When I last left you we had just pulled into Threeways Roadhouse, half way down the Stuart Highway. We are on our way to Alice Springs and had just had our engine telling us about a potential powertrain fault. I don’t know much about vehicles but I do understand that the powertrain is fairly central to normal functioning.
Will they make it? What a cliff hanger!
Day 41 (26 August 2025) – The Stuart Highway
Today’s mission was to get to Alice Springs, a 5.5 hour drive from Threeways. First stop, only an hour and 20 minutes
away, was the Devil’s Marbles. This was one of those places I remember learning about in geography at school. It is just off the highway and we stopped for about 45 minutes to look around the enormous boulders. Very cool!
We also bumped into a team that was participating in the World Solar Challenge, a race from Darwin to Adelaide where they compete in vehicles they have built that are only powered by the sun. The “cars” are quite small and look like futuristic soap box cars covered in solalr panels). These guys were a school group from Texas and were the only school group in the competition. They had pulled over to charge the car with the sun and do some maintenance. Not a bad stop to do so!
Matt noticed at Devil’s Marbles that he had a problem under his hood and will need some maintenance in Alice. With about 2 hours left in the drive I then got another powertrain fault and was throttled to 25km/h. The car had been going fine but it again occurred after overtaking, so it obviously didn’t like the additional power I was giving it (even though I was taking it much easier). We cleared the fault code again, which got me back to speed, but soon after I received the fault for a third time with an hour to go.
Now more worried, we gave it one more go before calling the NRMA and thankfully, opting to stay behind some slow vehicles doing 80km/h, we arrived with great relief. After setting up camp, the first job was to book both our cars into a mechanic. They couldn’t fit us in until Monday (6 days away) and Matt’s part won’t arrive until then either, so even though our cars are driveable, we won’t be doing any major touring until we get them seen to. So we’ll be staying in Alice a bit longer than the 2 days we had originally planned!
Across the road from our caravan park is Alice Springs Brewing Co, which was just what we needed after a somewhat stressful day. We had pizza for dinner, a couple of locally brewed ales.
Day 42 – Alice Springs Desert Park
We spent most of the day at Alice Springs Desert Park. This is a fantastic animal park because it is built within the natural, desert setting at the foot of the MacDonell Ranges so all the trees and shrubbery are completely natural, organic, and endemic, rather than shipped into the park.
We planned our day around the shows again, the first being the bird show, which had some similar elements to the one at the Territory Wildlife Park, but the highlight was watching the black kite (a kind of hawk in the raptor family) circling and swooping for some food that the range was swinging on some rope. At the end, Aubrey got to hold a barn owl. Click through the gallery here to see my favourite bird images of the day.
We went straight to the next show which was a demonstration of Aboriginal hunting and gathering where one of the Traditional Owners took us through some tools and weapons that the men and women would use and how they would use some of the plants. Very interesting.
Aubrey’s request and favourite event was the dingo talk, where two dingos walked around while a ranger talked about them, and Brooklyn even had the confidence to ask an intelligent question.
My personal highlight of the day was walking through the many bird aviaries and taking some sweet photos of all the many varieties in there.
Day 43 – Alice Springs
Because both of our cars need work, we opted to (felt forced to) extend our time in Alice: rather than leaving today (Wednesday), we extended our stay at the Discovery Alice Springs caravan park until next Tuesday. It changes the plan a little but thankfully a lot of the stops we were planning to make throughout the East and West MacDonell Ranges are within a day trip’s distance and close to each other, so we’ll be doing more driving but hopefully won’t miss too much.
That said, Matt and I both put our cars in for a regular service today (in addition to the troubleshooting we needed), as he is close to 20ks on this trip (and 10k since his last service in Broom) and I am pushing 9,000 kms driven so far and have a few more thousand to go. So it became a rest day, well needed by all. The kids had a great time playing on the playground pretty well all day, adults read, got some jobs done, and we all recharged our batteries.
Day 44 – East Macdonnell Ranges
In the morning we attended an art workshop with a local indigenous artist. But since this didn’t start until 11 Matt and I decided to kill some time by squeezing in a round of golf. First tee was at 7am and we were first cabs off the rank. It’s a beautiful course, in the foothills of the MacDonnell Ranges, and considering we are in the desert, it was surprisingly green. We are both very casual players so weren’t real quick around; we only got in 10 holes in about 2.5 hours of playing and in hindsight should have just signed up for 9. Anyway, we lost some balls, found some balls, hit some really well and hit some less well but overall it was a very pleasant way to spend the morning.
The art workshop was at the Botanical Gardens and I couldn’t think of a better spot to do it. Not that we necessarily took inspiration from the surroundings, but it was just pleasant. The session was run by Marie – a local indiginous woman – and we learnt about her family and how she incorporates family stories into her art. We each got a small canvas and got to work with a paintbrush and a chopstick to make an Aboriginal dot painting. This is not something I would have thought to seek out, but it was Bel’s suggestion and we were all excited to attend. I was very happy with my piece and and kynie also created something beautiful.
There is a cafe in the gardens and the food was amazing. Again, a lovely place for a feed. To be able you sit and chat and eat surrounded by a garden of native plants was wonderful.
After lunch we headed east into the East MacDonnell Ranges to see some things we had planned to see while camping it there. Thankfully it is close so it was easy enough to check off 3 short stops. We saw Emily Gap, Jesse, Gap, and Corroborree Rock. The MacDonnell Ranges (at least what we’ve seen from Alice seem to be one long ridge and the gaps refer to breaks in the ridge that you (and typically water) can get through. These won’t be the last ones we see.
Day 45 – West MacDonnell Ranges
We continued our exploration of the MacDonnell Ranges, this time heading to the West Macs, or West MacDonnell Ranges.
But first, since we were staying longer in Alice that meant we could attend another Parkrun, Matt and my 3rd for the trip. The Parkrun started at Alice Springs Telegraph Station and ran almost all the way into town, through the gums and at one point along the Todd River bed. I know the river doesn’t run often (usually years in between drinks), but it’d be interesting to know their backup plan if there is water on the course. And the water in the river doesn’t materialise from rain in Alice Springs; it’s from rain much farther up north that flows down.
Anyway, the West Macs are basically a ridgeline that goes for about 250km and all the interesting things to see are the gaps and breaks in the mountains.
The first one we saw was only 20 minutes from Alice and did not involve a long walk. This was Simpsons Gap, a spectacular V shape that a river has carved out over the millennia. It was bitterly cold today with a fierce wind so there was not a lot of dilly dallying at sights.
Not far away was Standley Chasm. An area privately owned by the Traditional Owners so a small entry fee was required. There was also a cafe on site. It was an easy 2km walk return and at the turnaround was an incredible, narrow chasm of red rock that stretched high above us.
40 minutes up the road was Ellery Creek Big Hole, one of the best swimming holes in the region but unfortunately it wasn’t the day for swimming (not that that stopped some visiting Scots). This was another gap in the rock clearly formed from a river, which is often dry, though it pools here at this permanent waterhole.
As we had a dinner reservation, we decided that was enough and that was a good amount for one day. We celebrated my birthday at a local joint called Bojangles Saloon, a western/cowboy inspired bar and restaurant with paraphernalia adorning every spare piece of wall. Very eclectic but we felt quite out of place once the Alice Springs regulars started rolling in. It felt a bit rough at times. Maybe that’s everywhere here, we weren’t sure. Alice doesn’t have the best reputation after dark, and maybe families just don’t go out in Alice. The food was good and beers was cold (and brought to me) so that made it a very good night.
Day 46 – West MacDonnell Ranges
Because of our new situation, to see all that we wanted to see, rather than the original plan, which was lots of small drives between campsites, lots of camp time, and seeing a small amount each day with max 1 walk, we needed to have another big driving day. That meant starting with a 2 hour drive to the other end of the West Macs, to Redbank Gorge. The kids were happy, at least to start with, because that meant 2 hours of movies.
Then we started walking. It wasn’t a long walk. 1.2km each way. Half was on the sandy riverbed though, and maybe 200m of scrambling over small rocks. The kids did great and it was a massive reward arriving at the gorge end where the walls rose 120m high above us and narrow to the point where we couldn’t see through. A stand up paddleboard would have been great to explore further. It amazes me how many dry rivers flow through this national park. Every feature was derived from river erosion over many years.
We went back the way we came and had lunch at the picnic area, surrounded by the rolling mountains around us. It was an epic spot and we lamented the fact that we had planned to camp here.
By the time we had packed up lunch (and flown our drones under an NT drone permit) it was 2:15pm. We had started at the furthest sight and worked out way backwards to Ormiston Gorge. We continue to be amazed at how different each of the gorges (and waterfalls up north) have been. Ormiston was completely different to Redbank. It was huge and expansive. A 20 minute walk took us up the side of an exposed hill (the same one we’d been looking at out the car window for a while) to a lookout that looked down into and across to a gorge. It seemed more about the mountain itself than the hole in it. Spectacular.
By now the sun was starting to get lower and we were wearing out. It was a quick quick stop at Mount Sonder lookout then and even shorter stop at the Ochre Pits, which was a wall of different coloured shale rock that the local tribe would use for paints, and it was back to Alice.
Unfortunately Matt slashed a tyre pulling over for a pit stop on the way so once we had changed that it was 7:30 by the time we got to Alice Springs Brewing Company for another pizza and a few double IPAs.
Day 47 – Alice Springs
The day my car was booked in to the mechanic was finally here. I dropped it off first thing, Matt picked me up and we went for a beautiful run near the Desert Park (see Day 41) at the foot of the MacDonnell Ranges. The temperature in Alice had dropped from the mid-30s we were used to and in the desert this means it was a brisk 4 degrees when we started. We got coffees from Page 27 Cafe, our local now, and headed back to camp for a needed quieter day. We did some tidying, some washing, some reading, and some playground playing. The Durbin’s then borrowed the Burgoyne’s Patrol to go into town. Brooklyn wanted to go to a bookshop and we got some lunch at Page 27 (my fifth time there lol) and by 1pm the car was ready. They had sorted me out and we were good to go. It turned out to something pretty minor, a filter that catches gunk flying around the system was full and needed replacing.
Later in the day I replaced our car 12 volt fridge, as our Kings one had busted its thermostat, Kynie did some shopping and we called it a day.
Day 48 – Leaving Alice
After 7 nights in Alice we were now finally leaving. My car was sorted yesterday and Matt’s was getting sorted today. It is also Brooklyn’s birthday so he got to call the shots. This of course meant McDonald’s for breakfast. The food was as expected but we got to experience some of the local Alice Springs culture in the carpark. The cops were on the scene because someone had just run up the back of someone else’s car, gotten out to smash the windscreen and then buggered off. Right in the middle of the Macca’s carpark.
We then checked out a small dinosaur museum about extinct megafauna from the area, bought Brooklyn some new clothes from target because he continues to grow, and got a coffee from a new place, called The Goods.
We checked out and headed west, at last with our Caravans attached. We found a freecamp about 45 minutes away that we’ll stay at for 2 nights on the Hugh River. It was so good to be out free camping again. We enjoyed happy hour, then golden hour, roasted a lamb in the Weber, played a new board game that Brooklyn just got for his birthday, and enjoyed quality time around a quality fire.
Day 49 – Palm Valley
After a couple of big days followed by a couple of early mornings, it was voted unanimously to have an easy morning with no alarms and no set leaving time. We had one agenda item: visit Palm Valley. Palm Valley is located not far from Hermannsburg (which is about an hour West of Alice Springs) down a 4WD track. We let the tyre pressures down and drove the 16 KMs to the palm valley campground and had lunch at the picnic area there. We ate surrounded by red cliffs, but saw surprisingly little wildlife.
From here the terrain gets a little more rough. It’s 6km of 4WD track but now it is bumpy and slow as we criss cross the rocky riverbed following the Finke River south through Finke Gorge. At the end of the track is Palm Valley, named for the 2000 or so red cabbage palms that only grow in this area. They survive on the water that is held in the sandstone cliffs that retain water between rains like a sponge. We took a 2km walk to explore the area. This took us up and along the cliffs before decending back to return along the valley floor. It was a spectacular walk and the whole day was a lot of fun in a really specially and unique part of the country.
Day 50 – Serpentine Gorge
It is absolute bliss waking up in the middle of nowhere with not another camper in sight. At the foot one of the many hills that adorn the West MacDonnell Ranges I woke up, got the fire going again and read my book by it. It was another slow morning because we only had one thing on the agenda.
We packed up camp and left for Serpentine Gorge a bit after 10am, and now that we are actually camping inside the national park the drives are quite short as most things are close to each other. This one was only 30 minutes away. The walk was one of the longer ones we’ve done but still only about 3km, most of which was on flat ground; that is, it was flat until we started hiking up the side of the gorge to the lookout. The lookout has incredible views north through the canyon where the river would run and South across the opposite range of mountwins. Brooklyn and Aubrey only made it up 80% of the way but Lily was great and walked the whole way to the top without even considering that she was tired.
We got to our be campsite Redbank Gorge campsite at 1:30, had some lunch then settled into an afternoon of reading, board game and cheese, and with the most sensational view of the mountains one could ask for. We are very glad to be finally free camping in the ranges.
Day 51 – Redbank Gorge
I mentioned earlier that there wasn’t much of the west Macs that we desperately needed to see because we had already done so on our day trips. This meant that we could actually spend some time “camping” ( in the sense that we were just spending time in the bush with little agenda, not in the sense that we were roughing it in tents).
Anyway, this meant we had a super cruisey morning with a sleep in for some, reading with the sunrise over the gorge for others (me), and a leisurely drive out to nearby Roma Gorge (all). This was a fun one, with a 4WD track that followed a dry creek bed most of the way such that the terrain was a mix of stones and sand. It was 25 fairly slow minutes on this then a short walk to the gorge itself.
This was the only gorge (apart from Palm Valley) that was to the south of the main artery through the west Macs (Namatjira Drive), which means that this was a different ridgeline that we had been viewing, yet Roma Gorge was still a gap. This one was pretty special though, as there is a lot of Aboriginal petroglyphs, which are pictures carved into the rock. For this reason I think the gorge is not well publicised by the national park and for that reason, combined with the challenge to actually get there, we had the place to ourselves.
We were back at camp for lunch and enjoyed the afternoon around the van, enjoying the view, reading, playing games, and lighting a campfire. Tomorrow we leave the West Macs and the Alice region for good. we head south to Kings Canyon then on to Uluru.
