September 2014 - Alice Springs

Alice springs is nestled in amongst the East and West MacDonald Ranges and the Todd River “runs” around the south end.

The West MacDonald Ranges are very distinctive in that there is a rocky ridge that runs all the way along the top of the range, unlike any other mountain range that we have seen on our travels.

We visited Alice some years ago and went to Palm Valley and Hermannsburg, so this time we decided to visit Glen Helen.

Glen Helen sits on the banks of the Fink River in the West MacDonald National Park, about 130 kilometres west of Alice Springs.  The Fink River, which is often described as the worlds oldest river, rises in these ranges and meanders for nearly 700 kilometres across the plains and through these rugged mountain ranges, before soaking into the sands of the desert about 50 kilometres south of the South Australian border towards Lake Eyre.

The river seldom flows, but in 1988 the river flooded at Glen Helen and water spread over an area of 10,000 square kilometres.  The water hole at Glen Helen gorge is special as it is one of only 6 “more -or- less” permanent water holes along the full length of the river system, so fish, animals and people rely on these water holes for their survival.

The Glen Helen gorge as been carved out over many years by water running down the Fink River.

Only 20 or so kilometres further upstream from Glen Helen is Ormiston Gorge.  Once again there is a “more -or- less” permanent water hole and a short walk along the dry river bank exposes the upper reaches of the gorge.

Who could come to Alice Springs and not visit the Road Transport Hall of Fame, which is a volunteer based project dedicated to the preservation and presentation of Australia's unique road transport heritage.   It does this through its magnificent Hall of Fame, and display of old transport equipment, right here in the traditional birthplace of the roadtrain.  This place was built to not only to remember the great trucks, buses and vehicles of the past, but recognise the contribution of the men and women who drove and lived with these great machines of the past.

Current engineers in the transport industry today are working feverishly to build steering suspensions in modern trailers to improve turning circle and reduce road wear, yet this road train towed by a restored Diamond T 980, has full steering rear suspensions operated by a mechanical linkage from the front trailer suspension.

The army’s 1934 AEC road train, commonly known as the government roadtrain, was used extensively in the top end during WW2.  Not much in the way of a cabin but at least the driver got a nice breeze while driving. Not sure about the safety aspects of the big cooling fan right behind the drivers seat.

Kenworth also have their museum here which displays the first truck built at their factory in Melbourne in 1970.

There are also many other Kenworth's of various models that have been donated by various companies to show the advances in technology over the years.  We visited on the Sunday of the Hall of Fame annual reunion, so there were extra trucks on display, and even better, entry was free.

The Commonwealth Railways also have a museum here showing the Old Ghan diesel electric locomotive with one of the dining carriages coupled to a kitchen carriage on display. You can just about feel the gentle rocking of the carriage and hear the “klickety clack” of the train moving along the track.

There are so many iconic attractions around the centre of Australia it is impossible to see them all in one trip, so we picked on another of the lesser known attractions for a day out.

107 kilometres south west of Alice Springs down a gravel road is Mary Vale station, and another 50 kilometres of 4 wheel drive track leads to Chambers Pillar.

Now this place takes a bit of getting to, with the last 50 kilometres taking about one and a half hours, but the scenery at the end of it is well worth every corrugation and pot hole in the road.

Chambers Pillar is a column of red and yellow sandstone which towers 50 metres above the surrounding plain. Sandstone deposits were laid down in the area 350 million years ago.  Since then, wind and rain have eroded away the softer material, leaving this solitary column of pebbly sandstone.

John McDonald Stuart, heading north on his earliest attempt to cross Australia, first recorded the pillar in April 1860 and named it after James Chambers, one of his South Australian expedition sponsors.  Since then, it has been used by our famous early explorers as a navigational point.

I took this photo from the top of a hill about 15 kilometres north of Chambers Pillar and it is easy to see why it was used as a navigation point, as it is really distinctive and stands out from surrounding landscape.

There are also another 2 sandstone formations in the same area, one is called “Castle Rock” and I couldn’t find a name for the other one, but they are just as formidable.