The past week proved to be even more interesting than we expected.

Trephina Gorge in the East MacDonnell Ranges, about 60 km east of Alice Springs, is great – rugged and dry, but also quite beautiful, with really good bush walks. The vegetation all looks healthy after recent rain, with lots of varieties of trees and grasses. During a camp fire session after dark we heard that an 86 year old man had gone for a 30 minute walk at 4 pm and hadn’t returned.  The officials didn’t want untrained people searching so we just provided support to the man’s wife until eventually he was found at noon the next day; after 20 hours he was healthy so it ended well. 

Then the rain started and kept coming down for about 12 hours. After seeking advice from the local park ranger we decided to leave and take a chance on the roads.  The trip to Ross River, then north along the Hale River was slow with water across the road in most of the creek crossings and mud in hollows everywhere. We stayed overnight at Old Amberlindum homestead, still a working cattle station. Luckily the owners were welcoming because we were the only guests there. We took their advice and stayed an extra night because the track to Gemtree, 100 km further north, was still wet. Staying longer was good because we were able to spend several hours helping to drove 140 cattle from the next property, about 7 km through some quite rough terrain. It was good fun. 

The track westward along the Hale River was still wet and at times a little slippery, then we drove north for about 40 km along the rocky, corrugated and frequently wet Pinnacles Track. Many times we were doing only 10 kph so the 100 km trip from Old Amberlindum to Gemtree took 4 hours and we thoroughly enjoyed it. The scenery was quite spectacular.  At Gemtree we heard that there was more rain on the way so we changed plans and headed for the Stuart Highway rather than continue north along Binn’s Track. This proved to be a good decision because soon rain started again and continued for about 12 hours.  By now the Todd River through Alice Springs had stared to flow so the local property owners must be very happy.

Now we are in Tennant Creek where we stopped to do some laundry and shopping. Tomorrow we will head north again then west to Kununurra in WA.

Keep safe and well everyone. Regards from Ted and Jo