We drifted along admiring the colours and play of light on the carved-out ochre. Then a short drive to Glen Helen. This old station is now fully geared up for tourism. There is both camping sites and cabins for rent. Cheap beer but expensive diesel. Behind the lounge are comfortable seats and tables where you can relax sipping beer or eating ice creams and study the orange glow of the ranges rocks. We walked to the gorge. There is a large rock pool that spans the gorge. Some of the guides braved the cold water to freshen up for a swim. It is yet another wonderful sight to enjoy. While we were walking and exploring, two of our number enjoyed the helicopter trip to see the sights from above.
Then we drove to camp Fearless. It’s named after Sue Fear , a tribute to a legendary climber who died in Nepal. This morning, as I’m writing this, most of our number have elected to do the sunrise walk up to the south summit of Mt Sonder. Jen and I slept through the wake up call at 2:15 am and decided to spend the day in meditation and tea/coffee appreciation. 
Right now, I’m sitting on a camp chair and finally getting warm. It was minus two overnight. ( This does not encourage frivolity on mountains). The camp fire is sending smoke away from me. Lunch is cooking in a camp cooker sitting on the hot coals. Mt Sonder is looking majestic in the morning sun beyond the camp tents. A few ring necked parrots are fluttering around. 
( Dinners so far . Loin shanks. Barramundi. Chicken curry. Beef stew. Roast lamb and poached pear with chocolate and cream)

It is now five pm and I’m sitting under the big tent at Camp Fearless. Jennifer and I have had a quiet day, relaxing, talking. When the rest of the group returned from the 16 kilometre hike up and down Mt Sonder, they looked a bit battered and worn out by the adventure but were equally full of praise for the beauty of the mountain and the splendid views it delivered. Maybe next time for us, I need to be a lot fitter to have the strength you need to cope with the relentless climb and then descent. Jennifer and most of the group took the bus to revisit Glen Helen while I stayed here in camp to practice. I also went for a brief walk with two of my fellow travellers along the dry creek beside the campsite. No two river gums are the same are they? There are some great views of Mt Sonder to be had as well, its massif silhouetted by the giant gums and cork trees on and near the bank. 

We are altogether on the bus returning to Alice Springs. Today we packed up our stuff, tidied our bivies, had breakfast and sat around the campfire in the morning light. We have spent a wonderful day walking at Ormiston Pound. A pound is a plain ringed all around by ranges. Ormiston pound has three entrances. We entered the pound after skirting the range climbing and then descending via the first pass. In the distance I could see the further most band of ranges. The nearer hills bright orange and in the distance the haze fading those same colours to blue. We all walked steadily, winding our way across the pound, crossing two dry river beds. Two meters above the rivers bed and wrapped around trunks and branches was grass and foliage washed there by the last flood. 

Water still remained from those long ago floods, cool and inviting pools, reflecting the red gums and ghost gums; a all peaceful symmetry of form and colour.

Finally we entered the gorge itself. This place is beautiful, I cannot find words to express it meaningfully. Here are rich colours of the orange quartzite cliffs, soft cool shadows lying over jumbled stone and water, and the many hues from purple to grey streaking the very substance of the boulders we all scramble across. Herons careen in the air calling as they fly in the narrow airspace of the gorge. Their voices loud and clear, but almost alien in this ancient landscape. The rock pools are large and plentiful, providing too ample an opportunity for photography. The vivid clarity of the reflections, then tones blending in any subtle movement of the water. A very special place. 
We crossed the largest pool, my fellow travellers helping me across the biggest jumps. It is amazing how sure my footing is when I’m helped. Then more boulder hoping and scrambling, to reach the car park and a yummy lunch under one of the picnic shelters.
After ice creams and a photo stop, we got back in the bus and here we are.
Before I wrap up this blog, I need to record the tremendous guides who helped, fed, encouraged and well, guided all of us in this superb region of central Australia. They are Ryan, Jen, Kia and Maddie. All top blokes and Sheilas. 
The final thank you has to be to all our fellow adventurers, all of them interesting, all of them terrific people and all of them great company.

I hope to meet many of them this evening at Hanuman restaurant.