Day 12 PALM VALLEY TO ALICE SPRINGS Tassie to Darwin

With a bit of disappointment we packed up and drove out of Palm Valley. As usual I was up early with the camera in my hand.

And before you know it we were packed up and on our way. Several people so far on our trip have made mention to us that they are amazed at the speed we set up and pack up and compliment our kids for helping the "well oiled machine". I have to say I agree, my fears of setting up and packing up so far have only been False Expectations Appearing Real ;) We met a couple at Palm Valley that were pretty much doing a similar trip to us but more on that later.

We popped back into Hermannsburg to have a look at the Museum but for some reason which escapes all of us at the moment we didnt end up doing it!

Anyway back out to the Merinee loop and we were attacked by wild dogs and managed to see a heap of horses run across the road in front of us.

Before long we arrived at Redbank Gorge. We drove in on the rough track but once there the wind was nearly blowing us over so after a bit of whinging from the kids we only went up to the look out and didnt bother walking into the gorge itself.

A few more kays through the beautiful West Mac Ranges and we arrived at Glen Helen Gorge. We did the walk down to the gorge and wished we had our Kayaks.

Our next stop was supposed to be Ormiston Gorge but we had sort of promised the kids that if time allowed us we would be at Alice Springs tonight so due to the wild wind and some complaining we reluctantly drove straight past it. Everything happens for a reason....more on that soon........

A bit further down the road we stopped at the Ochre Pits for a look. Photos dont really show the colours.

We then went up to a lookout for lunch and the only thing I remember about the lunch was the wind was trying to blow us off the lookout. I also took the opportunity to air up the tyres as we are now back on the black top for several days.

Next stop Serpentine Gorge. This time we made the kids do the walk because we wasnt going to miss another one just because they were keen to get back to some civilisation LOL

And not far down the road we arrived at Ellery Creek big hole. It was packed with campers.

Now remember how I mentioned only grabbing enough diesel to get me to Alice because I was too tight to pay $2.40 a litre more than I had too? Well it was right about now that due to the shocking winds and my miscalculations I was convinced we didnt have enough diesel to make it!

Before we left we upgraded our RACT roadside service to include some flash mainland holiday mishaps and for me it wasn't IF we would run out, it was WHEN and would we have mobile service to ring for help. This was about to be an embarrassing situation but for some unknown reason and for the first time in the Patrols history while towing it went over 100 kays with the fuel light on and we made it to the nearest servo at Alice...............and proceeded to put 125 litres in the tanks. The kids not wanting to do Ormiston has saved me the embarrassment LOL

Anyway we also drove past Standley Chasm and Simpsons Gap due to the fuel issue but planned to drive back out to them once settled in Alice.

We drove to a few different Caravan Parks looking for a nice site but they were all substandard for the money so we went with what we knew and set up at the Big 4 Macdonnell Range Park as it is a great park. And what would you know, the site they gave us was right next door to our neighbours from Palm Valley :)