Thursday 28.04.11 Redbank Waterhole - Alice Springs - Trephina Gorge

Another nice warming breakfast of freshly ground coffee and porridge was had before the inevitable pack up and move on to the next and final destination before heading home - Trephina Gorge. Instead of going back to the Stuart Highway to Alice Springs we continued on the 4WD track up Owen Spring Reserve towards Larapinta Drive. This is a gorgeous drive winding along the Hugh River, requiring a couple of easy river crossings. We stopped at the ruins of the Old Owen Springs Homestead for some photos and marvelling at what a place to live with such a spectacular backdrop, then just past the Ranger's station Steve got his first ever flat tyre. That delayed our lunch stop in Alice Springs for a short while, but we survived.

We went back to the Red Dog Cafe in the Todd Mall so Rachel could have another roo burger, then Paul and Rachel spent a good hour in a camping shop trying on half a dozen pair of boots before Rachel settled on yet another pair of Scarpas. A bag of replacement supplies at Woolies, and then we were off to Trephina Gorge.

We got to the Gorge Campground around 5pm and quickly set up. This campground is in a bit of a valley, with sheer ochre red cliffs on one side where the setting sun hits them brilliantly. The temperature quickly dropped, while the numbers of mice exploded. A quick and easy dinner of pumpkin, feta and sage risotto with a creamed rice chaser meant we were in bed early at around 9pm. Just as well, for what was soon to come, as we discovered in the time it took for us to get dessert out from the stash of food under the bed in the camper and in bed about an hour later, there was evidence of a mouse in da house. We pulled everything out, but it appeared to have gone.

Around 11pm Paul woke up from a mouse crawling on his arm that then went into one of the storage spaces next to the bed and couldn't get out. it was lifted out with some "gentle persuasion" from Paul, and we spent the next hour watching about half a dozen mice getting in and out of the camper from four separate places. The camper is virtually weather-proof, but it appears not to be vermin-proof, and the spots the mice could access are not ones that can easily be sealed up. Paul plugged up the gaps with gaffer tape, and we seemed to have a relatively quiet night after that. Not happy, Jan.

Wednesday 27.04.11 - Redbank Waterhole

With a nice dark camper and no need to rush, we slept in until after 8am and had a leisurely breakfast of bacon, eggs and baked beans. We did a bit of a walk exploring along the waterhole, with a nice sandy beach perfect for Sophie to have a bit of a dip. Us adults didn't have the ticker for the kind of water temperature. We saw some flocks of budgies, some Major Mitchell cockatoos, finches and magpies, as well as willie wagtails, cormorants and hawks.

Back to camp for a lunch of noodles, surprise peas and corn and some ham, when Steve discovered his second battery wasn't holding charge. As most of our power was coming from the trailer, we weren't using our second car battery, so Paul and Steve moved it over to Steve's car. After that little exercise, it was time to get the roast and veggies on the Cobb cooker, and of course, more social lubrication and bikkies and cheese. We are not suffering! Afterwards, there was the obligatory staring into the bush tv.

The roast was superb, although at 2.7kg for 2.5 people, there was plenty left over. Steve then cooked up his famous (for us) baked apricot custard, and even though we full from the entree and main course, there is ALWAYS room in the dessert stomach. As may be evident right about now, our camping trips are as much about checking out new places as they are for lurching from one feeding frenzy to the next!

Tuesday 26.04.11 Yulara - Redbank Waterhole

We got away from Yulara about 10.30am and headed for Redbank Waterhole in Owen's Springs Reserve about 60km south of Alice Springs. Rather than going on the Stuart Highway where we had already been, we planned on going up towards King's Canyon on Luritja Rd, and then east along the Ernest Giles Highway. We had a roadside stop for lunch, then onto the wide dirt road of the Ernest Giles that had a few ditches and corrugations along the way but was otherwise a good dirt road. It's a little bit more picturesque than the Stuart Highway as well, and provided the opportunity to see some countryside we hadn't seen before, and may not get a chance to see again, even if it is more of the same!

We then turned off this and back onto the blacktop of the Stuart Highway heading north, with just a short stretch before the turnoff to Owen's Springs Reserve. Redbank Waterhole was only about 6km from the turnoff on an easy but sandy 4WD track, and there were numerous choices for setting up camp along the waterhole. 

We set up, had a hunt for timber to set up a fire, and settled down with a couple of wee drinkies and bikes and cheese watching the sun go down through the gum trees - a very picturesque and peaceful setting.

Paul got to play with the new camera some more, and tested out some night time star shots. We didn't get to see any shooting stars or satellites, but we weren't disappointed.

Despite being the last day of an unusually long 5 day long weekend (Easter and Anzac Day back to back) there was little evidence of intensive recent use in the area and we only saw two other cars parked nearby. One car followed us in just after dark and continued along past us and camped at least another 500m away, so they may as well not have been there. We had dinner and watched the bush tv for a while, then headed for bed. The mice were friendly here too and kept Steve awake all night; they scrabbled on the canvas of the camper a few times but not enough to bother us too much.