Day 44: The Outback – Day 1, West MacDonnell Ranges
The Outback: the quintessential Aussie frontier, where you can drive for days without seeing another soul, a desert so massive and empty that one could set off an atomic bomb and no one would notice for years. We’ve been looking forward to our exploration of the Real Australia for weeks! We flew into Alice Springs and picked up our 4WD rental car and planned our route. While we were originally planning to copy the itinerary of the various camping tours in the area, Igor convinced Lindsay we had enough time to explore the MacDonnell Ranges and get to Kings Canyon via the Mereenie Loop if we left Alice Springs that afternoon. After inquiring about rental camping gear at the Alice Springs Info Center without any luck, one tour operator suggested we buy something cheap at K-Mart – brilliant idea! AUD$90 later we were fully equipped for our Outback Adventure.
Cheapy, cheap – that’s how we roll, baby! Igor even sprang for two $1 plastic wine glasses.
First stop along the route was Simpson Gap – a short walk to a pretty gorge.
Walk to Simpson’s Gap
Very picturesque in the afternoon light – there was even a group of art students painting the scenery
The sun was starting to set, so we decided to make camp at the next stop – Standley Chasm, which is aboriginal owned and operated. Admission to the chasm is around AUD$10pp, and camping is AUD$18.50pp, so it made sense to just stay the night sine we wanted to see the chasm anyways. After setting up our tent & mattress, we hit the trail to check out the chasm before it got dark.
Standley Chasm is one of the many scenic stops along the 12-20 day Larapinta Trail
Our view was very shady – the best time to view the chasm is at midday when the sun is shining directly down the chasm – it makes the walls glow!
We had a sober picnic dinner in the camp dining area as we had forgotten to buy wine in Alice Springs, and we learned that the majority of the Outback is dry! Tip to anyone making the trip: stock up in Alice, as the only places to buy booze will be resorts and wayside inns (which will charge a premium) – although even if we had remembered to buy wine, it would have been disrespectful to drink it on Aboriginal land, so it all worked out for the best that night.
A meal without wine?! The hardship of the desert!
Once the sun went down, we had our first real glimpse of the unpolluted night sky! We had a waxing half-moon, but the Milky Way was still incredibly vibrant. We started experimenting with our camera settings and discovered that if we set it on the ground with a 10sec timer, the shutter would stay open long enough to capture amazing shots of the starry sky! Desert MAGIC.
All the stars are just for us.
Looks like you guys got your wilderness adventure of a lifetime at the McDonnell Ranges. When you were at Simpsons Gap did you see any Black-footed Rock-wallabies that live on the rocky slope?
Love the pics of the night sky—awesome shots and yes the desert is magical.
No wallabies, and not a single kangaroo in the Outback either! You can’t throw a rock without hitting one in South Australia, but they are shy in the Outback!