Vikings in Australia - Víkingar í Ástralíu

5^th October

Glen Helen Gorge

After packing our stuff in the morning we walked the couple of hundred meters towards the Glen Helen Gorge. We had planned to walk into the gorge, but quickly realized that in order to do that we would have to wade or swim across the pool of water that covers the mouth of the gorge. Thus we simply decided to enjoy the view, plus watch some of the birds on the water. It’s the Finke River that flows through this gorge, so come the wet season it will flood the whole gorge. The Finke River is one of the largest rivers in central Australia. It is also different from the others, by the fact that it flows inland, not to the ocean. It dumps all its waters into the western part of the Simpson Desert.

Gouldian Finch

When we went for the walk to the gorge, we noticed some bird cages at the end of the Glen Helen Resort. On the way back we looked into the cages to see what kind of birds they had. They were mostly parrots, but one cage had some zebra finches and another had finches as well, which were quite colourful. As it turned out these were Black Faced Gouldian Finches. They are quite colourful and pretty to see. I snapped a photo to share. This is one of the holy grails of birdwatchers, to see a Gouldian finch in nature. Although these were in a cage, they look the same!

Gosse Bluff

We then headed out of Glen Helen Resort and our next stop was Gosse Bluff. This is one of the biggest meteorite crater in the world. It is thought to have occurred about 142 million years ago. It wasn’t until the sixties when aerial photography was used that geologist realised it was a crater. It has eroded a lot over time and presently only the inner core ring is left. It is still around 5km in diameter, whereas the original outer ring is estimated to have been 22km wide. From a distance the Gosse Bluff stands out of the flat landscape as a prominent range, but once you get closer you realize it’s a circular formation. You can drive into the centre of it and from there walk to the top of one of the mounds and have a fantastic view over it. There is also a small hill that allows you to see it from the ground. Most of it is off limits due to the fact that those areas were used by Aboriginals as camping grounds and ceremonial places. It is a magical place as one can only image what went on as this earthly feature was created. We spent some time there doing the walks and enjoying the view. I did mention the fact to the others that sometimes bad luck strikes twice in the same place! The others didn’t seem to be worried though!

Hermannsburg

On the way to Hermannsburg we stopped at the house that Albert Namatjira built himself. He is a famous Aboriginal artist that was born and raised in Hermannsburg. This is an Aboriginal village that is around 130km South West of Alice Springs. It was started off in 1877 by Lutheran missionaries from Germany. The mission itself is quite historical as many of the older buildings are still there. Thus it has been turned into a museum and a tourist attraction. We went there to have a look around and some light lunch. It is an interesting place and has gone through a lot of changes over time. The old Lutheran church had been damaged but re-built. The oldest building is the Smithy and dates back to 1882. Behind the old church is the mortuary as in the early days it was always full.

After walking around the mission grounds, we headed to the petrol station where Chris added some more fuel to his tanks. After talking to the girl at the counter to find out about camping grounds and conditions, we eventually decided to head into Wallace Rockhole. This is another small Aboriginal Community that have a campground for travellers. We wanted to stay overnight and then head back to Palm Valley the following day. When we arrived in Wallace Rockhole we were directed by signs to the local shop/art centre. There we were told to simply set up camp anywhere we wanted and then Grandpa Ken would come later on to collect the fees. We proceeded into the campground and eventually settled down under some trees to get some shade. Later on, Grandpa Ken came around and collected the fees. He then told us about a tour they ran to the Wallace Rockhole to view petroglyphs and learn about some of the Aboriginal culture. The tour is conducted by one of his granddaughters. We decided we would do the tour, but not the following day as we were heading into Palm Valley, so we settled on Sunday morning. As this community is completely dry and no alcohol allowed, we settled for water for our happy hour!