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Published: March 15th 2007
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Saturday: We got up early (well, not really), and headed out in the morning (ok, it was midday-ish) to the East McDonnell Ranges. We being Chris the Radiographer, myself, Ange and Ange, the Pharmacists (Simply Ange The First and Ange The Second, cause they both have dark hair, they're both pharmacists, and every other differentiator ends up being rude).
First we went to Emily and Jessie Gaps, the next two breaks in the otherwise uniform wall that forms the McDonnell Ranges to the South of Alice Springs. The Ranges are so forbidding, they rise as a solid mass, and it is only as you get close, and if you know where they are anyway, that you can see the gaps in the rocks. all the gaps seem to run down to single level, which is the sand above the Alice Springs Quartzite (or something), the harder rock that hasn't been worn away. That being a relative term. the Ranges were once as high as the Himalayas, but they've all been incredibly eroded.
Emily Gap was quite pretty, Jessie Gap no so much, although Jessie Gap had more flies, so it could have been a subjective thing. There was a
Emily Gap
All the Gaps are roughly like this. If it's called a Gorge, it's because there's more water in it. tiny waterhole at Emily (as in, about five foot across, and one foot deep) that had tadpoles turning into frogs, in various stages of development. They'd better hurry up, there was good evidence the waterhole was quite a bit bigger, once upon a very recent time.
There were Rock paintings at Emily, as well, part of the Caterpillar Dreaming. It is the Creation Myth for the landscape around Alice Springs, the people local to Mperwnte (A.S) are the Yperenye, the Caterpillar People (part of the Arrente tribe, which is huge).
But I'll talk a bit more about that when I need to pad another entry.
After that we went to Coroboree Rock, a Rock that doesn't quite stick up in the middle of nowhere, but is quite impressive for all that. It's about 20 metres high, about 20 metres long, and, despite it's appearance from the "front", about 1 metre thick. It was difficult to show this on the camera, as rock falls have sculpted a curve out of it. It was (we think) a Men's Business Place, possibly for initiation ceremonies, but all that information has been lost. It is difficult to clamber upon it at
Caterpillar Dreaming
Three Caterpillars came through, and they fought with the dogs, and the ground, it all torn up because of the fight. all (and a little forbidding), but you can walk right up the hill, to the base of the rock itself, and put your hand on a hole, about half the size of a person, and look through (down onto the carpark). The 'natural' place to rest your hand is worn and oily, from, I guess, thousands of years of people resting their hands there. Take that, ye olde Europaen Monuments!
From there we went to the Trephina Gorge turnoff, and took the Four-wheel drive Turn-off to John Hadley Rockhole. Ange 2 (our driver, in her trusty '85 Range Rover) was not admitting to never having done such a challenging four wheel drive track, and she certainly was enjoying it. As were we.
We swam at the Rock Hole, and clambered over the rocks at the back, and went for a little explore around. We decided to have lunch here, because it seemed that there were less flies, the more water there was.
Chicken Salad later, We had another quick swim, and wandered back along that four wheel drive track, to Trephina Gorge.
Trephina Gorge was pretty impressive, lots of deep, ochre red against the white sand
Coroboree Rock
With the almost man-sized hole, in the bottom Left of the rock, just to give you an idea. and the very blue sky. We didn't stay long here (I think we were all getting a bit of Natural Formation overload), we were keen to get to Arltunga, cause it was a long drive back, afterward, in the dark.
We drove back to the Ross Highway (Connecting Alice Springs to... well, nothing except a Resort that only went up in the last 20 years or so), took the turnoff to Arltunga, got ten k or so down that road, when...
Disaster.
The car stopped. No choke, no screeches, just stopped.
Starter motor was fine. But just... nothing from the engine.
Sitting on the Road
No one panicked. To be honest, I didn't even think of panicking, but then, that probably means I didn't fully appreciate the seriousness of our situation. We had plenty of water (because I am anal, and put in, seriously, 6L, and Ange 1 also brought a similar amount), but we had seen about three cars pass us the whole day, and they had been on the Highway, not the dirt road out to a ghost town, like we were right then.
We tried to start the
Swimming
With the camera on the Tripod, on Timer car a couple of times. Then, diagnosing 'something wrong with the fuel supply' we refilled the tank from our spare (and then it was full, instead of three quarters full), then we pulled out the choke, then pumped the throttle, then gave the fuel filter a bit of a bang (I was so proud, I found the fuel filter!).
Then we sat in the car and waited.
Half an hour later, a Rodeo with an indigenous family drove up, and we flagged it down. Yes, they would call NRMA for us, no problem, they were going to Ross River (About 25km away). we couldn't get a lift, there were three in the front and five in the back of the king-cab, and the tray was full up. They also suggested we roll the car down the hill to the (paltry) shade.
Three quarters of an hour later we flagged down another four wheel drive. They agreed that we couldn't stay out there, that there was unlikely to be another car (we thought we were lucky to have them), but as we talked, another car drove down. They had heaps of room in the back, and bench seats,
John Hadley Rockhole
How could you not, really. so they gave us a lift to Ross River Homestead. We got there, called NRMA, and no, they'd never heard of us. Turns out our friends in the Rodeo had never turned up to Ross River at all. Eventually, after Ange gave the NRMA details (you know, name, address, mother's maiden name, blood group, age of menarche etc), they were sending Outback Vehicle Retrieval Services out to us. So we waited in the bar, which, I can tell you, had a better variety of drinks than the side of the road to Arltunga.
The Rover was picked up, we all crammed into Albert's Truck (three sharing the two seats next to Albert, and me lying along the back, behind). Albert entertained us of stories of the outback: About Wild Aborigines, who still hdn't made contact with white-fella, but were happy to steal food from camps, and his theories about Lindy Chamberlain's baby (see above), and wondering about the missing Peter Falconio (we averred that Albert *was* the missing Peter Falconio, just on a diet, and with a *really* bad suntan. Need I tell you that Albert was... difficult to see at night.)
We eventually got home around
10.30pm, tired, cramped, but completely unrepentant.
Ange's Range Rover is still sitting in my carport space, awaiting a new Fuel Pump to be shipped in from Melbourne.
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James
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Range Rover's
But Ailie, Land/Range Rovers NEVER break down!! It must have been a part stolen from a Toyota ;) If you get a chance, you should have a look at www.flickr.com for your photos. We put all ours there www.flickr.com/photos/jmanners and it just works. Uploading, organising, its specifically designed for photos.