A tour of the facility, a film and a museum all provided insight into this amazing service which supplies medical cover to those who live, work or travel in the outback.
The Service’s founder, John Flynn, has a memorial just outside town, under which his ashes are interned.
Leaving Alice Springs after refuelling, we headed out on Larapinta Drive to tour the West MacDonnell Ranges, taking the northern route along Namatjira Drive after visiting Simpsons Gap.
There were no rock wallabies in sight at Simpsons Gap, but there was a large crocodile resting on a sand bank. SPOT
The road through the ranges passes down the middle of an anticline, the top of which has been eroded away to leave lines of steep ridges that rise to the north and south.
We bypassed Stanley Chasm due to the steep entry fee being charged as it’s on private land, and stopped at Ellery Creek Big Hole instead (apparently a favourite swimming stop in summer, but it’s not very inviting this time of year).
Deciding to leave Serpentine Gorge for tomorrow as it was getting late, we drove up to the nearby Serpentine Chalet, an early tourist venture which provided overnight accommodation in the ‘50s and ‘60s when the trip to King’s Canyon took two days.
Now demolished, there are camping areas in the vicinity, some of which are accessible by 4WD only, so naturally we headed for one of those. A fire pit and the cold provided all the excuses we needed to collect some wood and strike a match, with the resultant warmth a godsend. SPOT
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