Friday, 24 April 2026
A few days ago I was expressing some regret that we hadn’t taken the right route/didn’t have enough time to visit the Henbury Meteorite Conservation Reserve. When I was reading the Herald Sun last night there was an article about a woman who fell through the floor of a long drop toilet at, would you believe it, Henbury Meteorite Conservation Reserve? The article reported that the poor woman stood in excrement up to her waist for THREE HOURS before she was rescued by a local tradie, who just happened to come to the site to show a friend. He used tools from his work vehicle, then lowered a rope to the woman, before hauling her out with his ute!! The woman was not on her own, she was travelling with her husband and children. I would hope that Bernie would be resourceful enough to rescue me in under three hours if something like this happened to me??! No FOMO on this ‘attraction’ for me now, ha, ha.
In other news in this neck of the woods, Bernie had an article pop up on his Facebook feed about a violent incident at the Devils Marbles Hotel … where we plan to be on Tuesday. The gist of it is that the Publican decided to cancel the pub’s takeaway license. People unhappy with this decision broke into the hotel at 5.00am on Thursday morning leaving staff injured so badly they couldn’t work yesterday, to say nothing of the public bar being a crime scene which could not be entered. Fingers crossed that things have settled down by the time we get there. We are just passing through for one night only.
An early start today as we planned to travel from Kings Canyon to Alice Springs via the Mereenie Loop and Palm Valley. We were aiming for between 7.00-7.30am. With sunrise just after 7.00am we didn’t want to be on the road before that, too much risk of wildlife out and about. We managed to be packed up and on the road by about 7.20am.
We drove north-west out of the Discovery Parks Resort, soon passing the sign that told us we were continuing our ‘scenic route’ to Alice Springs. With the Mereenie loop being an unmade road with corrugations, we pulled over and let the tyres down to 30 PSI. With the tyre pressure lowered we were hoping for a slightly more comfortable ride?? Not long after starting the journey there was an escarpment where we had to climb through Morris Pass. At the top we made our first stop for the day at the Jump-up Rest Area/Lookout where we had our last glimpse of the George Gill Range. While we were out of the car we could hear a heavy engine approaching. We couldn’t decide if it was a vehicle on the road or, possibly, an aircraft. Just before we clambered back into the truck, a road train passed by out on the road, heading for Kings Canyon.
Back out on the road we were looking at all the dust the road train had kicked up. At least we would soon be out of that dust, a much better proposition than if the road train had been heading the other way, with us having to travel in its dusty wake. The road was lined with spinifex and, with the early morning sun shining on its flower spikes, it glowed. The effect was quite magical, creating a silvery border contrasting with the red sand road.
Our Mereenie Tour Pass – basically our permit and visitor guide – warned us to be wary of large animals on the road. Kangaroos, camels, horses, donkeys and cattle frequently wander onto the road and can be hard to see at dawn and dusk it told us. That is why we didn’t want to be on the road any earlier than we were. We had good light in which to see cattle and horses on and near the road. These were the only large animals that we saw. No kangaroos, no native wildlife of any kind in fact, no camels and no donkeys.
After 126 kilometres of dirt road driving we turned onto the bitumen surface of Larapinta Drive. About forty kilometres later, we turned off to take the 4WD track into Palm Valley. The 22 kilometre road was a mixture of red sand, river rocks and rock shelves and included a couple of water crossings, which were very shallow at this time of year. As we rocketed along Larapinta Drive we had passed the turn off to Albert Namatjira’s House and, as we drove in to Palm Valley, we could certainly see that this was the scenery that inspired his art.
We arrived at the picnic area/campground and used the facilities, before tackling the last four kilometres to the end of the road. Palm Valley is the westernmost park of Finke Gorge National Park. Over more than 100 million years, the Finke River has cut a series of gorges through the soft sandstone rock. The gorge that we visited today is a refuge for the rare Red Cabbage Palms that fill it. The palms are the only ones that occur in central Australia where they exist 1,000 kilometres from their closest relatives. Different theories abound as to why this oasis of palms thrives here. Are they survivors from a time when this region was wetter, around a million years ago? Were they bought by Aboriginal people to cultivate as they moved into central Australia 15,000 years ago or, were seeds dropped by water birds such as pelicans that fly long distances in search of food???
Regardless of how they arrived, they are quite spectacular. The tallest palms are 25 metres or more and the oldest are thought to be between 100 and 300 years old. To gain a better appreciation of the palms, we set out on the Grade 2 (easy), two kilometre Arankaia (pronounced rung-kee-ah) Loop Walk. Arankaia is the Western Aranda name for the Red Cabbage Palms. The short walk took us along the valley past groves of palms and then back to the car park along a dry sandstone plateau. It was a bit of a climb to the top of the plateau but worth it for the views of the top of the palms. The elevation gave us a totally different perspective on the palms trees.
When we had arrived there was another vehicle in the car park. By the time we returned it had departed. So, we saw another vehicle but didn’t cross paths with its occupants; it was like we had this desert oasis entirely to ourselves. We ate the sandwiches that we purchased yesterday and wondered, if we bought four sandwiches, why didn’t we buy four Splices??? We so could have fitted two ice-creams in our freezer to eat this afternoon. Opportunity missed, ha, ha.
With lunch eaten, it was time to re-trace our route and have the truck clamber back over rock shelves and river rocks before churning through the sand sections. On the return journey the MacDonnell Ranges Cycads were more obvious than they had been on the drive in. These amazing plants are isolated survivors from Gondwanan times. They are massed close to the base of the cliffs and some hardy individuals cling to the faces of the sandstone cliffs. They have adapted just enough to survive here on the sheltered slopes, where sufficient water seeps through the sandstone.
Our side trip into Palm Valley was a little bit ‘Jurassic Park’ but without the dinosaurs, just the rare and ancient flora! Arriving back at Larapinta Drive it was time to put the air back into the tyres. Bernie has a great little compressor that inflates two tyres at a time, so it didn’t take long. My job is to unscrew the valve caps and then screw them back on again!
We pulled into Ntaria (Hermannsburg) in search of ice-creams. Hmmn, the ‘supermarket’ was closed today between 1.45pm and 3.00pm and we pulled in at about ten past two. We went next door to the servo … where their freezers were filled with Roo tails!! Not far from the town we spied a monument. I said I thought I had seen on one of our maps that there is a monument to Albert Namatjira along this route. We turned off and drove around to the monument, a rather plain six-metre tall sandstone column, with a very small plaque that says ‘This is the landscape that inspired the artist Albert Namatjira 28-7-1902 – 3-3-1959’.
After the monument it was next stop, Alice Springs. Despite the spectacular view of the MacDonnell Ranges on our left, I was drowsy and struggling to stay awake. Hopefully I will do better when we drive closer to the ranges tomorrow on Namatjira Drive? Arriving in Alice Springs, we made our way back onto the Stuart Highway for the first time since last Saturday, and drove slightly south of the city to the Discovery Park. We checked in and unloaded our gear into our cabin where we will be staying for four nights. It’s not as luxurious as our room at Kings Canyon but we do have a kitchenette and will take the opportunity to make a few home-cooked meals.
Off to Super Cheap Auto. They currently have a sale on a bigger, better foldable solar panel so, of course, Bernie has decided to upgrade. I guess it’s an investment in our 4×4 gear? From there to the BP Servo where diesel was a very reasonable $2.68/litre. From memory that might even be cheaper than it was when we filled the tank in Melbourne? No Splices in their freezer. Boo.
Our next stop was at Woolies to stock up on a few items to feed ourselves over the next few days. Steaks to cook on the BBQ conveniently located very near our cabin, some veggies, milk, kefir, fruit AND a box of eight Splices. These were on special for $7.00/box. What a bargain, the last three days we have been paying almost that much for each Splice!! What a difference being able to shop at the supermarket makes, rather than at a servo in an isolated location where there is no competition and they can charge whatever they like. When we were in there yesterday there was a customer wanting cigarettes and she asked for whatever the cheapest were. The cheapest were $65.00/pack … which she wasn’t prepared to pay.
Back at our cabin, we unloaded our groceries into the full-sized fridge and Bernie realised that he had intended to buy orange juice. Fortunately he has enough for a glass with his breakfast in the morning. We cooked a very basic home-cooked meal of fish fingers with potato, carrot and peas. Supper time was declared Splice o’clock today with that eight pack calling to us from the freezer, ha, ha.
Steps: 13,263 (8.90kms) At least some of those steps are attributable to the 4×4 track!!
