There’s gold in them there hills!

 

Thursday 28 July 2022 – there’s gold in them there hills!

According to ABC Alice Springs it got down to minus 3 degrees last night!!  As it was just the two of us today we had a lovely lazy lie in and waited until the air conditioner had warmed up the van before throwing back the covers.  Pancakes and bacon for breakfast and then we were finally ready to go adventuring by about 10am.

We decided to head east and down the Ross Highway and that we would go to the furthest of our destinations of choice and then other points of interest on the way back.  Hence our first destination was Arltunga historic reserve which was 70km of bitumen and 30km of dirt road from Alice Springs.  The 30km of dirt was part of the Binn Track so now we can say we have tackled a bit of that desert track as well.  The scenery was absolutely outstanding which was surprising as the East Macdonnell ranges don’t get anywhere near as big a rap as the West Macdonnell ranges do.  The road ran in amongst soaring craggy hills and red cliffs and up and down through a great number of dry river beds some rocky and some sandy.  The 30km or so of dirt road did go on a bit and we were both thankful to finally head into Arltunga and the visitors centre.  Arltunga was the first town in central Australia (well before Alice Springs) and at one time boasted a population for 300 people.  It really is a long way from anywhere and would have been an incredibly tough life with supplies coming in by camel from the south every 3 or 4 months.  Of course the people were here hoping to find the motherload and apparently that included rubies, garnets and gold.  There are still quite a few buildings standing or that have been rebuilt by the National Trust including the old police station and lock up and a few of the government buildings including the assayer’s office and the mine manager’s residence etc.  It was all very interesting as well as the fact that it is all quite spread out with the police station a good kilometre (we know, we walked up the river bed between the two sites) from the government buildings. 

                                                

                                                

                                                

Back in the car and we continued east to the Great Western mine.   The map said it had a picnic area which turned out to be a small slatted wooden seat with dodgy nails so that when you sat on one end the other end flew up in the air.  We quickly ate our sandwiches and then decided to do the walk in to the mine.  A couple had just come back to their car and told us to ignore the sign saying it took 46 minutes return as they had just done the return trip in 11 minutes.  They also advised to take a torch as you can go right into the mine.  Suitably equipped we walked up the path (mostly uphill on the way in so took a little longer than 11 minutes and then knew we were getting close to the mine due to the big piles of quartz tailings heaped up around the entrance.    We ventured a little way into the mine and L was adventurous and went right down into one of the tunnels where the torch was required.  More the fear of spraining an ankle on all the loose rock underfoot rather than of one falling on my head, kept Jenny closer to the entrance.  We had the whole place to ourselves so we could more than imagine what it must have been like to be out here in the middle of nowhere about 130 years ago.

                                                

                                                

                                                

Time to start heading homewards so back in the car and back the 30kms or so over the dirt road to the bitumen.  Only on that for a few k’s though before we turned off the main road and took the road into Trephina Gorge.  A very narrow, winding road with always the threat of a car and/or caravan coming around the bend (there is a big camping ground at this gorge) kept Larry on his toes!  Quite a few people camping out here and I’ve since found it it’s a long weekend here coming up so maybe locals are setting up camp for the next few days.  We decided we still had enough time in the day to do the 2km Trephina Gorge trail which they said should take about an hour.  Well that was because the first few hundred metres was straight up the side of the cliff so that you could walk around the rim of the gorge before clambering all the way down again just to have to walk back along the dry river sand at the bottom of the gorge.  Suffice to say exercise was had and Jenny was more than happy to sink back into the car seat at the end of it with a well earned Coke and a final swish of the countless flies who had gone for a piggy back ride on clothes and face.

                                                     

                            

                            

It was, by now, after 4pm so we hurtled back into town (Larry taking full advantage of the 130km/hour speed limit in the NT and then rewarded our efforts with beer and pizza at the Alice Springs Brewing Company conveniently located right next to the caravan park.  The “Centralian’ ale went down a treat.

Back to the van for dessert, blogging and feet up after another great day exploring this vast country of ours.