Here is our cosy camp at the Big4 in Alice Springs.
Our Toyota 4WD Functionality got tested out today, as did our 4WDing skills.
We answered the challenge of Palm Valley that we had considered on our way into Alice Springs.
It was sandy in patches, but mostly stony as we drove across the river pebbles.
It's a very picturesque road with ghost gums dotted along the creekbed. Once inside the Finke Gorge National Park, driving got more challenging. We had to drive across rock platforms, all at varying levels.
At the end of the "road" is the palm valley, containing rare Red Cabbage Palms. These have been in existence since the dinosaurs, when they were covering the planet. The water is constant here, filtering through the rocks of the gorge, which has meant the palm's survival.
How rocks were formed is clear and incredible around here.
We did a one hour walk into the valley and up to the top of the ridge for a view.
The palms.
As we returned to the car someone kept tooting their horn. Their 12 year old daughter had been told off and run away into the bush. They needed to leave. It she hadn't come back yet. Later, as we left they did also, so we assumed the girl turned up or got found.
Yet another pasta meal served that night, which was just as delicious cold the next day for lunch!
Great photos. You did not say how long the drive was in time and in distance.
ReplyDeleteHi rod, the turn off to palm valley is about 120 km, then you have 20 gruelling km to get into the valley.
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