Palm Valley Drive

From Hermansburg we travelled to the Finke River National Park to see Palm Valley.  This valley has around 12,000 palm trees.  The road is a dedicated high-clearance 4WD track.  Down thru wide river crossings, some with water, mostly just nasty big river rocks.   Sand embankments, sand tracks covering up rocks, boulders etc.  You name it we travelled over it or thru it.  I was totally packing myself.  Whilst we had already done a couple of 4WD tracks that showed the Suzuki was capable, this was another story.  I so wanted to turn back, but of course, you didnt have anywhere to turn around.   21kms. in just to the Campground and then a further rugged 6kms to see Palm Valley.   It took us more than an hour and I was beside myself by the time we got there.  On the other hand, Rick was having a ball.  He was so over the moon with the handling of our Suzi.  It is now called "Mighty Mouse".  Once we got to the carpark, we walked down a long path, which we beleived, lead to the Palms.  How wrong we were.  By the time we got to the end of the pathway, we realised that from the carpark, we should have gone UP and across the top of the valley and descended downwards.   BUMMER.   We had run out of time and energy.   We couldnt stay any longer as we were running out of daylight hours to get out and return to the Campground.  So once again, in our cars, we tackled that miserable track.   All the while, I was thinking we were going to rip the guts out of the car and be stranded their forever.   What a disappointment for us all.   That much time and energy invested and we missed out.  On the other hand, there is no way I would go there again.  Sorry Rick, he prob. would love to tackle it again but Im over it.  I needed a hot shower when we got back to the Campground just to clean myself up from those "sweaty moments"   I vowed NO MORE OFF ROAD for me. But the next day, guess what, we were up for more.   We had been told about a gorge that isnt well known and not listed in the tourist brochures.  You had to traverse a dry creek bed (horror story again) for 8km. to access this place.  Roma Gorge - a sacred aboriginal rockpool, used for male initiations - no women allowed.  This place has some beautiful rock carvings, possibly the oldest in Aust. between 6-8000 years old.   Naturally we had to see them, Only 50km from Camp.  I must admit by this time, I was a little less nervous and almost enjoyed the trip in.   The access to the rockpool meant clambering over some very large boulders.  These contained many of the carvings and once your eye took it in, you saw more and more.  The rockpool itself was magic.  You could almost feel the spirituality surrounding this place.  There were more rockpools behind this one, but the aboriginal people asked that you respect their culture and not visit them.  It seemed that it was almost impossible anyway, as even climbing to high spots on the rocks, we couldnt see any access any further.  We were really happy to have visited.   We had spent four days camped out at Ormiston Gorge and so our last day, we tried to take in as much as we could.  Visited the Ochre Pits, used by the aboriginal people for their body art.  Then off to Serpentine Gorge (stunning) and Ellery Creek Big Hole.  Both of these are beautiful in different ways.  Serpentine had running water and huge gums growing in the rockpools.  Thru the distant rocks you could see Palms growing amongst the craggy rocks.   Ellery Creek is a campground that must be hugely popular in Summer.  The Big Hole is a fantastic swimming hole with wide sandy beaches.  Unfortunately for all those visiting, no swimming at the moment, cos there are too many dead fish floating on the surface.   I could only estimate that there were at the very least 600 dead fish lying on the surface.  We could actually smell the waterhole long before we saw it.  Considering the walk from the carpark is only 5mins. the smell was potent.   The West McDonald Ranges were amazing.  Loved everything that we saw and were sorry to be leaving the ranges to head back into Alice.   We needed to go back to go into a caravan park as we needed water, power, laundry, shopping, grog etc.  Got back to Alice  on Sunday morning in time to visit the Todd Mall Markets (arty/crafty type thing) then hit the supermarkets.  Surprise Surprise, no alcohol is allowed to be sold on Sundays.  Bummer.  We were leaving the next morning so figured we would have to go back in Monday morning and stock up then.   Guess what - no alcohol is allowed to be sold until after 2pm on weekdays. Bummer again .  Back we go in the afternoon - stocked up on beer and red wine.  I wanted a couple of white wine casks and couldnt find them.   The security guard on duty (Woollies liquor) asked me what I was looking for and then told me, the wine casks were behind locked  roller shutter door - they cant be sold until after 6pm at night!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!   I know the aboriginal people are addicted to buying cask wine but surely "out of towners" travelling thru should be made exceptions for.  Naturally they then make more money cos we ended up buying 1/2 dozen white wine bottles instead.  No way were we going back again just for casks.  You have to give them your drivers licence when you purchase any alcohol.  It is put into a scanner and checked to see if you have any convictions or restrictions that have been court imposed to stop you purchasing alcohol.    The next stop for us is the Devils Marbles.  Hopefully we will have service along the way as that has been my biggest problem.  Being out of range for so long.