Redbank Gorge, Tjoritja (West MacDonnell) Ranges to Alice Springs NT

Monday 30th May 2022
We had a lovely day today.

Firstly we enjoyed a beautiful morning at our campsite talking to Trish and Steve, a couple of travellers. Steve an indigenous guy a bit older than us and his wife Trish from Mareeba QLD. We traded stories and chatted for ages and before we knew it the time was already 10.30am. Steve was really impressed that I always try to use indigenous names I’m my blog and said it is great to see people making an effort even if I pronounce them all wrong. At least we try. We packed up and headed down to the Redbank Gorge trail and saw some people who had just finished the full Larapinta trail so we spent the next 30mins chatting to them and gleaning information, do’s and don’ts, etc. It was very beneficial. 

We then headed to the gorge walk which was up the riverbed to a beautiful gorge. We enjoyed another chat to some people who were here for the Finke dirt race which starts here about 5th June. So looks like accommodations might be a problem. Only time will tell. 

We then headed back and whilst preparing for lunch we met another couple who had just finished the trail. We chatted again some more. We finally headed on our way to Alice Springs at about 1.30pm. We stopped the Mt Sonder Lookout to take a photo of our climb and decided we should maybe check out accommodation. Availability.  We were hoping to get a cabin so David could do some work and we could prepare for the hike. The weather is supposed to be rainy on Wednesday. There was not a cabin to be had, nor a cheap motel on booking.com, nor anything on Airbnb. So it looks like a campsite in a caravan park. We just managed to get a site at Temple Bar Caravan park a little bit out of town. We tried to stay here in 2018 as it has grassy sites and comes highly recommended on WikiCamps. 

The drive to Alice Springs was along Larapinta Drive which is where we will be hiking in the ranges, the view was spectacular yet again. Unfortunately I had a little snooze along the way and missed some, but will get it at a lower speed over the next couple of weeks as we hike the range.

We will hopefully make a decision as to a start date for the hike tomorrow and do some more planning. We are feeling more confident about the hike after our training hikes over the last 2 weeks. Out fitness has improved and our bodies are holding up pretty well. David’s shin splints seem to be ok today.