Tjiritja (West Macdonell Ranges)

There is no shortage of beautiful gorges, walks and look out points to visit as you drive through Tjiritja, the West Macdonell Ranges which stretch 160km west of Alice Springs, and if you’re as lucky as we were, you also get to watch a big group of brumbies as they cross the road and trott off into the woodlands. The area makes up part of the famous Red Centre Way and we were surprised at the green scenery, not nearly as red as expected.

We visited Simpsons Gap, Ellery Creek Big Hole, Ormiston Gorge and Redbank Gorge, all different and beautiful in their own right. Josh and Timo were the only ones to go swimming though, braving the cold gorge water. A walk to Ochre Pits was worthwhile to see large walls of white, yellow and red ochre, traditionally used by the Arrernte people to prepare medicines, for religious ceremony and for decoration. We also saw many hikers taking on the Larapinta Trail, ranked one of the world’s top 20 treks, which weaves through these and many more sights.

Our woodland campground was great for afternoon fires in the cooler weather and Emily extended her baking repertoire to include campfire scones, scrumptious with butter and jam.

Edit to add: After leaving the West Macdonnell Ranges we leant that just 2 days later our old friend Gill Fowler had run the entire 240km Larapinta Trail in under 50 hours as part of the West Macs Monster trail running event. What an absolute super star!!!Read more