You've gotta go there!
Hola hola, I'm back! Right now in Woodbridge near Hobart (Tasmania), getting ready for my travel up north with Andy, a guy I'm staying at. And guess what! Andy's father is a great climber who basically explored all major northern climbing areas and wrote a number of topos and guides about them!!! So, I'm finally gonna climb, woo hoo!!!
Anyway, I've got a bit of a time before we take off, so I'm gonna add a couple of perhaps useful information about West and East Macdonnell Ranges (around Alice Springs), mostly for those who might visit them sometime.
West Macdonnells
I start with West Macdonnells, because I know them better - I visited them three times. Last time with Sebastian for 3-day trip. We camped at 2 mile (free) camping ground, which is absolutely beautiful and highly recommended place to spend a night. 2 mile is located near Glen Helen Gorge, right next to Finke river. When you drive down the Namatjira Drive, after you pass the Glen Helen Resort turn off, look for a small unsealed turn off on your right-hand side. Ideally you should have a 4WD car to get there but we managed to do it with a Yaris :-)
There is also a nice lookout over the whole 2 mile area, you just have to drive a bit further down the road and take another right-hand side turn off. From there, you can also enjoy beautiful sunsets and views over the Mt Sonder. By the way, Mt Sonder looks like a lying pregnant woman, with her hand placed on the upper part of her belly.
After hanging out at Glen Helen Gorge - there is a wonderful large waterhole there, ideal place for swimming (and traversing the rocks above the water) - we visited Ochre Pits. Ochre Pits serves as a significant source of ochre for aboriginal people. The ochre here has wide range of colours, which is ideal for preparing (by mixing with animal fat) colours for art and ceremonies.
Our last stop was Serpentine Gorge. Serpentine Gorge is a large serpentine-shaped gorge with a waterhole at its entrance. The whole place is sacred and used to serve as a very important source of water. Moreover there is a number of scarce species of fauna and flora, so you're are absolutely not allowed to swim there.
We were lucky enough that the water level of the waterhole was more than 2 metres below its normal, so we could climb over the pond and get inside the gorge. We walked all the way to the end of the gorge and to our great surprise, we found a very narrow chasm and a huge waterhole right at the end! The waterhole is much bigger than the one at the entrance, so one can guess that this one can preserve even during really bad dry periods. So obviously, it must be very sacred. I was incredibly tempted to jump in and swim through the chasm to see what's behind. But the genius loci of the whole place was very strong and I felt really strange, so I didn't dare to jump in the water. Sebastian confirmed he had the same feelings. The place was kind of spooky and earned great respect of both of us. Very interesting experience, another prove how strong place Central Australia is.
If you ever visit Serpentine Gorge, don't forget to climb up to the lookout! You'll certainly enjoy spectacular views over the gorge and surrounding ranges, you can trust me!
East Macdonnells
I made a 2-day hitch-hiking trip there with a belgian friend of mine, Nouna and to be honest, it's not as spectacular as its western counterpart but if you have a spare day or two, it's certainly well worth visiting too. You can just drive down Ross Highway and visit all the places one after another (Emily Gap, Jessie Gap, Corroborree Rock, Trephina Gorge). Unfortunately, we couldn't get further behind Ross River Resort because we didn't have a 4WD. But we did do the job and walked extra 5 km (in the middle of the day, I'll never learn...) to get to John Hayes Rockhole. There is a free camping ground and if you're about spending a night in East Macdonnells, this is the place to go (although you have to either walk or have 4WD again)! The place is near Trephina Gorge, in fact it's an unsealed left-hand side turn off more or less in the middle of the road that leads to Trephina Gorge.
To finish the post, here is a useful tip for hitch-hikers: take a blond chick wearing a short skirt for your hitching adventures and you won't even need to thumb! Which leads me to an idea of purchasing a long blond wig and a short skirt for myself. I bet I won't even need to shave my legs! I'll keep you updated with the results of testing this method, so stay tuned!
