Central Australia here we come! Part 3

Alice Springs and our normal stop at MacDonnell Ranges Caravan Park and yes we’re there for the normal Sunday morning free pancake breakfast. Its a great opportunity to meet fellow travellers and hear their stories.

We chatted to a family from France who were on their third visit to Australia and a group of 5 New Zealand couples who have travelled down from Darwin together. We have a couple of days stop over in Alice and spend the time visiting a number of interesting sites in the town. We visit the National Women’s Hall of Fame and hear the story of pioneering women throughout Australia. We also visit the Olive Pink Botanical Gardens where there are over 500 species of Central Australian plants in this 16 hectares park.

A visit to the Alice Springs Desert Park is also a must where we see a range of desert habitats and a variety of species of plants and animals which can be found across Central Australian deserts. Whilst there we have an opportunity to see, smell and feel the different desert environments.

We also have an opportunity to purchase an amazing slice of Aboriginal culture by purchasing a large painting directly from the artist, a Luritja women, who tells me the story of the painting in person - a truly rewarding experience.

From Alice we head south on dirt travelling on the old South Road, our destination is to camp at Chambers Pillar and mid afternoon we catch our first glimpse of this interesting structure from a top a high hill still many kilometres away. From there is looks like a huge finger sticking up in the air due to its height and isolation. Chambers Pillar is a pillar of sandstone which towers 50 metres above the surrounding plain. It was formed from sandstone deposits laid down more than 350 million years ago. The deposits were then eroded by wind and rain leaving a column of pebbly sandstone.

We set up camp and then take the short walk from the campground to climb to the base of the Pillar. From the storyboards we read that John Stuart, heading north on his earliest attempt to cross Australia, first recorded the pillar in April 1860. He named the structure after James Chambers who was one of his South Australian sponsors. Apparently early travellers used the Pillar as a landmark to indicate where they were. The Pillar has many names carved into the side including some dating back to explorers such as John Ross who in 1870 was appointed a Leader for the exploring party for the Overland Telegraph. Carving into the rock face is now banned with a heavy fine for anyone caught defacing the Pillar.

From Chambers Pillar we continue to travel south on the old Ghan Railway line. This is an interesting trail where we pass abandoned railway stations and large cast iron water towers left over from the original rail line. The trail is also littered with spikes from the rail line which are a constant hazard that we avoid to preserve our tyres. Given that it was originally a railway the trail is often raised above the surrounding countryside providing stunning views.

We’re heading towards Finke and beside the trail is the track that the Finke Desert Race is run on. There are distance signs and storage containers which are obviously left waiting to be reused for the next year’s event. Said to be the greatest desert race in the Southern hemisphere competitors’ travel 230 kilometres on the Queens Birthday weekend each year. At Finke we head west towards the Geographic Centre of Australia. Officially called the Lambert Gravitational Centre the Royal Geographical Society of Australasia determined this to be the geographical centre of Australia as a Bicentennial of Federation project in 1988.

We enjoy lunch before heading towards the highway to camp at Marla overnight. Marla which is an Aboriginal word for kangaroo is a roadside stop with a range of facilities. On the highway again we’re heading towards Port Augusta and watching an amazing storm which seems to be dumping lots of rain nearby. When we arrive Port Augusta the town is very busy so we decide to move onto Port Pirie instead. Port Pirie was South Australia’s first provincial city located on the Spencer Gulf.

From Port Pirie we head into green rolling hills on our way to Clare and the Clare Valley. Clare is famous for its vineyards and the Riesling Trail is a popular tourist attraction. It also has an abundance of stone cottages and the town is quaint and interesting similar to nearby Burra which we also enjoy visiting.

From Clare we travel to Morgan and cross the Murray via the ferry as it’s something we always enjoy if we have the time. We arrive in Mildura and spend the night in luxury in a local hotel and have a lovely dinner at a restaurant to celebrate the end of our latest tour, as we’ll be home in Melbourne and sleeping in our own bed the following night.