Pics from the Red Centre Trip (Pic heavy!)

[brickiematt]

So the Red Centre Trip is done and dusted, with red dust being the colour of the day!!
Di and Chloe did a blog of the trip while we were on the road, which can be found at http://www.healesredcentreadventure.blogspot.com.au/ for those that haven't seen it.
So instead of re-hashing whats in the blog, I thought i'd put up some pics of our adventure to share with you all.
As the title says, there are more than a few pics, you have been warned

We took a week to travel to Alice Springs via the Oodnadatta Track. We were joined by lindamc, Jacko and family and Mandrake (at times!)

First pic of the trip, rest stop at Charlton, on the way to Renmark. The Paj and camper were never to be this clean again!!



First night at Renmark



Heading to Leigh Creek we paralleled the Flinders Ranges. A beautiful drive.





Set up a Leigh Creek with lindamc



First outback sunset of the trip at Leigh Creek.......first of many!



Ochre pits just north of Lyndhurst



Farina ruins









Marree



Some photos are obligatory!!



Lake Eyre South. The size of it was mindblowing, and that's only the small part......



Coward Springs







Blanche Cup spring; one of hundreds of mound springs along the Oodnadatta Track



Beresford Siding. Again, many ruins of sidings that serviced the old Ghan Line are found along the track.



Ruins at Strangways. This was once a repeater station on the Overland Telegraph Line.





An obligatory stop on the Oodnadatta. A beer with Linda, and for a donation to the RFDS, I stapled our Pajero Club membership card to the wall, to join the hundreds of other cards there!









Railway bridge at Algebuckina





Camped at the waterhole at Algebuckina



Another icon on the track!



Saw plenty of Wedge Tail eagles on the trip. They're hard buggers to photograph though!

More to come, stayed tuned

[Jacko]

Awesome!!! Bring on the rest!

[brickiematt]

Awesome!!! Bring on the rest!

Cheers mate, there's a few!!!
Might even dredge one up with your mug in it

[Jacko]

Now you don't want to go scaring everyone!

[Brett B]

Will have to get out there one day
Great pics Matt 

[chillipepperz]

Great trip! Thanks for sharing the photos, they bring back many good memories of trips through that way over the past 25 years. Can't get enough of that part of the country. Cheers , Andrew

[Terry W4]

Thanks for sharing.

[brickiematt]

After a great weeks worth of travelling, we met up with the rest of the MySwag crew at Alice Springs, the official start of the trip.

We had 3 days at Alice, so spent some time exploring the city and the West MacDonnell Ranges.



Simpsons Gap





Standley Chasm; impossible to get a pic without people in it!!



Ellery Creek Big Hole



Serpentine Gorge





On the Monday we all packed up and headed down the Old Ghan Line to Chambers Pillar.
Lunch stop at Maryvale.



The convoy heading into Chambers Pillar



Campsite at Chambers Pillar, with Castle Rock in the background.



Chambers Pillar at sunset



The next day we headed back out to Maryvale and continued down the Old Ghan Line towards Finke. The track itself was in pretty good nick, but because it is on the old railway line, it is littered with hundreds and hundreds of railway spikes. concentration was at a maximum just trying to avoid them. Amazingly, only one tyre in the whole convoy fell victim to one of these bad boys!



Through Finke and heading to Kulgera saw a detour to Lamberts Centre of Australia. This is where disaster struck for us. The track in was badly corrugated and washed out, and we broke a u-bolt on the trailer on the way back out.


We managed a fix, with the aid of fellow MySwaggers, to enable us to limp into Kulgera. Many thanks to everyone who helped, the MySwag spirit shines through again


Next we headed from Kulgera to Yulara.
Mt Conner, often mistaken for Ayers Rock!



We lost a day at Yulara while I fixed the trailer with new u-bolts sent in from Alice Springs. We did the sunset viewing of the rock. Pictures don't prepare you for the sheer size of the thing, it is immense and rises out of nothing.

The changing colours of the rock at sunset.







Some local wildlife



Chloe wanted to walk around the rock, all 12 kms of it, so off we went! Well worth it.







As we lost the day for repairs, we unfortunately didn't have time to visit Kata Tjuta (The Olgas)

To be continued............

[letsgoplaces]

It's a pity you didn't get to do the walk and spend time at Kata Tjuta..... there's a good reason to head back

Cheers
John

[oldmate]

Awesome pics mate

[Marcus73]

Some great pics there. Very envious


Sent from your iPad using Mental telepathy

[speewa158]

Did the same trip around the other way last year Loved Chambers , but not the Finke trail 

[brickiematt]

After 3 nights at Yulara, we had an easy run on the blacktop to Kings Creek Station.
Some of us headed off to do the walk into Kathleen Springs.

It was my birthday that day, and Kingbilly surprised me with a lovely bunch of wildflowers I'm glad you stopped short at a birthday kiss though Dave!!



I enjoyed my Darwin Stubbie around the fire that night



The next morning a bunch of us got up early to head into Kings Canyon to do the rim walk. WOW!! What a place, and probably the highlight of the trip for us.









John (MrBitchi) living on the edge!



After the walk we headed into the resort, where Di and Chloe took a helicopter flight over Kings Canyon. Chloe's photo's show this stunning landscape from a whole new perspective.













From Kings Creek Station we travelled the Mereenie Loop, headed for Palm Valley



The road into Palm Valley campground runs along the Finke River. Beautiful but busy campground.





From the campground the track into Palm Valley itself is rocky and fun. We did a walk along the valley where a particular species of cabbage palm grows, the only place in the world they are found.







Some gratuitous Pajero porn (sorry, couldn't help myself!)



We headed back out to Hermannsberg the next morning, and soon turned off into Owen Springs Reserve.

The drive in.





The old Owen Springs homestead ruins and stockyards.





We set up camp at Redbank Waterhole, surrounded by river gums.

More to come.....

[Bird]

Renmark - is that at the Big 4?

[brickiematt]

Renmark - is that at the Big 4?

Yep, the Big 4. Nice unpowered sites near the river. Gotta get in early to get a spot right on the river though.

[cupcake]

wow! nice photos.

[oldmate]

awesome mate.

[brickiematt]

Next morning was a leisurely brekkie and pack up as we were heading to Alice to re-stock, and the bottle shops don't open until 2pm No need to hurry then!
This morning we also said our good byes to the Queensland crew; brianm (Brian and Val), Blueroo (Stu and Jean) and Mr Bitchi (John and Adele) would be staying in Alice for a few days R&R before Kingbilly joined them to tackle the Simpson crossing. A great bunch of people, and an absolute pleasure to travel with

So after re-stocking at Alice, the rest of us headed out along the East MacDonnell Ranges and set up camp at the beautiful Ross River Resort campground.




Next morning ourselves, JCOJ, Jacko and Kingbilly and families decided to do the relatively short drive to Ruby Gap. Well, 3 hours to travel 80kms wasn't what we expected, but it sure was fun
The last 5 kms through the deep sand and rocky climbs into Ruby Gap was a blast!




Garnets are everywhere in Ruby Gap, so we all set to finding our fortune.




Our last morning at Ross River saw us farewell the last of the Queensland Crew. The Kingbilly clan were off to meet the others and start their trek back home across the Simpson Desert. Looking forward to that trip report Dave
The rest of us set off for Gemtree, with a stop at Arltunga ruins, Central Australia's first official town.








Leaving Arltunga, we travelled part of the Binns Track to Gemtree. At one stage we had to stop to let four of these big buggers past.




Gemtree was the last camp of the group travelling together. We had 2 nights there, reliving the trip around the fire, indulging in baked spuds and camp oven roasts, fossicking for more gems and it even produced a champion paddy melon bowler (you'll have to read the blog to find out more )










Sunday morning was the last of the official trip and yep.........it was raining   The first rain since we'd left Melbourne 3 weeks earlier. After soggy pack ups, we all said our goodbyes, and one by one left for the journey home.

We were headed to Coober Pedy, where we had treated ourselves to 2 nights in an underground motel! Linda was joining us, with the Jacko clan stopping the night at Marla, then meeting up with us at CP. We would all then travel south together on the journey home.










Underground church



Entrance to our hotel



The Breakaways, just outside Coober Pedy





From Coober Pedy we took the boring (Stuart Hwy) road south, passing through Port Augusta and camping at a working sheep station called Spear Creek. We had a great spot up the back in the bush sites, and if ever you visit this area I'd highly recommend it. It was good to see some green rolling hills again, though it was cold with a bit of rain just as we set up.

We took the low road to our campsite.





From Spear Creek it was a nice drive through the hills, and then the plains, towards Broken Hill.
We camped at Penrose Park in Silverton for two nights.




Linda had decided she wanted to get home earlier, so the next morning she was up bright and early (as she was every morning  ) and we said our goodbyes. Linda and Tayla were our constant travelling companions this trip, and we thoroughly enjoyed their company, so it was a bit sad to see them head off.

We spent the day with the Jacko's exploring Broken Hill and Silverton.
Silverton is a great, quirky little town, with a few galleries, the Mad Max Museum and an awesome pub

Looking over the Mundi Mundi plains



Silverton sights







That night was spent at the Silverton Hotel. A top little pub with great atmosphere, a good sense of humour and awesome parmas. It was a great way to spend our last night with the Jacko clan, and it ended with myself and Jacko passing "The Test" and becoming life members of the Silverton Hotel




Our last stop for the trip was with Di's cousin and his family at Gol Gol. We said goodbye to the Jacko clan at Wentworth, as they were staying in Mildura. The Jacko's were great fun to travel with and we've made some good mates there!

So that's it. After 8600kms we had seen some incredible sights, ticked some things off the bucket list and made some great friends in the process.

To the fellow MySwaggers on the trip, it was a pleasure to share this adventure with you all. This was our first MySwag trip, and what a fantastic bunch of people to do it with We started out as names on a forum, and ended up as mates. We have definitely gone away from this trip with more friends than we started out with, and the MySwag spirit really shone through on more than one occasion.  to you all!

To John (JCOJ) a massive thank you for organising the trip. It exceeded all our expectations, the itinerary was great, and you even managed to provide perfect weather (except the last day at Gemtree!). We had a ball and look forward to the next one!


That's all folks

Matt

[xcvator]

Great report and pictures are sensational Matt, but, I'm gunna bite, what was the "test" 

[Barrabart]

Top report mate, great pics too!!! Thanks for posting. 

[brickiematt]

Thanks for the comments all. I reckon we have the red dust fever now

Great report and pictures are sensational Matt, but, I'm gunna bite, what was the "test" 

Keith, I could tell you, but then I'd have to kill you
We have been sworn to secrecy, but if you really want to find out, then you'll just have to travel to Silverton and try and pass the test yourself.........or you could just Google it I spose
All I will say is that it involves a vegetable 

[lindamc]

Im intrigued too...you had to eat a chilli???

sent from the small black thing

[brickiematt]

Im intrigued too...you had to eat a chilli???

sent from the small black thing

Nope, but that probably would have been preferable