The Aussie Adventure's of the Travelling Garrett's 2012: Alice Springs to Glen Helen

Wow, 1^st morning I actually awoke and jumped up and had a shower and I was ready, before even Dylan awoke. Planned on packing up before we went for our free pancakes at the camp kitchen. Every Sunday morning the big 4 caravan park serves pancakes for everyone, and not only that, they will keep making them until everyone has had enough. It was funny because there was a sign up, that the record amount of pancakes cooked has been, 920 and the record for a male was 14 and female 9. We couldn’t believe it; we all had 1 each and that was enough. Can you believe this we meet 2 other families at breakfast and they are from Aspendale and Frankston. Its so surprising how many people are traveling. We thought we were going for awhile(3mths) until these 2 families had said, “we just have to be back before Christmas,so its around 6 mths. And the Frankston family had a boy the same age as Lily, who said we sold up and are traveling for 2 years, until its time for the little boy to go to school.Okay, it was our own record we broke this morning with the time we took to pack up. Hooray, got it to 1 hour, not bad. (Hey Buzz, we now have a great knack at thee bunks now too, we keep it all in one piece and they fold down, about 2mins, not 20mins like we practiced at home) On the road by 9.20am, it was only about 2.5 hour drive to our next stop, Glen Helen Gorge. We decided though to do other stops along the way and therefore we have done them, instead of doing them on the way back out. (One-Way road into Glen Helen Gorge). 1^st stop ‘Simpsons Gap’, a short stroll, 20mins to yet another, breath taking view. There was once a creek that flowed but the small waterhole is still there. The boys thought it was funny seeing a sign that read ”NO SWIMMING”, so what do they do, lay in the creek bed, pretending to swim in it. It was very funny. Next stop ‘Ellery creek waterhole’. Wow, again, another beautiful spot with a gap in the rocks and a waterhole with spectacular scenery. An island of sand lay further out and the boys all went out and posed for the camera for me, by all 3 doing, yes that’s Mark, doing a handstand. Again a very funny moment. This was our lunch spot, glorious and peaceful. Moving right along we went to the ‘Ochre Pits’, this was so interesting, it was a lot of ochre rocks and their different colors. Many years ago the aboriginals used the ochre for many things, mainly for decoration or cosmetic. Ochre mixed with fat or grease is used to heal various ailments. Ochre and eucalyptus leaves are rolled together and used as medication for head and chest colds. Red Ochre is mixed with fat and rubbed into aching muscles. (Well this is something to remember). We all had a little try of the Ochre and Mark even putting g strips painted on his face. My favorite one was the yellow Ochre, We arrived at Glen Helen Gorge around 2.30pm after many sight seeing, and we were surprised when we arrived that there was a small patch of grass and this is for camper trailers. Caravans had to go on the rough red dirt, very close to other caravans. We were told anywhere there would do. Well the fisher family were still here, boys were excited and lily over the moon. We set up right next to them. Glen Helen Gorge is a short stroll from camp and has a beautiful little sand bar, or we called it a beach. Kids loved it, as all kids do, it’s a great entertainer. The look from, the sand bar was through the gap and the beautiful red rocks with all different birds flying around. Just gorgeous to sit and watch, especially when a falcon is trying to pick up fish from the water. All the kids, including the 2 fisher girls, Kiera and Jade, played and played in the sand and water until around 6pm when the sun starts to go down. Dinner all together tonight and, all the kids had yet another movie night together, watching Ice Age 4.