West MacDonnell Ranges

An early start today to take a tour of the West MacDonnell Ranges just east of Alice Springs



where we visited many gorges and pools - we didn't dip our toes after seeing this little critter crawling about near the water edge
its a parentie lizard and apparently it used to be a favourite food of the local aboriginal tribes but I think they go to woolies now for their food shopping







This is the riverbed at Simpsons Gap - no swimming allowed.....


Rock wallaby at Simpsons gap.... these fellas were really hard to spot


Caroline at the Ochre pits.....


Mick and Caroline at Standley Chasm


We ended at Glen Helen where we had a couple of cold beers before heading back to Alice

Adelaide to Alice Springs

Today we started our holiday that we had promised ourselves once we had both been in work in Australia for 6 months.
We flew from Adelaide into Alice Springs (about 2 hours north by air) where we were met by a 39 degree spring day. The descent into Alice was quite hairy and we were both glad to get our feet on the ground!

At the hotel...


We landed around midday so took a wander into town which took around 20 mins - glad we took water with us and had some lunch at a restaurant on the todd mall the main street of alice


Following lunch we decided to take a stroll up Anzac Hill which didn't look too big but in that heat we were both sweating buckets by the time we got to the top and it was only then we realised there was a much easier way to the top by car round the back.

Caroline drinking some water before the climb but obviously not enough....


She almost passed out on the way back down so we retired to the Todd Tavern http://www.toddtavern.com.au/ for the rest of the day to rehydrate where we met a couple, brian and viv, who were travelling round the world



Mick at the top of Anzac Hill


The view of Alice Springs from the top of Anzac Hill