Day 6

We struck camp Fearless-ly and walked Ormiston Pound/Gorge. If asked which walk you should do if you only had one day in the area, this is the walk that I would recommend even though we had to wade through crotch high, freezing water towards the end of the trail.
My camera lost it's ability to focus not far into the walk but recovered by the time we were in the gorge. So I don't have any photos of the pound which is a huge area where tectonic plates meet to create a huge bowl.
The colours in the gorge were amazing as was the geology all around.

desert rose (NT's flower)

a rock wallaby

We drove back to Alice Springs after lunch. The family had dinner together in the Hotel Diplomat restaurant and dispersed the next day.

My flight to Adelaide was delayed 9 hours because the plane from Darwin had to be replaced. So I had to sleep in Adelaide. Virgin paid for the Crowne Plaza and a $50 voucher for dinner. It was a bit different to sleeping in a tent, on a swag and eating food cooked on an open fire (although that only happened a couple of times.) 

Being home a day later didn't matter as Jo is overseas until the end of the month.

Day 5

We left very early to be ready to start our walk up Mt Sonder at 2am. It was pitch black with an icy wind. By this stage, I had learned not to walk with the leaders who set off at a great pace, get hot and sweaty and then have to sit and wait, in the frigid wind, for the slower walkers to catch up. I stayed at the back where we kept up a steady pace and didn't get overheated. By the time we arrived at the top of the mountain around 7am it was obvious that there wasn't going to be a sunrise because the mountain top was covered in cloud. So we walked down the mountain the way we had walked up.
The walk down was amazing because we went from a 360degree view (as soon as we were below the cloud) for miles and miles to a closer and closer view.
The walking was fairly easy. In the night I imagined that I was walking on ancient Roman roads because it was mostly over slabs of rock like paving tiles. You really didn't have to watch every step (as was necessary on previous days) which, on the way down, left lots of time to marvel at the view.

The top of Mt Sonder was under the cloud when we got to the bottom. This is the only photo I took all day. The way down felt much longer than the way up although it took an hour less.

Fabulous day.

Day 4

We broke camp early then visited a dam that was built to supply a hotel that only lasted about 10 years but has stuffed up a gorge forever.

We then took the Inarlanga trail to the Ochre Pitts.

there are some weird mistletoes

and the earth moves

cycads grow for centuries

the other Robin, Fi and Harry

Then we drove to the Finke River (oldest river to run in the same banks in the world) for a chance to get a cup of coffee or an icecream. Harry and Laurie swam in the river.

We slept at camp Fearless (named for Sue Fearless a mountaineer.)

Day 3

We walked from camp up the Serpentine George then along the ridge to Coutts Point

Janey

Fergus

the red seems to dissolve out of the rocks

Mt Sonder way in the distance

where the teeth were cleaned

Day 2

We drove to Simpson's Gap which we walked.

 Then drove to Standley Chasm. Some of us climbed up to the lookout: so worthwhile.

lots of different fuschia type flowers

We ended at Charlie's camp where we slept for 2 nights.The first night was very cold with a heavy frost. We learned to go to bed with beanies and our canvas covers zipped up.

Day 1

Bus was to pick us up between 7 and 7:30am which gave us the chance to see our first desert sunrise. We walked from Telegraph Station to Wallaby Gap and then on to Nicks Campsite (named for the son of Glen Murcott who designed the encampment to be demountable. He died young.)

dawn in Alice Springs

Harry got the first hot spots taped

the going is rocky but territorians build excellent staircases

see how green

we were often very close to the edge

a bonsai like hackea in bloom

There were flowers everywhere and birds hiding in the trees.

All the campsites are much the same so we only had to learn once how to use the bucket shower, the long drop loos and the outdoor vanity. The tents are cubes of canvas that you can stand up in and there were enough of them for us to have one to ourselves if we wanted to sleep alone. The first night I heard gentle snores from both sides.

The stars were amazing despite the light clouds. Clever Robin (not Margy's school friend Robin O'Sullivan, the other schoolteacher Robin) has an app on her phone that when you point it at the sky tells you which planet or constellation that you are looking at.

Pre trek

I got to Alice Springs on the day before we had to get there to have time to see what was left of the Beanie Festival in the morning before our briefing. The exhibition will continue until July 17 at the Araluen Centre so Harry and I walked there in the morning. We got there at about 9am and it didn't open until 10 so walked back a way to get some more water: it is thirsty country.
The beanies were delightful.

There is an art gallery  beside the temporary exhibit gallery which has a wall and a half of Namajira's and other well known aboriginal artists.

Later we went to the Reptile Show where they have one crocodile and lots of splendid snakes. My favourite was the spiny devil.

This caterpillar is in the gardens of the Aralueun Centre

perentiespiny devil

reflected croc

Then we were breifed in a shop where we met our guides Ben, Wes, Alison and trainee Maddy. They told us what we would be doing (same as in brochure) and what extra things we might need.

Larapinta Trail

I couldn't post on the trail because we had no wi-fi. I will reconstruct the trip in day by day posts which will be photo heavy because it was so wonderful that I have forgotten what we did when.