Alice Springs (Hermannsburg and Palm Valley)

DAY 16 – ALICE SPRINGS (HERMANNSBURG AND PALM VALLEY)              Monday, 18^th July

Up early and off to catch the ranger talk at Palm Valley by 10am.  The days are absolutely beautiful now and the kids are all in shorts and t-shirts for the first time today.  Very cold in the mornings and at night but stunning days with temperatures of about 20-22 degrees.  The drive from Hermannsburg to Palm Valley was absolutely amazing.  It was signposted as “Severe 4WD” which excited my husband no end!!  At first we were confused when it said 18kms to Palm Valley, allow three hours”.  Three hours to where we kept thinking?  The track was really four wheel drive!!  The kids bounced around the back of the car and squealed with delight when we went through the creek crossings!  Lots of testosterone!  Even had to go into LL gear!  Through creeks, along river beds, over huge rocks!  Occasionally, we were travelling at only 10kmph.  No wonder it was a three hour return trip.  Unfortunately, we realised there was no way we were going to make the Ranger Talk at 10am despite leaving at 8am.  When we arrived, it had been cancelled anyway!

We took the 2km walk around the plateau and valley which was absolutely stunning.  I think what we enjoyed most was the fact that there were so few tourists compared to Uluru and Kings Canyon.  It was only serious 4WD and walkers that go all the way out there.  The view from the plateau was absolutely stunning.  We saw two geckos, sunning themselves.  They were not at all concerned about us!  The valley is full of Red-Cabbage Palm Trees and Cycads.   The Palms are left over from the time when Australia was Gondwana and covered in rainforest.  These are the only palms to survive in central Australia, because they have been able to adapt to the semi-arid conditions.  The cycads are stunning also and the kids love hearing how they were around in the time of the dinosaurs.  The valley and the river, which did have some water in it, were absolutely beautiful and a lovely, cool place to sit and have our lunch. 

It was a very exciting trip out of the valley again, with lots of creek crossings where Daddy attempted to make the water splash right up over the windscreen, to the enormous delight of his children and the increasing concern of his wife.  At least Daddy was having fun!!  Actually it was definitely one of our best days so far.

We went home via Hermannsburg, a Lutheran Aboriginal Mission about 125kms west of Alice.  It was a big eye-opener for me.  We had a great chat to the General Store operator.  Despite a lot of money being pumped into communities such as this, there is still enormous poverty, domestic violence and alcoholism.  His view was that most of the women are trying very hard to raise their families and are quite genuine, good natured people.  He believes the problem is still the fact that these communities are caught between two worlds:  wanting to partake in the old culture and beliefs but still having access to modern Western cultural amenities.  The situation with domestic violence is still huge and, in his view, men don’t take any part or responsibility in the raising of the children.  It is such an enormous problem in our country.  After many, many decades of governments and NGOs trying to solve this problem, I don’t think we are any closer to a solution.  It worries me that perhaps it will not even be our generation that will find an answer.  No quick fixes.

Exhausted the kids on the jumping pillow before dinner and bed!