Sun 29th – We woke to a chilly morning with icy cold wind. We were snug as a bug in the camper.
We backed tracked a bit to Serpentine Gorge. From the car park it is a 1.2km walk to the gorge. There is a large rock hole at the start of the gorge stopping us from exploring further there was also lots of trees. It was hard to photograph in the uneven lightening. Nice place to visit but not as nice as other gorges we have seen.
The Serpentine camping area is a few km’s further up the main road and cannot be reached from the gorge day area.
A few km’s up the main road is the Ochre Pits. Not marked on the map but well worth stopping for. The Ochre Pits are only a short 300m paved walk from the car park. The colours are amazing, reds, oranges, yellows, beautiful patterns. Totally recommend stopping for a look.
Next stop was Ormiston Gorge. A 5 min walk to the waterhole turned into a 2 hr trek. It was indeed very spectacular and huge. We spent some time looking at the waterhole surrounded by tall cliffs. We then crossed to the other side and did a bit of rock hopping, moving from one spot to another in awe of the magnificent orange walls, taking photos as we went. Before we knew it we were a fair way down the gorge. We ran into a few people who told us the Pound Walk that was a 3-4 hrs walk was amazing but they had to strip down to their undies to walk waste deep into some freezing cold water to cross. Brrr not my cup of tea. We did walk down to the crossing and then came back on the Ghost Gum Walk that took you high on top of the cliffs looking down into the gorge, spectacular. The Ghost Gum walk was steep but worth the effort and of course there was a ghost gum.
We had a look at the camping area but at $10 a head we thought it was a bit steep, sites were close and still in dust but you did get showers.
Less than 5kms up the road is Glen Helen Gorge, from a photographic point of view it was great. Good lightening, blue water and gorgeous orange cliffs and birds. Right next to the gorge is Glen Helen umm Resort. Now when we think of a resort we think of some flash place, this was no resort. More like bush camping, $12pp unpowered, $30 powered. There was a small grassed area but most was still on dirt.
It was nearly 3.30pm NT time (30 mins behind QLD, which we are still going by) so we drove the 25kms to Redbank Gorge. This is more like it, large sites, well spaced out mostly on gravel. Each site has a free gas BBQ and 2 hot plates, table and chairs and a fire pit all for $5pp, surround by lots of trees in a bush setting. Does it get any better than that. Oh one more plus there are 3 sites especially for trailers and caravans that are drive through and we can stay hooked up. How good is that, more our kind of place. We had arvo tea and a well needed cuppa before we set up camp.
