Today we drove outside of Alice Springs to see some sights. We visited some gorges and an ocher pit (don't laugh!). The first gorge said that due to the rain (?) the last part of both trails had been washed out and would require swimming in icy cold water to finish them!!!! Well, we said we weren't going to do that (although Shelby and Joshua were ready to try). A family near us said that they did the longer hike we wanted to go on (the ghost gum trail) and had just gone on the sand and climbed over some rocks and were fine. So we tried. We followed the trail (beautiful by the way) to the river and then crossed over on a sand bar and continued back on the other side. Well, we didn't ever find the trail, we just ended up with our shoes full of sand and spending double the time climbing on huge rocks. We had to climb down a few harrowing drops but made it. The way back took double the time the way there did. But is was pretty and the gorge is green with all of the water. On the trail we saw many ghost gum trees which are gum trees with smooth white trunks.
Then we went to another gorge, with this one, we couldn't find a trail--we don't think there was one. But we crossed the river on rocks and hiked until we couldn't go any further (sheer rock cliffs surounding a lake). The rock layers were vertical there--one area is called the organ pipes.
Next was an ocher pit. The ocher is very sacred to the aboriginal tribes. We found red, yellow, and white. Some of it is very chalky and is painted on with a feather.
Tomorrow we fly to Cairns, where we get a car and drive to Palm Cove where we are renting an apartment for a week. It will be nice not to have to go outside to get to the shower and toilets! The forecast is for the same temperature as here (26 C=79F). It probably won't be as cold at night as here in the outback.
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