Arriving at Glen Helen Resort the first thing we did was look at one another in amazement. Really, this place has the word resort in its name and you can actually do that?? In hindsight, the campsite/parking bay that we called home for the evening was sufficient enough and made it possible for us to drive and see the absolutely beautiful Redbank Gorge. Arriving at the gorge walk which is about about a 20 mins walk to get down to the water, all you can see is a dry river/creek bed. The walk begins here and you can’t help but think where are we? As this looks nothing like a gorge, its not signposted at all however there is only one way to go and thats down stream. You meander through a small track and walk over the river pebbles that would normally be based at the bottom of the water whenever this fills during the rains. After walking a while you finally see the gorge cliffs in the distance and feel relieved that you’re in the right place, then you come down and see the most beautiful little waterhole complete with soft river sand at your feet, nestled in amongst the gorges. The water holes meander through the gorges, you swim from one water hole walk over the rock faces that seem to go up and up in between you into another water hole and this keeps going for a while. The kids were both amused and slightly hesitant to keep swimming as with the last rain through here it sent quite a few big bugs into the water which were now facing legs up and looking very “dead” …. “keep your mouths closed whilst swimming kids” Well worth the walk, and a very cool place, minus the bugs in the water!

By this stage we were tired, filthy and absolutely exhausted so we missed out on some more gorges and speaking to other people who had done some of the other gorges they sounded pretty good… Ormiston Gorge and Palm Valley we will definitely take a look at you next trip…

Welcome Alice, yes be afraid that smell is coming from our Troopy… Finally a campsite with an ensuite and a washing machine… Luxury… it has been 5 days of us either swimming in waterholes or in pools and brushing our teeth on the side of the road. How quickly we have made the transition into the family that is living in their vehicle… Privacy, don’t worry we are happy to change anywhere from our filthy clothing into something that is in the dirty washing but not as dirty as what we have on…..That is a bug in your drink you might say, don’t worry stick your filthy fingers in and a fish it out… Dingos, swimming in waterholes with bugs and dead bats, sleeping in isolation with not a human in sight for hundreds of kilometres, its all good…. The well stocked vegetables and fruit in the mini fridge have been replaced with beer and it better be cold beer and we have been surviving on a stable of pasta and red sauce. Alice we are grateful for turning us into something a little civilised again…… the highlight was the purchase of matching $4.00 thongs at Target… let say the transformation is now complete…

Great to catch up with Peter and Anthea our friends in Alice Springs, fantastic to have a home cooked meal and some NT hospitality.