MONDAY 9 AUGUST     PALM VALLEY

The coach camp groups were up at dawn and made heaps of noise around the amenity block, so woke much of the campground. But it was too chilly to get up then, unless one had to. John eventually got up at 8, I had a rare sleep in, until 9.

We had decided to tackle the 5km Mpaara/Ampitheatre walk today.

After breakfast, took the walk track the half km or so, to the start of the walk, bird spotting as we went. Saw teenage and female Splendid Wrens, but no sign of a male one. Of course, it is the males who have the brilliant blue and purple plumage, the others are dull by comparison, with just a blue tail.

The track took us across to the Finke River, then along this to the Glen of Palms.

Walking beside the Finke River towards the Glen of Palms

At the Glen of Palms, looking forward to where we are going

There, we left the Finke for a tributary valley and climbed steadily and steeply up this to a sort of saddle on a ridge. The view from here, over the Ampitheatre towards Palm Creek – ringed by rock walls – was stunning.

Climbing up – looking back down to the Glen of Palms and the Finke River

From the saddle, this was the scene looking to our left…….

…….then panning towards the right…..

…….and more to the right, seeing why it is called the Ampitheatre……

………finally, right around to Palm Creek in the distance. We go down there

The track then descended the ridge face and crossed flats to Kalarranga Lookout.

Looking back

It was a rough walk in places, but John’s legs were ok.

We had a slightly late lunch after an exhilarating walk.

In the afternoon, we read for a while. John fiddled with the GPS, entering locations for tomorrow’s trip along the Finke. We took down the tarp, late in the afternoon, and packed it and the poles away.

Tea was packet soup, bacon, egg, potato and salad.

It was a very cold night. We had to get out the polar fleece jackets!

There was a crescent moon and brilliant star display.

We had a good night’s sleep after the exercise of the day.

Palm Valley terrain. The dotted lines show our walks

SUNDAY 8 AUGUST     PALM VALLEY

I got up at 6.30. Sometime during the night, John had rolled himself up in the bedclothes, so I woke up freezing. I went for a walk, in the early-morning light, to get warm – around the road and up the track to the Lookout. Sat up there for a while, watching birds and enjoying the solitude. Got back to camp about 8am, just as John was stirring.

The morning was rather cloudy.

After breakfast, drove the 4km track up to Palm Valley. This followed the line of Palm Creek for most of the way, some of it in the creek bed. It was quite rough, with rock ledges and sandy parts. Definitely 4WD needed.

By the time we set out walking, it was getting sunnier and becoming quite hot.

As we walked along the bed of Palm Creek, we started to see some red cabbage palms

From the car park at the end of the track, walked the 5km Mpulu Walk. This took us, firstly, along the creek valley where the Livistona – red cabbage – palms occur, that are unique to this place. As this is what people come to Palm Valley to see, this first part of the walk had too many other people around for it to be totally enjoyable. However, most people only do the short walk to, and through, the palm part, and then go back the way they came, once the palms start to thin out.

Walking in Palm Creek Valley

In places, water seeping from the sandstone valley walls was evident; it is this “fossil water” that sustains the palms.

Seepage marks across the rock valley floor to a small waterhole

The combinations of rocky slabs on the valley floor, red rock walls, assorted plants, and occasional pools of water made for beautiful natural landscaping – the sort that people in the cities pay a fortune to have replicated.

Landscaping by Nature

Our track returned to the car park via the ridge top, which was drier, and which offered some great outlooks. After we’d done the palm part, and followed the creek around in a big U curve, we climbed up the valley wall to the top of the plateau and ridge area. There were good views back over Palm Creek and south to the Areyoonya Valley as we walked back to the car park.

Looking back down into Palm Valley from the track up to the top

I got some close-up photos of a pair of Spinifex Pigeons putting on a very nonchalant display and ignoring us.

Hen pecked?

Back to camp the way we’d come, very carefully.

When we got back to camp, there was a big group of what we assumed were day trippers, having a BBQ picnic in the camp area, despite the existence of a picnic area down the track. They had parked in our camping bay, by the tent, so we asked them to move. Later, we had to ask them to please be quieter – they were so intrusive and noisy. It is an affront in such a peaceful place. We were very glad when they left – they didn’t clean the BBQ after themselves, of course.

Then we could relax and read peacefully for what was left of the afternoon.

There is an AAT group, and a safari tours outfit in the coach camp area, so there are still hordes of people about.

Tea was packet soup, sausages BBQ’d, potato and salad. I am back to cooking on the gas stove, of course – two burners.

The night sky was clear, with lots of stars, so it was very cold. I wore woolly socks to bed, and put the old sleeping bag we carry for guests, over the doona, too. That made the bed much warmer, and better.

FRIDAY 6 AUGUST   ALICE SPRINGS TO PALM VALLEY   155kms

Today is the second anniversary of John’s hip operation. I hope that is a good omen!

We finally got away, though it took us until midday.

It took quite a while to finalize the van for storage. There was much had to go inside the van, that we couldn’t put in until we were out, including the two bikes.

John had been concerned about vans being moved around in the storage area, but they assured him that our van would not be moved again, once it was in. We backed it in very well, ourselves. The stored vans are quite close together. It is going to cost us $2 a day.

I booked us on for four nights on our return – definite dates to be confirmed later. This will give John a chance for some bowls, again!

Then we had the real final shopping to do: wine casks, a beanie and new thongs for John, kerosene for the lantern. I bought a ticket in a big jackpot lotto draw. Picked up the result sheet for the last Territorian lottery and found I’d won $10. That will be a cheque that is mailed home.

And so we left town………

We headed west, towards Hermannsburg. Larapinta Drive looked different, this time, with cloudy skies. The range was very orange. Stopped to eat our packed lunch at the picnic area at the Hugh River crossing.

At Hermannsburg, took the Palm Valley track to the south. The 21km track was fairly rough, rocky in places, certainly needing high clearance, but not really 4WD. The track parallels the Finke River, was sometimes in its dry bed, then branched off along Palm Creek to the west.

We reached the Palm Valley campground mid afternoon, signed ourselves in at the information bay/entry station – $5 each a night. It is National Park.  Camp sites were delineated by bollards. There were plenty empty, so we had a good choice of where to go.

Set up camp. The first time is always the slowest – I hope!

The camp ground is alongside Palm Creek – dry, of course. It is in quite a deep valley, so there are red rock walls on both sides of us. There is quite a good little amenities block, with flush toilets and solar heated showers. There is a free gas BBQ.

The birdlife around the campground is prolific – crows, ringneck parrots, mynahs, butcherbirds, magpies – so there was much bird noise. There were also circling kites overhead.

From our site, we sat and looked across the grassy creek valley to a red cliff face with caves and hollows in it. There are cypress pines on the top.

Our Palm Valley camp

Read yesterday’s paper, brought with us, which we didn’t have time for then.

There was a superb red sunset.

Tea was the last of the minestrone soup, rissoles, salad, bananas.

We went to the Ranger’s talk at 8pm. It was about the special Livistona palms that are the reason for this National Park. We haven’t seen them yet, though. They are relict plants from a wetter time, when there was tropical vegetation in these parts. They are able to survive here because of water seeping out of the sandstone of the valley.

The Ranger also said that the water here is good to drink.

We got to bed at 10pm. It was cold by then.