Wednesday 28th July - Yulara Tourist Village to Finke Gorge National Park

We said our goodbyes to Uluru and retraced our steps along the Lasseter Highway and back up the Luritja Road, as who wants to take the bitumen back to Alice Springs when you can hit the dirt? The gravel Ernest Giles Road was in considerably better condition than the more travelled Mereenie Loop Road, and it didn’t take long to reach the turn off to the Finke Gorge 4x4 track which cuts 100km north to emerge at Hermannsburg.

We actually missed the start of the track at first as it was unmarked and rather overgrown, but once we found it the path was easy to follow.

The sandy track passes through fertile grazing land and, not being in any particular rush, we took a small detour to the Illamurta Springs Conservation Reserve. We failed to find the ruins of the old Illamurta Springs police station, but did find the bore before returning to the main track. Running Waters marks the intersection with the Finke River, and the remains of cattle pens hint to the past importance of this water source.

You then enter the National Park whereupon we soon hit the first of three river crossings we completed today. Normally dry this time of year, the recent rains have meant that the Finke is a proper river. I drew the short straw and walked each crossing to check the depth and bed conditions. Only the first posed any serious cause for concern, but a couple of carefully placed sticks marked our route and we were safely across.

We camped for the night just after the third crossing, and we’re hoping that we’ll be able to make it through the last 50km as the map shows the track shadowing the river which could prove tricky due to the water level. We’ll see, but that’s tomorrow’s problem. SPOT