Alice Springs Tourism
Finke Gorge National Park

And one of the most amazing places to visit is Palm Valley, in the Finke Gorge National Park.

You will feel like you are in wonderland, overwhelmed by what mother earth is offering.

You can travel to a number of picturesque spots in the West MacDonnell Ranges on a sealed road. But if you want to go to Finke Gorge you need a four-wheel-drive car. Palm Valley is a reminder of the geological past, when an inland sea, the size of the Mediterranean covered Central Australia. Then the sea withdrew and lush rain forest took its place.

As climate changed Australia started to dry out. Palm Valley is a survival story.

Alice Springs Tourism
Palm Valley

The dirt road goes on the dry Finke River bed.

See how wide it is, here on the left.

It is quite rough with lots of bumps on the track. You need a bit of skill to negotiate the road, while manoeuvring your vehicle through rocks, bumps, boulders. But what you will see is trully worth the few leaps and hops on the track.

Park your car, climb a bit and walk on a flat red top, with small bush and spinifex (a native Australian grass - see it in the picture below),

and incredibly white ghost gums.

The palms start by being red when very young, hence the name of "red cabbage palms", but later on they grow green and they do grow a lot in height.

You can see them down in the valley while you are walking along the ridge. They look majestic.

The experience gets really awesome when you go down the slopes and walk along the compact patches of huge palms that follow the course of underground water.

If you are tired you can stop for a picnic or barbeque at the end of the track, or camp under the myriad stars. There is no better spot to gaze at them.

Driving back to the Alice you are bound to stop at the Kalaranga lookout.

It is a huge amphitheatre, surrounded by red, eroded massive structures.

Time and rain have sculpted them in many different, breathtaking shapes.

Alice Springs Tourism
Hermannsburg

Two German Lutheran missionaries came there in 1877, built a small church and set up the first Aboriginal Mission. At that time Hermannsburg was the second largest European settlement in the region, after Alice Springs.

The missionaries learnt the local Arrente language and came up with a German Arrente dictionary to be able to translate the Bible.

Hermannsburg is also known as the place where the Aboriginal painter Albert Namatjira was born in 1902. He became famous in the middle of the 20th century for his watercolours painted in a western style. His work captures the uniqueness of the Central Australian landscape and flora.

The historical site is today a museum and art gallery that displays paintings by Namatjira and his family who learnt to paint from him.

Go there to get some insights about the life and work of this Aboriginal painter. Walk around to see the old buildings of the mission.

And while you are there get a nice freshly baked apple strudel to remind you of the good old German cuisine.

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