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 Topic: The Outback (Part 3, Central Oz)
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18/11/2019 at 4:34am
Location: Melbourne Australia
Outfit: Windsor Rapid Off Road Van + tents
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We had just arrived at Chambers Pillar in Central Australia. After setting up camp we walked over to the western side of it as the afternoon sun was fully on it then.
I’ve written about the Pillar in previous reports so don’t want to bore you with it all again but will show you a few pics of what we saw this time plus some info I have previously not told!!
I showed Jen a spot that is not advertised or promoted but I came across this on previous ramblings. Beyond what has been set up as a sunset viewing point is a sizeable tree, on it’s trunk is a small insignificant aluminium tab. When I first came across this spot 30 years previous there was a larger plaque telling the history of Giles camp being exactly there. It must have been knocked off (stolen) as today this is all that tells that story.
At the start of the boardwalk at the Pillar is this interpretive panel, the next pic was taken at the base looking towards the camping area with the walking track to it visible in the centre and then over the rise is the campground itself.
Late that day we returned to watch the last of the suns rays light up the Pillars.
There was a fairly big moon so a night sky pic was never going to be great but it was a surreal feeling walking around it at night.
The creation of the Pillar started over 350 million years ago, wind and rain eroded the surrounding plains, the hardened sandstone cap resisted such weathering so we are left with what we see today, a sixty metre high sandstone column.
The dreamtime story from the local Indigenous tribe is that the Pillar is the gecko ancestor Itirkawara who was exiled for taking a wife from a forbidden skin group. Itirkawara then escaped into the desert with his wife, when he/they stopped to camp they turned into two prominent rock formations. Itirkawara forming Chambers Pillar, and the woman turned into Castle Rock a short distance away.
I was up early the next morning, savouring every moment at this stunning locale.
And then Jen joined me as we watched the sun light up the pillar.
Another brilliant day was upon us so one more pic of our site and then we were again on the road/track.
On the way out we had to renegotiate a large bull dust section, very difficult to know what is the best route through such places as you can’t see the bottom! I didn’t want to go through the same hole we went through the night before as we nearly totally disappeared.
The track then our route, after the dust had settled!!!!
The Rodinga Railway Siding and a local landline phone as mobiles don’t work too well out there. (Not sure it worked either Ha!!)
We now drove the Hugh River Stock Route making our way west towards the main Stuart Hwy (and bitumen!)
This is the modern Central Railway Line (The new Ghan) where it crosses the Hugh River.
Jen smiled as we drove up the main highway smooth and no dust, just as she was getting used to that after a brief 40 ks I veered left and again hit the dirt entering the Owen Springs Reserve.
Even the rarely dry Redbank Waterhole had succumbed to the draught.
The track through the reserve follows nearly exactly John MacDouall Stuarts route as he crossed the continent in the early 1860s, it was so picturesque although the track was a bit rugged in a couple of spots but worth every minute of it though.
The Old Owen Springs Homestead was the first homestead/station established in Central Australia, Built in the 1870s it was quite a complex for it’s day with a number of substantial buildings surrounding the main homestead.
Over the past few years conservation work has been carried out to ensure that erosion from the elements does not impact further on the remaining structures.
Our camp for the next two nights was at Ellery Creek Big Hole in the Western MacDonnell Ranges. A spectacular waterhole set between towering red cliffs lined by majestic Gums, after all the dust, dirt and drought we had experienced over the past days, this was what we both needed.
We selected our site and then strolled down to the waters edge.
The next day we drove further west to Ormiston Gorge and then Glen Helen Gorge.
The Glen Helen Gorge had it’s origins from between 500 and 800 million years ago. Inland seas laid down deposits which in time became sandstone. Over time this sandstone was tilted and lifted and eventually became quartzite. Through a fault line in that range a river started to carve its way through the uplifted mountain range.
The Finke River just out the back of the Glen Helen Station/Resort, and the next shot looking down it towards the Gorge.
John MacDouall Stuart discovered the river and named it the Finke, after an Adelaide financier William Finke. The fact is Stuart wasn’t the first to discover it, the locals knew about it tens of thousands of years earlier and had named it Larapinta (which means Serpent).
Pastoralists moved into this area in the late 1870s, Alan Braeden was thought to be the first to settle there after he drove 2000 head of cattle over 2000 ks of rugged country.
The Station today caters for all types of tourism and visitors but still has the character and a few buildings of a bygone era which was based on the cattle industry.
That old thatched frame was a meat house built in 1905.
This sign was good to see, even out here they were trying to do the right thing but to call what was behind it lawn; well I reckon that was going just a bit to far!!!!
Under the verandah of the Station were a few items that again reminded you of how things have changed from long ago.
Apparently in the whole length of the Finke/Larapinta there are only 6 permanent waterholes of which Glen Helen Gorge is one.
Back at camp again, of all the waterholes in Central Australia that we paddled or swam in, the waters here at Ellery Creek were by far the coldest (by far!)
A couple of reasons for that is the water gets little sun due to the proximity of the high cliffs, and the depth of the water, which has been measured in excess of 28 metres. We both did swim across the water and up that narrow section to the far side, I was concerned about my heart rate or health whilst doing it as you could feel the effects of the cold that it was having on you. I used a stroke rate probably twice what I usually do to try and keep the blood flowing and me above water!!
A couple of habitat shots taken around our camp and the waterhole.
This next pic is pretty dark but it was taken under a very bright nearly full moon.
After topping up with supplies at the Alice we now headed to the Iytwelepenty/Davenport Range National Park. Up the Plenty Highway!!! to Ammaroo, where there is absolutely nothing other than this old windmill/trough set up.
We then drove north along what is now called the Binns Track (a less defined track than the so called highway) just before Murray Downs we took a sharp right where the Binns Track became even less defined, but took us through a beautiful but harsh country. We stopped at Errolola Waterhole to take these pics.
There are two main camping areas in the National Park, we chose the first one we came to at Old Police Station Waterhole, the next one was another 100 ks or so further on and after something like 600 ks over some rugged roads, plus it was hot and it had water, this was going to be it.
What a stunning stunning place, the water was lovely and after a swim I again strolled around capturing the tranquility and beauty of this remote spot.
Did you see what was floating in that last pic? boy was Jen happy. That night over the calm waters of the waterhole a lovely sunset which just added to the ambience and our enjoyment.
We were completely on our own, a lovely fire a lovely spot a lovely dinner (remember Jen was cooking) how good was all this.
And that’s where this one ends, more from this spot and then onto Mataranka and then Darwin in the next report.
Col and Jen.
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The worst day above ground, is a whole lot better than the best one under it. Live life to the fullest while you can.
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via mobile 03/12/2019 at 10:56pm
