Hermannsburg

Today we started the less travelled section of the Red Centre Way.
We have our pass ($5.50 total for us all, lasts for 3 days) for the short section of road heading north from the Watarrka National Park boundary, the Mereenie Loop.
Once off the Aboriginal permit part of the road, there is the option of taking the inner loop east, or the outer loop. Both ultimately end back in Alice Springs.
We have decided to start on the inner loop to Hermannsburg and Palm Valley, then retrace our steps to continue on the outer loop, through a series of gorges and mountains - who would have thought the landscape was so varied out here in the middle of Australia!
We had read that the part of the inner loop road we were taking was horrendously corrugated and slow going so imagine our delight when we discovered the whole lot was sealed! I'd say only recently completed, as it still looked very new. Lucky us.
Hermannsburg, as the name suggests, is an old Lutheran Mission established by early European pioneers and their families. Over time, the European settlers and the local Western Arnada people have built a successful community, despite early problems and setbacks. It was surprising to turn into this town, in the middle of nowhere, flags of Australia, Northern Territory and Aboriginal people standing erect at what felt like the entrance to a compound. We took a wrong turn looking for somewhere to camp and ended up in the Aboriginal part of town, with lots of run down houses, rubbish on the front 'lawns' and broken down cars everywhere. Felt like a very low socio-economic area.
We have decided to stay in Hermansburg rather than tow our trailer along an unknown, but reportedly tricky in parts, 4x4 road into Palm Valley.
Despite discovering that we would have been able to easily get the trailer to the national park camp ground, the choice to stay in Hermannsburg was the best! It cost us $10 in total to camp, with water and the best hot shower after being without for many days. Wiki had said there were showers so I was a little alarmed when I couldn't find them with the toilets (oddly, the amenities we have to use are the ones for day time use at the Historical Precinct, I think they are making use of the spare ground at the back and earning a few bonus camping dollars). Later,I stuck my head in the separate disabled toilet (cubicle) - bingo, found the shower. This is now a new strategy to find free showers - check the disabled facilities!
The road beyond the Palm Valley campground was a bit of fun four wheel driving, nothing too hard (I don't think) and really fun. Rocky bits, sandy bits, steep bits and bits weaving in amongst poles across rock plateaus.
The walk at Palm Valley was interesting and many times we were left wondering how such lushness and the existence of the Red Cabbage Palm could occur out here, in the middle of the desert! The Red Cabbage Palm is normally a tropical plant, with the nearest trees occurring nearly 1000km away in coastal Queensland! There are a couple of theories as to how they ended up in this valley - local Aboriginal people carried the seeds here or other vectors, such as birds, have brought the seeds in; or the climate here, in this small pocket, has remained the same as it was thousands of years ago - a tropical rainforest, despite much of inland Australia becoming arid as it is today.
Climbing out of the valley and into the top escarpment we saw a beautiful, red coloured Euro (kangaroo species). We have been seeing little to no wildlife so far, so this was a treat. Some say there just isn't enough water for larger animals to survive easily; we also have to remember that many are nocturnal!
We are camped next to a friendly couple with a friendly German Shepherd but we could not believe or condone their water usage. For much of the time, they had a fairly constant stream of waste water from their van. Friendly chatter revealed they can store 300L of water (our 2 tanks hold 170L combined) and they still regularly run out! Rob and I were gobsmacked! Where does it all go? Turns out they have a washing machine, used almost every day, that uses 80L per wash, and 2 showers a day. We shook our heads in disbelief.Read more